October 31, 2009 2

Bein’ an Extra

By in montreal, sketches

One of the things I do, since writing gives me such a loose schedule, and I’ve been involved in movies and such, is play an extra, or “background performer” in local shoots.

P1040634

It’s kind of fun, if you don’t take it seriously, and you get a bit of money, and sometimes hobnob with stars, or at least the people who like to be with stars. I’ve collected stories, sometime, for some projects, which are in the air at the moment.

Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I was in a costume as above, playing a train passenger in the 1970’s for a film of the Mordecai Richler novel, Barney’s Version.

I was only there for a day, so don’t expect to see me much in the movie. Mainly I’ll be walking in the background by the train, in my Salmon pink leisure suit. I also get a fun thing to do in the train window as it pulls away, which is arranging luggage for my daughter. Something like “Mr. Bean.” Again, I doubt if anyone’s seen this.

extras-2

My mailman once saw me make a fool of myself in a disco nightclub, in a French Language TV series. I also spent a summer besieging a castle, and my own peasant village, in the movie Timeline.

extras1

Sprinkled in this post are 2 pages of sketches I did. Not much time to do sketches. Note the old gentleman in hat and trenchcoat. A ringer for Morgan Freeman.

Tags: , , ,

2 Responses to “Bein’ an Extra”

  1. Tara says:

    Hello – where on earth did you find the hat maker’s forms? I’ve been looking around for those and can’t find a one! Thanks!

  2. Jack says:

    This sounds as if it’s for a different post, but I imagine the hatmaker bid on a defunct business’ or factory’s equipment.

Leave a Reply