I was a movie extra: An insider glimpse from filming of George Clooney's 'Ides of March' in Ann Arbor
Filming for the movie "The Ides of March" is taking place in Ann Arbor this week. Ever wonder what it’s like behind the scenes? Ever consider taking a day off from your everyday life to spend it in close quarters with film star and director George Clooney?
Yeah, me too! And apparently I am not the only one. Hundreds people showed up to spend their days as unpaid extras for the film’s big political assembly scene shot at the Power Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday.
"The Ides of March" extras Angie Smith, Denise Strube of Canton and Terri Fenelon of Ann Arbor.
Here’s the play by play of my day:
Scene 1: 10 p.m. on the eve of the Ides of March
I got an email confirming that I'd been selected as an extra for filming. Details like where, when and what to wear were included:
“The scenes we are filming are set at a university in OH in late Winter. You are attending a Democratic Party presidential primary event.
Wardrobe Direction:
"No logo stuff from U-M because this is in Dayton/Kent. Just bring choices nice casual to dressy suits sport coats shirts ties woman suits dresses just nice good-looking smart wear"
Too late for shopping, I frantically search my wardrobe for what could be considered smart wear. Red blazer, a couple of slacks, a few tops. All set.
Scene 2: 6:45 a.m. on the Ides of March
My day begins with the sunrise to get all of my ducks in a row so I can report to extras holding by 8 a.m. Oh the price of glamour!
Scene 3: 8:30 a.m. Extras Holding
My cohorts and I arrive at Extras Holding — a fancy name for big unheated white tent. Wardrobe glances at what we are wearing and tells us to change. We make our way to a curtained off area and modify our wardrobes: “No red, you’ll stand out.” (Yeah, that was my goal.) “No black, you’ll blend in.” We put on the professionally chosen outfits and are sent to the set.
Scene 4: 9:30 a.m. The Set
We are ushered in to the Power Center, where filming will take place for the day.
9:38 a.m .
I think I just spotted George!
9:50 a.m.
The director comes on to stage and introduces himself to us, the audience of roughly 700 extras. Who is directing this film? Why, none other than George Clooney.
Most of us had no idea if we would even see the superstar today, so cheers and excitement erupted throughout the theater. The captive audience has no problem following direction and enjoying Mr. Clooney’s humorous quips and light banter.
We enjoyed every minute of his attention, and he ours. During the day he tells us about his dinner last night at Ann Arbor’s Pacific Rim, joked with us the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State, and had the crowds cheering for a University of Michigan film student named Yuri.
There is a lot of waiting but the crew and cast are personable and friendly.
We, the extras, are rearranged throughout the theater to shoot and reshoot a scene where George’s presidential candidate character is giving a speech about the importance of changing the world and the science of global warming. We are the enthralled supporters. We cheer and wave flags.
11:30 a.m.
Though I long for a bathroom break, I don’t dare get up, as I just got moved to the front of the auditorium. Some university art students tell us about working on set pieces the day before. One student refers to Clooney as "an elusive butterfly."
12:05 p.m .
Cheer some more.
12:25 p.m.
Stay quiet. One precocious extra gathers up the nerve to walk up to the set stage and ask George for his autograph. He smiles and charmingly obliges.
1:15 p.m.
Anyone else getting hungry? Waiting for some camera repositioning. We overhear that a lunch break may be in our future. Some extras lament that they reported for duty at 6:30 a.m.
1:55 p.m .
Stay quiet some more. Filming has moved to the theater foyer, and I have a new understanding of the term captive audience. We’re happy to be waiting indoors, but five hours seated in an auditorium has yet to feel glamorous.
2 p.m.
We alternately cheer, look attentive, and wait as a gospel choir preform a song in harmony, and then again in lip synch.
2:30 p.m.
We are released, thanked and given boxed lunches on our way out.
