The Wonderful World of Acting
As struggling actors we do a myriad of jobs just to keep food over our head and a roof on our table. Or is it the other way around? Well, as actors, it's easy to get our brain rattled, too. So I sat down to think about all the different jobs I've had in the last thirty years and came up with everything from catering to construction work. But there is one job that many actors have in common, and that is "extra work."
For those of us who are not in the "Biz"...Have you ever watched a film and took a close look at the people in the background? They are called “Extras” and you’ll see them in street scenes, restaurant scenes, crowd scenes, and other places for “ambience.” I myself had the pleasurable (and so pleasurable) experience of being in the background of such films as “GoodFellas," “Spiderman," “F/X," “Law and Order," and many others too numerous to mention. The good news is that I got to meet Martin Scorsese (a truly nice man), and the bad news was that I got snubbed by Julia Roberts when I tried to say hello. Maybe I shouldn't have been so obviously smacking my lips. Richard Gere was okay. Alfred Molina was the best. That is the extent of my name dropping because I really hate that.
The funny thing is that many actors list extra work on their resumes and expect agents and casting people to keep a straight face. I don’t do it anymore, simply because listing “Restaurant Patron” doesn’t do a helluva lotta good. (Oh, yes. On this particular film, the AD had me rush in quickly and sit down during the shot, so my credit turned into (“hurried restaurant patron.”) I came across a resume once where an actor listed a credit from “Hoffa," and his role was billed as “angry union worker.” Fine, except that there were about a thousand “angry union workers” in that film and I don’t think that credit would have gotten his picture to the top of the casting director’s pile.
The toughest job in extra work had to be in “Titanic”, with all those people floating in the sea after the ship sinks (OH! I hope I haven't ruined the ending for anyone!!). I’m waiting to see the resume that features the role of a “frosty bobbing cadaver." Remember the guy with icicles for eyebrows? A weeks worth of shooting in freezing water should be worth that $115.00 per day, don’t you think? What would the interview be like for and extra in Titanic? Should go something like this:
Agent: So tell me what you have done.
Actor: Well, I was in “Titanic."
Agent: Really. What part did you play?
Actor: I played the part of “the frantic passenger.”
Agent: Hm. I seem to remember there were a lot of them.
Actor: Yes. That’s right.
Agent: I think the Titanic held…um…fifteen hundred people.
Actor: Right, well…you’re right. But I was the one who stopped just
short of Kate Winslet…
Agent: And did what?
Actor: Took a sharp right and kept going. Frantically. Which is why my part was…
Agent: The frantic passenger.
Actor: Right.
Agent: Let me know when you’re in something else.
More thoughts to follow. I have to prepare for my role of the “frantic blogger.”
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