Has anyone ever been in a movie (extra or speaking role)

[kornula]

I've been in two movies so far;  The first as an extra in "On Deadly Ground" with Segal.  (raving a***ole btw)  They filmed it in Valdez, Alaska when I lived there.   I had to beg to take three days off workj ust to be in this s**t show.    And I'm glad I did.  The other extras and I would make fun of Segal during takes (most notably to this day is when he would pronounce the end B in Bomb)  I kid you not.

The second...most recently, I played a serial killer in a Made directly for Amazon prime (that will never get released)   That too was an experience to remember.  Mostly, it was how not to make a movie.   Thankfully, the check cleared...

Anyone else have their moment in front of the camera?

[FatFreddysCat]

Years ago I was in a crowd during a Troma shoot for the original "Class of Nuke Em High" in front of a Catholic school in my home town (Paramus, New Jersey). It's been a while since I've seen it but I've never been able to find myself in the scene, tho I'm pretty sure I'm in there somewhere.

Similar thing happened a few years later, I was walking in NYC with a friend and we stumbled on a shoot for "Ghostbusters 2" in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We hung around for a few hours, watched em do several takes, months later when I saw the movie the crowd in the background was WAY bigger than I remembered so for all I know I could be in there somewhere, too.

I *am* actually onscreen (for about two seconds) in a documentary about KISS (the band) fandom called "KISS Loves You." Much of it was shot at a New Jersey KISS convention in the mid 90s, at one point the camera pans down the line of people outside the venue waiting for it to open, and there's me and my brother. I open my jacket to show off my KISS tee shirt and give a thumbs up. :)

[Rev. Powell]

Yes. I was a "featured extra" (closeup but no lines) and a production assistant in this low budget film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6250554/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2

I also published an article about the experience here, which I'll link again:

https://www.popmatters.com/pa-days-guy-with-a-website-works-on-set-chase-dudley-payday-2508105122.html

I'm willing to do extra work again for free, but not full-time volunteer PA work. I was offered the chance to be script supervisor on a low-budget feature film but turned it down because it was unpaid.

[kornula]

I'm willing to do extra work again for free, but not full-time volunteer PA work. I was offered the chance to be script supervisor on a low-budget feature film but turned it down because it was unpaid.

As well you should turn down "internships"  it's like getting paid in "exposure" for really hard work.

[Rev. Powell]

I'm willing to do extra work again for free, but not full-time volunteer PA work. I was offered the chance to be script supervisor on a low-budget feature film but turned it down because it was unpaid.

As well you should turn down "internships"  it's like getting paid in "exposure" for really hard work.

If I were younger and looking for a career in filmmaking I'd consider working for free to build a resume. But for me, working on one movie set was fun but exhausting. I'd like to be compensated in the future, it's not something I'd do as a hobby. If you want to do it as a hobby, there are plenty of microbudget filmmakers who will take you on.

[kornula]

Oh yeah, I was an extra just after I finished the serial killer one. They did come up with some funny stuff for me to do...an escape scene all my own... sadly, the film never got finished as the principal actor had to move out of state shortliy after we finished the first scenes.

Oh yeah...and I was a zombie in a short film for a friend... half the footage somehow got deleted/corrputed..

[LilCerberus]

Biggest so far was doing doing one day's extra work for Legends & Lies: The Patriots, but I don't know which episode(s) it was.
Mostly just student films & the July 48hr film festival.

[Archivist]

@kornula - without naming, please tell us more about the Amazon Prime serial killer movie. How did you land that gig? What made it so bad? And how come it will probably never see the light of day?

I've never been in a movie, although I knew a guy who was in the screaming Scottish tribe in Braveheart, another guy who appeared as a stunt double in Death Race 2, and I've also met a guy who was a fighter in Tony Jaa's breakout film Ong Bak (2003) aka Muay Thai Warrior.

[chainsaw midget]

I've never been in a movie myself, but my dad was in a made for TV movie.  I can't remember the name of it right now.  I'll have to ask him about it later. 

[kornula]

@kornula - without naming, please tell us more about the Amazon Prime serial killer movie. How did you land that gig? What made it so bad? And how come it will probably never see the light of day?

I got the gig because there is this one "production" company here in Anchorage, Alaska that churns out mostly crap.  I got a notification for the audition via facebook.
It was bad because there was zero ...zero pre production done.  No rehearsal or even a read through with the actors.  The  ONLY direction I got was "be yourself".   We had a 5 day schedule as the lead was being paid scale and up from California.  I had to provide my own costume (I was a mailman) I had to scrounge for props like mail.. as I had a scene where I ...delivered mail.  The best bit is when I have the main character tied up... in the script, it calls for me to pull out this antique, classy looking jewelry box - open it to reveal implements of torture.    This scene was saved for the last day of shooting.   All 4 days previous, i pestered the producer to you know.. produce this prop.   

Five minutes before we shoot this scene, the producer hands me this opaque plastic makeup kit that is full of...nail polish.   Of which, I am supposed to pull out slowly and with menace.   I am not sure how that scene actually looks. 

I run into the DP once in a while and he said that Chuck (the director) probably will never release it.. which is fine by me because the check did clear.

[LilCerberus]

I was once cast as the chief bad guy in Run (2016), But I was uncomfortable with a role that big, as most of my stuff was bit parts & shorts before that.  There was also an issue that I couldn't find anyone to rehearse with...
I'd also ruined my only suit changing a tire after a read through. Logistical issues.

I eventually talked the director, JJ McMoon into giving me a bit part.

People thought it was going to be a rip-off of Run Lola Run (1998) But it was actually a video post card of Richmond.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5134236/

[316zombie]

i did makeup and was in a scene in " the dark: the vampire version" many many moons ago...i think i was 23? LONG time ago, lol!

[kornula]

I lived in San Francisco in the 1980s.   I remember friends telling me they had to sign waivers to promise not to tell the world whawt they saws in "Howard the Duck" in the Cherry Bomb concert scene as extras.   They all told me that the did not need waivers ...t.hey wanted to foget what they saw back then.  And still do. 

[Trevor]

I've assisted in pre-production on nearly five hundred films since I started working where I do: the film I'm the most proudest of is Searching For Sugarman which won an Oscar.

I also assisted in pre-production on the Clint Eastwood film Invictus which was riddled with errors but the reason I don't like the film is that the person who contacted me sent me an email, three quarters of which involved telling me what a property master does. 

[Trevor]

I am also constantly asked to appear on camera for my historical perspective on SA cinema and the history in general which I did until 2017 and then this happened:

www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,149319.0.html

The hidden agendas here were frightening so I no longer engage with people on camera.