Movie making… turns out it’s a lot of waiting. Will the scenes filmed today even make it into the final cut of the movie? And if they do might I even be able to find myself in the crowd? I guess I’ll wait and see.
On my way out, I am offered a chance to come back again as a paid extra the following day. I think about having a second day to take a stab at stardom… and decide to wait.
Angie Smith is a freelancer for AnnArbor.com, where she usually covers retail and shopping.
Comments
Liz
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 12:04 p.m.
I was an extra on the Bloomfield Hills set on Monday. It was a fun time but definitely tiring, lots of "hurry up and wait" situations. We got to see Clooney, Ryan Gosling, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, though, which was awesome. :)
spm
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 11:04 a.m.
I'm not going to get into the tax break argument, but I did bike past the set on Tuesday morning and saw everyone in the white tent. Glad you had fun. It looked like everyone was nervous, but happy to be there. I will add that I saw a bunch of guys working setting up stuff around the tent and the trailers who wore jackets that said "Detroit Film Crew Union" or something like that. I'm sure they're glad they're getting paid to work on Clooney's film.
Angela Smith
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 12:41 p.m.
As other commenters have noted, not all of the locals were unpaid. I also noticed that many of the crew members were wearing Detroit oriented gear: Tigers tees, Kid Rock logos, and Made in Detroit hoodies, for example. It was nice to see the pride.
John
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 12:04 a.m.
Thats pretty cool, but... Why were you unpaid? Can you get 500-1000 people in the Area to help clean our dirty County up, I will buy bag lunches also..... Odds of this ever happening are slim to none. Don't most movies have a great ROI? like something like 1000 percent. i.e. 100 million dollars to make a movie would preduce 1 Billion dollars in revenue.... Kinda would be a cool thing to do but thats kinda like stealing from people to not be paid for your time, When they are going to make a killing at the box office, at least get those extras a free DVD and a movie ticket with food included to watch it at the theaters, All these film companies should be ashamed of them selves for taking advantage of all these people. For instance they are cheating the Extras and also the state by not paying taxes on the money they should have paid. $7.40 times 8.25 hrs = $61.05 so $61.05 time 500 extras = $30525.00 a day $30525.00, so what ever the Social Security, medicare, michigan state tax, federal tax should all be matched according to the tax code So they stole about 40k-45k Dollars a day from Michigan alone. I wonder how many days they did this for total I bet it ends up to be well over 500k in total money taken out of our community so Rich people can get Richer.
Tom Teague
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 8:06 p.m.
@Steve Landes - It all balances out: Your tax dollars also helped pay for a remake of "Red Dawn," which is scheduled for release this year. It depicts an invasion of the US by North Korea. The original script was heavily criticized by one of China's official publications so my guess is that it continues with the original movie's decidedly conservative tone.
John of Saline
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 7:18 p.m.
I'd be interested to see these films audited to the last dollar. The production companies get 42 cents for every dollar they claim to spend on production. Note I said "claim." Hollywood is famous for inflating expenses on movies, playing accounting games to make it appear that even very successful films turned no profit (allowing them to pay little to people who contracted for a percentage of the profits). How many extra receipts and expenses are being tossed into the applications these films file that are unrelated to production, just to boost the check written by we Michigan taxpayers? I bet Michigan can't even afford the auditing to find out.
David Briegel
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 1:28 a.m.
Yeah, they would have to hire and pay an evil govt bureaucrat to do that! About the same as any other corporation who wants to pad their expenses. That's how business works!
David Briegel
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 6:53 p.m.
This article is NOT about film incentives of conservative "values". This young lady wrote an interesting article. Keep up the good work Angela!
Chuck
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 6:02 p.m.
Loved your article. Hopefully we will see you in the film:)
Richard C
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 5:47 p.m.
Seems like people in Ann Arbor just like to complain, many times without knowing anything about the subject. How is having a scene in a movie promoting a political philosophy? Also, where do you think the lunches for over 700 people came from not to mention the tent rental ? Local businesses benefit from this.
