Being an Extra in "The Last Kiss" (2005)

How I spent my day on Tuesday, June 28, 2005:

3:30 a.m. - Wake up. Holy crap, it's early.

5 a.m. - Drive to Memorial Union parking lot, where the "drivers" of the movie are told to park (although it ends up that we don't actually drive--only park--on the first day).

5:20 a.m. - Arrive at Room 165 of Bascom Hall along with another driver whom I befriended named Eric. The room starts to fill with about 150 extras.

5:35 a.m. - Our extra coordinator, Meg, arrives. She tells us that we have forms to fill out, but they're not there yet, so she tells us to eat (there are doughnuts, bagels, fruit, juice and coffee).

We later form color groups of about 12 for this reason. When shooting, a color group (i.e. red) would be called to the foreground, while another (i.e. green) would be in the back. Then in another scene, they would switch so as to not use the same people over and over again. (I was in the brown group). Good idea in theory, but we never used the color groups the entire day.

6 a.m. - We meet Kwame, the "second second," which I believe means he's the assistant director's assistant (third in charge).

Later we finally get the forms to fill out. Then the wardrobe people come in to tell us if what we're wearing is acceptable, or if we have to change into the other clothes we were supposed to bring. These two ladies are mean! Basically, everyone wearing white has to change, including me. My white polo turned into my blue Wisconsin T-shirt. With some exaggeration (and add a European accent), they were saying things like, "Oh, how could you be so stupid in wearing that?" "That is totally unacceptable." "Don't you have anything else to wear?" In addition, no tank tops were allowed, even though we were originally told to bring summer clothes (it turned out this movie was supposed to be set in the fall).

6:30 a.m. I decide to eat. Then I read for a while. As a precursor to the entire day, it's a lot of hurry up and wait. and wait. and wait.

8 a.m. - About a quarter of the extras, including me, are chosen (at random) to begin filming. It was cool to step foot outside Bascom and see the camera, the crew, etc. Kwame assigns the extras to do different things (i.e. walk, stand by the tree, etc.). I'm with some people who will exit the building.

8:45 a.m. - We finally do a rehearsal, which lasts five seconds. I didn't even get to step out.

9 a.m. - Noonish - I'm happy to explain the filming in greater detail orally. Anyway, here's an abbreviated version. We do three takes. I don't here the reset call after the first, and they already start the second take, so I decide to walk into the building instead of exit. Then they do the third take. Then the crew gets the remaining extras who weren't originally selected. They are all behind me just inside Bascom. We stand around for 20 min., the production assistants (PAs) give some instruction to a few extras, then later decide a whole different situation. So all the 100 or so people behind me get moved to the outside. I go back to my original task of exiting the building, except this time, the guy I walk out with (Bill) and I go toward the lake because an actresss (Blythe Danner; she was the mom in "Meet the Parents") was in our way. The third-to-last take, the second in charge taps my shoulder. I freak, thinking I had accidently ruined the shot. Instead, he wanted me and Bill to walk in the background of Blythe. Sweet!! So the next take, we did. In the third take, however, they didn't want anyone leaving the building, and I fear that was the take they will use for the film. (The scene, by the way, is Blythe walking up to Bascom and asking a student where a certain professor is.)

As an aside, they had a stand-in for Blythe that looked just like her. When I was inside Bascom, the stand-in would walk out of my visual range (beyond a pillar), then Blythe would come in, which would cause me to do a double-take, especially before I realized the stand-in was in fact a stand-in.

Later, they do another scene wear Blythe waits outside for her professor friend, who turns out to be Harold Ramis. I am asked to talk to a girl (Tessa) near the Lincoln statue. (I think there may be a chance my head will be in the background of the scene!) We're supposed to pantomine when we talk because they are recording live audio (as opposed to dub-in audio), but it's just too damn hard and fake to pantomine a conversation, so Tessa and I whisper instead.

12:30 p.m. - People are thirsty as hell, and it's starting to get warm (not nearly as warm as the 93-degree day we had on Monday, luckily). We're wondering when we're going to have lunch. Finally, some of the PAs bring us some water.

