As a somewhat bogus actor living and working in Los Angeles, I sometimes make a buck or two by doing Background Extra work. You know, all those guys that walk around in the background, fill stadiums, etc. Basically, you fill out some paper work, hang out in a tent with a bunch of other freaks, occasionally walk by camera if they need you, and they pay you minimum wage. A little more if you’re union. Not a bad way to make sixty bucks. Beats panhandling and hooking!
I have always been a fan of weirdoes roaming in the background. Perhaps its my love of the Cantina scene in the original Star Wars, where all these goons hanging out there even got their own action figure! I’m estimating over 100 action figures have come from that scene alone over the years… Another great gathering of creatures is the meeting in Neverending Story. So much so, that I might write a whole blog just on those guys!!
Anyway, I will share my fascination with YOU! Here are some of my favorite movie extras in no particular order…
Catch Me if You Can: The guy who sits behind Tom Hanks on the airplane. Every time they cut back to that plane (its kind of a wrap around sequence for the flashback narrative), I just can’t take my eyes off that guy. This guy is a nerd. A straight up, awkward, dorky, bespectacled nerd from back in the days when nerd used to actually be an insult.
Twin Peaks: The guy who breakdances across the screen when they introduce the high school in the pilot episode. Hilarious…and adds to the dream like feel. His dance is sort of a sideways, slow motion worm. He’s about 14 years old (or maybe 18 to look younger), and I can just imagine him showing up on set and saying “look what I can do!” and then David Lynch saying…”Wow! let’s go for it.” Exceptionally bizarre entertainment.
Terror Firmer: Gotta have Troma in here somewhere! Nobody uses “Actor People” the way Troma does! But my favorite Troma Extra is the guy with a fish mask in “Terror Firmer”. For the life of me I can’t figure it out. Somebody told me it was an unused creature design for Dolphin Man, a character seen in Lloyd Kaufman‘s “Toxic Avenger 4.” Still…a fish man is always standing around in a group of mostly contemporary punk rockers. I cannot think of a more surreal image than that. I laugh every time I see it.
Revenge of the Nerds: That fucking douche that looks like Harpo Marx.
Satyricon: Would you believe excercise guru Richard Simmons is in Fellini‘s Satyricon? Supposedly. More info HERE.
Teen Wolf: This goes without saying…the guy who pulls his pee pee out!! How he got away with it on set, I have no idea. I’ve been on a set where an extra was fired just for looking into the camera too much. This guy somehow got away with ACTUALLY PULLING HIS PENIS OUT!! How they didn’t notice it in the footage when editting, I have no idea. How the movie became a very watched 80s classic, but nobody noticed for 20 years…classic!!
Look closely at the reaction of the woman in front of him…she looks not amused.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure: Amazing Larry. While I think this is a character and not an extra, the DVD states he was in an edited or possibly never filmed scene. But, in the theatrical version, he has no lines so I’ll through him out there anyway. The guy with the Mohawk who whispers to another guy at the town meeting. Pee-Wee responds with, “Do you have something you’d like to share with the entire group Amazing Larry?” Classic!!
The Mirror Has Two Faces: A Barbara Streisand movie on this list? Well…looks like horror director Eli Roth did some background work around 1996!!! I cannot think of two people more on the opposite sides of the spectrum than Eli Roth and Barbara Streisand. But it is true. Watch the clip below…big honking close-up at about 3:40.
Tookus Pookus 