John
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 12:07 a.m.
Yeah, I am sure the ham and cheese sandwich is equal pay for over 8 hrs of free work?
Craig Lounsbury
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 6:40 p.m.
The problem is that the 700 lunches were subsidized by the tax payers to the tune of 40-42%. So if its a 5 dollar lunch the State of Michigan covered $2-$2.10 of the price. In exchange the state collected 30 cents in sales tax for a net lose of $1.70 to $1.80
Belgium
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 5:26 p.m.
Wow, it amazes me how many people don't understand the difference between the cost of a production and a tax break. Do you honestly think Michigan is paying for 42% of the cost of these films? Do you not realize that for every dollar spent in tax break brings $6 in revenue to the State of Michigan? Or are you so partisan and bitter, you won't let the facts get in the way?
Craig Lounsbury
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 6:35 p.m.
The 40% to 42% credit comes from the State Government checking account. The so called 6 dollars in economic impact is in the private sector and generally includes tracking and recounting the same dollars as they move from one pocket to another. In the end the taxes collected never from that 6 dollars never comes close to replacing the original expenditure.
Stephen Landes
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 4:21 p.m.
Ah, yes, Clooney making a film with part of it set at a Democrat political event. And I am paying for 42% of that to promote a political philosophy I don't believe in. Imagine how upset the left would be if the film -- with huge credits -- was about "W"!
David Briegel
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 1:31 a.m.
Did you lament that Schwarteneger Epic filmed up North? nah! You would have loved that epic tale of the Texas buffoon who traded his family name for infamy!
Elizabeth
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 3:47 p.m.
8 a.m. isn't so bad, call time on Monday was 6 a.m. Also, I'm pretty sure at least some extras were paid for this scene.
UtrespassM
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 2:15 p.m.
There are people looking for students acting, My son wants to try., but he was told he is too Asian!
Ron Granger
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 1:54 p.m.
"Hundreds people showed up to spend their days as unpaid extras for the film's big political assembly scene" Oh- make no mistake. It was not unpaid. The people of michigan paid. We paid $155 million. And we're still paying. I hope it really "stimulated" the economy. Though I hadn't noticed, and wouldn't have known if you hadn't mentioned it. But that's probably just me :P
xmo
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 1:13 p.m.
I like all of the jobs that the film tax credit has brought to Michigan, " unpaid extra for the film's " Doesn't that say it all?
seeyamia
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 9:49 p.m.
The vast majority of extras are paid. For work last week on this film I was paid a flat rate of $104 for about 7 hours of work (over $14/hr), plus a delicious breakfast and lunch. That's way more than I make at my regular job, and I got to eat french toast and crab legs! Major productions only use unpaid extras for huge scenes like this one (>200), and the extras denote on their applications whether they're willing to work as a volunteer or not. Also unpaid extras can usually win prizes on set-- not much, I know, but it's a nice gesture, and it adds to the excitement of the atmosphere. So basically not only does your comment not "say it all," it barely says anything relevant in the least.
John
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 12:11 a.m.
Agree'd they are stealing from people who have delusions or grandeur. Hey come help me make a movie I am gonna make A2 its about we saved millions of dollars by not paying anyone who works for us, but we will make sure not to spend any money in Michigan after the movies is over with, bc we will be outta the state with in 30 mins of our last shot here thanks again the Film Company!!!
Craig Lounsbury
Wed, Mar 16, 2011 : 11:53 a.m.
I'm sure its a memory you will carry for years to come. I hope you find yourself in the movie. That would add to the memory. As a tax payer I hope your box lunch was tasty.
Angela Smith
Thu, Mar 17, 2011 : 12:50 p.m.
Well the turkey sandwich and hot soup were tasty. I hope the cast and crew are also enjoying their catered meals and dinners out this week. ...And I hope their experience of Ann Arbor will also make for great memories of a great city.