12:50ish - 3:30 p.m. - We film one more scene on Bascom. This is where Blythe and Harold walk down Bascom, kiss and depart (more like, she departs him). I think this might be "the last kiss," but I'm not sure. Long story short, many people are sent walking up and down Bascom Hill, while others get to sit on the lawn. Eric, a girl named Kelly and I are instructed to walk across the hill (yay!) on the path starting from the Education building. (This becomes quite amusing to see this scene from the profile view, because it was quite consistent from take to take. It completely reminded me of the movie, "Groundhog's Day.") They do multiple takes of every angle: up the hill, down the hill, angled down the hill, sideways, etc. It becomes inconsistent for us, because based on the camera angle, sometimes the three of us are walking behind Blythe, and the other times we're behing Harold. I also believe I have a chance at being in this scene, depending what angle they take.

This was the last filming scene for Blythe and Harold, so they got a round of applause.

3:45 p.m. - It's finally lunch time. Apparently, the filming went a few hours longer than expected. We all walk to the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. We have some lasagne, salad and breadsticks. I sit down to eat just before 4 p.m. That is the point when I hear that we will start again at 4:25! All the extras are sweaty, tired and starving, and the last thing we want to hear is that we have to film again so soon.

Meg says that those who drove, inline-skated or biked this morning should use that same means of transportation to the Overture Center. For the drivers, a PA was supposed to tell us where to park. When the other drivers and I get there (we all are parked illegally near the Overture), it's about a 10-15 min. wait until someone knows where we're actually supposed to go ... it turns out it's State Street! There are fake meters there, which I was confused about until I leaned on one and it moved. I end up parking behind the black Toyota Prius that is used in the film, so look for my silver Toyota Camry in the movie.

The other extras are sent to the Overture Center to sit and wait.

5 p.m. - Zach Braff ("Scrubs") and Rachel Bilson ("OC") begin filming their scene at the top of State St., across from Vic's Popcorn. They use some extras but surprisingly--and to our disappointment--none of the drivers whose cars are right there. So all of us sit for the next 3.5 hours watching the same scene over and over and over again.

Random people who are in the area keep stopping by, and the hired security and the police did a piss-poor effort of keeping them out of the scene. I really wished I could have been an extra in this part.

7:30 p.m. - I sneak over to the State Bar & Grill to pee and slam a beer. I've had a bad headache all day due to dehydration, so what's a beer, eh?

At this point, they send home the extras that have been sitting for three hours at the Overture Center. Some come by to watch the scene.

8 p.m. - We re-arrange the order of the cars to make it look like a different point in the day. Zach and Rachel are done; now it's time for an establishing shot with a camera on a crane.

8:30 p.m. - It's a wrap! The remaining two dozen or so of us head to the Overture Center to get our time cards filled out. When we arrive, there are still extras who were excused earlier that are still in line. Ugh. It takes me about 25 min. to get through. I am a shell of my former self.

Throughout the day (esp. in the later parts), we extras talked a lot about not returning for a second day of shooting. Why? Well, the novelty has worn off, it's a pain to get up so early, and it's a long, long day. (Day 1 was 15 hours!)

I take my tax receipt for my day's work (15 hours x $8.33/hr = $125) and go home, where I immediately take some Ibuprofen.

9:45 p.m. - I finally decide I've had enough, the experience was one I'll never forget, but that I will not partake in day two.

10:15 p.m. - I crash and sleep continuously for the next nine hours.

Other thoughts - I enjoyed talking to the many people I met (Eric, Tessa, Emily, Bill, Angela, etc.). Today, Wednesday, I regret not saying hi to the director, Peter Townsend (the bad guy from "Ghost"). I would have said "Hey, you were hilarious in the 'Godfather of Green Bay'!" I think that would have impressed him, since only a few hundred or so people have seen it (it's an indie).

The day was not efficient. Time is money, and the time the crew wasted thinking, pondering, giving no direction, etc., meant more money paid to the crew (who get overtime) and extras. Those 100+ extras in the Overture Center could have been excused hours earlier. Plus, they should have used the drivers in the State St. scenes so they could have excused more extras (since we had to stay through the end to get our cars).

Anyway, I can't wait to see the film, which is supposed to be done by September to qualify for Sundance. Beyond that, I think the film won't be released until early 2006.