EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It! - PART FIVE

The first time I saw Vince Vaughn, he was way across the street walking around loosening up between takes. He walked and talked to a few crew members; and then, he danced. The man danced his man dance. That was it. I loved him more and more.

Mr. Vaughn is a tall man, too. At 6'5", he was noticeably taller than most around him. Thing was that he didn't seem that big. Must have been the dancing or something. In any case, it was fun to stand back and watch.

Not long after seeing Mr. Vaughn, Ron Howard walked out of the door of the diner. Well he walked about two steps; and then, he loped. He bounded from the door of the diner to the camera and back again multiple times.

"I hope I'm as spry as Ron Howard when I get to be his age," said that pretty Winona-Ryder-Look-Alike Extra.

"Me, too," I responded and thought about how out of shape I was.

Ron Howard went up to Vince Vaughn, and they talked for a moment; then, the shooting began outside the diner on the sidewalk. All Extras did their things wherever they were and time progressed. By now it was about 2am. This scene took about an hour to complete, and then it was time to move.

There had been reports that it was going to rain around 3am. I watched as the crew moved awnings in preparation for the supposed rain. They were amazing. If you've never seen a film crew in action, let me tell you that it is a thing of beauty that rivals any military operation. Smoothly, quickly, calmly they moved all the equipment that they needed to. Fabulous.

No sooner had they moved the awnings and equipment and relaxed a bit, they must have been told to move the awnings and equipment down the street by Extras Holding. I saw Tim and Will, two crew members that BB had worked with before, move stuff down the street while others were rolling cameras and carrying awnings.

"OK, we're pretty much wrapped. We've just got one more small scene to shoot," said Bob, "Everyone can go to Extras Holding and start handing in your paperwork."

I headed for a fence a ways away from Extras Holding to have a cigarette. Tyler, the Extras PA, saw me and motioned for me to go to Extras Holding as soon as I was done. I nodded and smiled. As I relaxed, I thought about the whole night and how happy I was. I was done. I'd survived my First Extra Experience.

Having finished my cigarette, I headed into Extras Holding. Jon was in the doorway picking people. I thought there was enough room for me to slip by him and into the room, so I went for it.

"OK, you and you and OOOOooooo! You," Jon said as he turned and looked at my breasts, "You. Out there."

I looked at him, down at my breasts, and out at the group of people that he had picked who were standing on the sidewalk in a line. They were all in darker shades of brown and blue like me. Well, that made me feel a bit better. It was my costume choice and not my breasts that got me picked. Whew. I laughed.

"OK, Sir," I responded and took my place in line while thinking, "Damn it. I didn't want to get picked. Shit. Well, I'll just keep my face from showing on the screen somehow."

It was 3:08am, and it started to rain. I know it was 3:08am because one of the PAs made a comment about the 3am prediction and all. Three awnings were being set up across the street from a bus stop bench. The cameras were all draped in clear plastic. The Extras were walked down to stand under the L-tracks. We waited and listened to one of the ADs; a female.

"OK. Let's see you," she started, "I'll be directing you and placing you. Keep your eyes on me," she continued, "OK. You and you go there. You and you go over by the building there," she pointed at me and a man wearing a blue flannel shirt and said, "You and you go across the street. When I point at you, walk across the street and under the L-tracks."

The rain let up, and the man and I walked across the street and stood by the southern-most awning. There were three cameras being set up. My favorite bit of equipment for the night, the big, black, crane, balloon-like lighting rig was raised into position. The fluffy of activity didn't involve us, so I introduced myself; and we started talking.

"I'm George," he said.

"So why did you come to this, George?" I asked.

"Well, I haven't worked in over a year, and my son thought I might enjoy it. I'm a big Ron Howard fan. I've been watching him since 'The Andy Griffith Show' and 'Happy Days'. He did a movie about muscle cars, and I got into muscle cars because of him. I mean, look at me," George said and showed me his shaking hand, "This is huge. I thought I might get a chance to meet him, so..."

I smiled and understood at once the magic of the moment for this big, burly man, "Well, this may be as close as you get, George, but it's not half bad, huh."

It started to sprinkle again, but we kept our places. The rain started to pick up, and George said, "If it really starts to rain, I'm standing under that tent," and pointed to the awning closest to us where a slew of crew were standing around equipment.

The sprinkling turned into a downpour, and true to his word, George went under the awning. I joined him. Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn stood under the same awning. George and I were no more than three feet from Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn. We played it cool. We didn't stare. We didn't talk. We listened as the crew, Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn talked about things.

The rain let up, and I moved back into position. George stayed under the awning where Ron Howard was standing with one of his "assistants."

"Mr. Howard is ready any time you are," the middle-aged man called out to the camera operators.

"Five minutes and we're set," a male voice called back.

It was still sprinkling, and I was bored. Vince Vaughn was standing on the corner not three feet from me, but I couldn't make eye contact. I looked like shit. I mean, I looked like shit after all the hours of walking. My hair was a disaster, and Lord knows what my face looked like. Talk about overcoming fears. Ugly, little Extra me was standing not three feet from one of my favorite actors wanting to dance with him, and I held my ground and did nothing inappropriate. I did watch Mr. Vaughn do his man dance to loosen up. He's so cute doing his man dance. It was so tempting. I just wanted to say something to him and dance with him, so bad; but that is strictly verboten and punishable by expulsion, so I held firm and got hit right in the middle of my head by a huge rain drop.

"I haven't tried to catch a rain drop on my tongue in years," I thought and cocked my head back, stuck my tongue out and tried to catch a few. Miss. Miss. Got one! Miss. Miss. Hit in the eye! Miss. Got one.

