'Extra' special: I was shot at by Leonardo DiCaprio ... sort of
Jacob Belcher
German soldiers and American G.I extras walk through the Ashecliffe movie set, replicated to look like the Dachau concentration camp after concluding dress rehearsals at Whittenton Mills in Taunton last Tuesday afternoon.
By Jacob Belcher
GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 12, 2008 @ 01:23 PM
TAUNTON, Mass. Acting was never something I could honestly put on my resume.
The closest I ever really got to acting in anything was when I played Joseph about seven years ago in a play about the birth of Jesus at my former church.
I really didnt have any lines to rehearse, and only had to pantomime during the scene. It sounds easy right?
It shouldve been, aside from the fact I couldnt grow a decent beard to look the part, and my sister was playing the Virgin Mary, so trying to keep a straight face while she was playing my wife was difficult at best. It was also awkward because we messed up the entire first scene of the play.
Jen ended up elbowing me because I missed my cue to move closer to her, a critical mistake in front of 200 or so people on Christmas Eve. It was sort of a nightmare, and when everything was over I really didnt think anyone was feeling Gods love in that church.
I really hadnt thought about that ordeal again until just recently when I got a callback to be an extra in Martin Scorseses new film, Ashecliffe.
While covering the open casting call for The Call at Boston University last month, I decided to give the experience a try myself, since the company was looking for people of all types.
I thought my real calling in the movie would be as a concentration camp prisoner. The film includes World War II flashback scenes of American GIs busting through the enemy lines to emancipate concentration camp prisoners in 1945.
I thought my featherweight girth and tall build would get me a role as an emaciated prisoner for sure, but the powers that be had other plans for my acting prowess.
I was shocked to get called back to be a German soldier. I was also a bit excited to know I was going to be playing for the losing team, though picturing myself with short, greasy hair, sort of looking like my grandfather except with a German uniform, kind of scared me. It was an uncomfortable image.
A week later - after getting the shortest haircut I have had in quite some time - I found myself on a movie set as a Hollywood extra.
You may think this life is glamorous, action packed and replete with non-stop thrills.
You would be wrong.
Ill give you an example of the true extra experience.
Remember when your license expired and you had to make the trek to the RMV only to wait a good hour-and-a-half to do your business and get on with your life? Thats kind of what its like to be an extra - only youre not getting your license renewed in this process - and there is almost a 100 percent chance your time waiting in line may be a tad longer.
In this line of work, from what Ive encountered, waiting in lines is about 85 percent of what its all about. The other 15 percent is doing your actual job and blending in with the background of your set.
My day started off waiting in line to change into my Nazi uniform with 100 or so other extras. We then had to have our hair and make-up done to look more dirty.
Then we waited in line to pick up our props, and, of course, last but not least, we waited in line to get shot.
Not actually shot, though the sole purpose for many of us being there was to pretend to get, well, shot.
We extras - lawyers, teachers, maintenance men, aspiring actors, and even a photojournalist like myself in their regular lives - were all there to act like we were getting killed.
The films stunt coordinator gave us a choice I never thought I would ever have to make in my life.
Do you want to be shot in the head, chest, or shoulder?
We all had to choose and I picked the head. Quick and easy, I thought. Other guys went for the chest and shoulder so they could contort their bodies a little more and possibly get a little more face time in front of the camera.
When the bullets first started flying - not actually fly since they were blanks - the scene looked like a twisted dance as we all dropped down onto the bare dirt on top of one another.
The next day we were on set doing the whole thing again, this time with more spontaneity and precision because Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the shooters on the American GI side.
We now had to get the scene right not only for Scorsese, but for DiCaprio - a priority in everyones mind.
The scene had taken the better part of two days to film at that point, but you cant mess with Scorsese perfection.
The first day of rehearsal, and the actual shooting on the second and third day will probably yield a couple of minutes of cinematic history, a history I may or may not be a part of depending on whether I end up on the cutting room floor.
But please dont think Im complaining about my stint as a Hollywood extra.
For one thing, being an extra included a non-stop, 13-hour, all-you-can eat smorgasbord of snacks and free meals per day.
And just seeing how scenes are filmed through movie magic (aka the hard work of stage hands) was an experience.
Giant wind machines turned seemingly calm afternoons into blustery snow-piled tableaux through which skeletal concentration camp prisoners shuffled their way toward the glimmer of hope represented by storming GIs - all in little old Taunton of all places.
It was a surreal experience I wont soon forget.
This is the first we have heard of these WWI flashbacks, it adds a really intriguing element to the film and explains some of the earlier pics we saw.
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