By Brent Hopkins
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
When audiences sit down to watch “Friends,” they
instantly recognize Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston. They
certainly aren’t the only actors on the show, however.
The guy walking his dog, the woman ordering a latté and the
kid running through the park ““ they make up the majority of
the actors on a set, yet they rarely get their name on-screen.
These are the background actors who make scenes seem more realistic
without even saying anything. While they may start out as unknowns,
the extras can sometimes rise above the anonymous plateau.
“There’s a lot of actors who started out doing extra
work, like Brad Pitt, Kevin Costner and Samuel L. Jackson,”
said Zane Lamprey, president and founder of ExtraCast, an online
background actor casting service. “It reads like the
who’s-who list of Hollywood.”
When shooting a feature film or television series, directors
don’t just use props and special effects to make the scenes
interesting. They rely on these background actors to fill each shot
with authentic color.
Unlike the main actors, who must fit specific profiles, most
extras are just regular, everyday people. These actors also
don’t necessarily need to belong to the Screen Actors Guild.
Though most contracts require production companies to employ a
minimum number of union actors, a casting director requests a wide
variety of people to fill out the scene.
“They call us every day and put in an order,” said
Jennifer Saxon, casting director for Central Casting. “They
might say, “˜We need 10 restaurant patrons, five bookstore
people, and one chef, or whatever it is, and here are the
sizes.'”
Some roles require extras to wear special costumes, but many are
shot with just everyday clothes that the actors provide themselves.
Some enterprising extras even bring their own costumes, props and
equipment.
“Usually, extras bring their own wardrobes,” Saxon
said. “Some of them have their own LAPD uniforms, nurse
outfits, or stenography machines. They get paid more for those.
Some people bring their cars for freeway and traffic
scenes.”
The ideal extra is both flexible and able to take directions.
Those who perform their job well may be awarded a minor line or be
asked to perform a special task, such as play a sport or drive a
car.
“Follow the directions to the letter and you will do
fine,” said Cullen Chambers in his book “Back to One:
The Movie Extra’s Guidebook.”
Often, these directions are nothing more than “sit
there” or “walk across the street.” In these
instances, actors must do their best to just blend in and not
distract the audience’s attention from the main focus of the
scene.
“The No. 1 trick to background acting is to do whatever
would be natural in that situation or circumstance for you,”
Chambers said in “Back to One.”
Since the same level of talent is required for most extra roles,
casting decisions are generally based on physical attributes. Age
is the first category ““ most 60-year-olds won’t find
work in high school scenes, and most teens won’t be cast as
doctors or cops. Following this, body type, ethnicity, and
appearance are all important. There is no set type that’s
more in-demand than others, owing to the wide variety of parts
required. Sometimes, it can be a broad call for 18-30 year olds of
all races, but depending on the role, the requirements can be
extremely specific.
“For “˜Nutty Professor II,’ they needed
stand-ins for all the Klumps,” Lamprey said. “They
needed 300-pound African American men and women.”
Acting as a stand-in is another important part of the extra
repertoire. When employed in this capacity, they walk through an
actor’s scene, allowing the crew to set up cameras and
equipment to prepare for their scene. This way, the number of takes
an actor must shoot is minimized.
“An actor can do five minutes a day, with the stand-in
doing ten hours of work,” Lamprey said.
Stand-ins don’t have to be exact doubles of the actor, but
they must be similar in both physical stature and skin tone to
allow the equipment to be properly calibrated. In this case,
physical traits are extremely important, but for most roles, they
are less important than age. Currently, the trend is to hire young
actors.
“A lot of the shows are high school programs, so we always
look for actors who are 18 but look 16,” Saxon said.
“The younger you look, the more you’ll work on shows
like “˜Roswell’ and “˜Popular.'”
The same is true when casting films, Lamprey said.
“Right now, what’s hot are 18-27 year-olds. Studios
are just realizing after many years that their ticket sales are
going to high school and college kids. Instead of making movies for
the “˜mainstream,’ they’re trying to localize with
their teen movies. “˜American Pie’ and
“˜Can’t Hardly Wait’ set the whole thing
off.”
While the roles might not be as demanding as a starring turn in
a major studio picture, being a background actor is no easy task.
They frequently don’t know until the day of a shoot whether
they’ll be working. And unless they’re upgraded to a
more involving part, they may have to look for a new shoot every
day.
“It’s hard to make a living being an extra, because
there are so many people who want to do it,” Saxon said.
“There’s not as many jobs as there are people, and
you’re competing against thousands of people.”
Though it may be a difficult road to stardom, the hard work can
definitely pay off. While the chance of being discovered like Pitt
or Jackson may be rare, just being on the scene provides an
invaluable look at how things are done. According to Lamprey, there
is nothing better.
“I always tell people that a hot set is the actor’s
classroom. You can read books until you’re blue in the face,
but you’re not going to learn unless you’re thrown into
the action.”
FILM: For more information on becoming an extra, call Central
Casting at (818) 562-2755 or visit www.extracast.com.