The downpour started again, and I joined George under the awning making sure to let him stand closer to Mr. Howard and now, Mr. Vaughn. We eavesdropped. They were talking about the upcoming scene. They talked about personal plans.

A crew member mentioned a pool to another crew member, who responded with, "That's too rich for my blood."

Ron Howard reached into his pocket, pulled out some cash, and walked to the back of the awning without skipping a beat in his conversation with Vince Vaughn. It was smooth and effortless. He gave the twenty dollars to the crew member and returned to Vince Vaughn's side. We all waited for the rain to let up.

Vince Vaughn was wearing a black trench coat over his black blazer, dark blue jeans and dress loafers. It seemed like a "typical" Vince Vaughn costume.

Ron Howard was wearing his NASA baseball cap, a John Deere T-Shirt, a green, denim work shirt, baggy, blue jeans, and tennies. He was slugging down coffee from a green, travel coffee mug.

When the rain finally did let up, he loped again from camera to camera and to the bench where the stand-in was sitting. Ron Howard ate up the bus stop bench checking out every possible angle. He loped back to the awning, and we got going.

George and I stood in our place, eyes glued on our female AD. We heard the "Action!" call and waited. The AD pointed at us, and we walked across the street right past Vince Vaughn sitting on the bench. Just as we were about to step on the curb, a car went whizzing by. Out of sheer instinct, I turned to look at it like I always do when someone shoots behind me before I've reached the curb. We walked under the L-tracks and turned into an alley where a crew member was standing. We waited. George started to talk and was shushed. We heard, "Cut!" and "Reset!" and returned to our spot.

We did this again ending in the same alley. I smelled a stench that I've never smelled before in my life. A combination of dog urine, human urine, stale beer, vomit and garbage that made me nauseous. I moved farther down the alley. Yuck.

A couple more times we did our walk until we finally heard the magic words, "That's a Wrap!"

I watched as the crew started to break down the set and Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn sat in directors chairs with a couple of other people looking at monitors. They all looked happy with the results and with each other.

I wandered back to Extras Holding, gathered my belonging, and stood in line with my perfectly filled out paperwork. Bob checked me out, and I said my good-byes.

At 4:30am, I headed up the street with the rolling suitcase and my leather production bag. My care was still parked where I had parked at 6:30pm the night before. It had never been used, and I got paid for it. I smiled. I smiled again because I was glad to see that there was a security guard at the corner who could see up the street to my car. I asked him to keep an eye on me until I was safely inside. I looked down the street and saw the crew loading trucks and felt for them. It was raining pretty hard again.

As I was walking up to my car, I could see two strung-out guys begging at cars in the street right by my car. They were nasty, desperate guys who were tweaking badly. I turned around and caught the security guard's eye and motioned to the two tweakers. He nodded and watched me.

About ten feet from my car, the tweakers approached me.

"Could you.." said the blond, stringy haired one.

"No," I responded and watched his partner head for a cab that was pulling up to the stop light, "Stay away from me."

The blond walked up towards his buddy on the other side of my car. I could see bruises and scabs on him. I could see bruises and scabs on his partner, too, even though he was black. I felt for the guys and was more leery. I walked to my trunk catching the security guard's eye again.

While I was unlocking my trunk, the blond guy approached me again. He's swung around to the sidewalk and his partner was coming from the street.

"Please," he begged desperately, "Couldn't you..."

"No," I cut him off and kept an eye on his buddy, "I can't. You need help. Serious help."

"I know," he continued and as they both came closer, "We'll ..."

"No you won't," I said more firmly, "Now stay away or I will beat the shit out of you. You got me?! Get the FUCK away from me NOW!"

They both moved away, and I put my stuff in my trunk. I watched as they wandered down the middle of the street and waited until they were far enough way for me to safely unlock my car and get in. It was the first time that evening that I was grateful that I was ugly, big and fat. I was downright mean looking, and I was glad.

Pulling out in my car, I turned the corner and passed the trucks and crew. I waved and received a variety of responses from pure disdain to a cheerful wave. I could expect no less. I still felt for them, and headed home in a torrential downpour. I took Sheridan home, and thought about all that I had experienced and how happy I was. I also thought about BB & SA's shoot at 10am that morning with my granddaughter and daughter. I knew that I wouldn't make it even though I wanted to. It was too late and I was too tired.

I got home around 5:30am. I crawled up the stairs stiffly after my drive, and flopped into bed. I didn't wake up until around 11:30am and knew that I'd missed seeing my "babies" all together making another movie. I got up, took a shower, and headed out to see if I could find them anyway.

I'd missed my granddaughter and daughter, but the rest of the crew was shooting by a bistro close by, so I headed there and did a bit of crowd control and other PA/Gopher stuff. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I was on my second set in less than twenty-four hours. I was in Heaven.

From Big Budget to Student Production, the successful attitude is the same. The skills and work are relatively the same. The atmosphere in this case was the same; nice, professional, and focused.

While I just experienced a bit of Ron Howard's directing style that night, I can say that he seems as nice in person as he is in interviews; his reputation seems to be true, at least to me. I can say the same for Vince Vaughn and add in his dancing and humor. Course, Ron Howard made people laugh, too. I wonder if he dances.

There. That's it. I've completed this Five Part Series about my First Extra Experience.

I had three more days of work on the shoot. One was at a restaurant and the other two were at the United Center. More things happened, of course, and maybe somewhere down the line I'll write it all up. A few of the highlights were getting to know the Costume Designer, Hair Dresser, and Tyler a bit better. More highlights have to do with working on the same set as my son and meeting a wonderful woman named, Lisa Junco, who is a class act offering positive advice and direction for newbies like me and frustrated older extras/actors, too.

As always, take good care of yourselves and keep all the good thoughts going.