Extra! Extra!

A few weeks ago, I was looking for a temp job and a place to play soccer. I found a place to play soccer, but the temp job was more elusive.

I then came across an ad on craigslist (one of the best sites in the world, in my opinion) looking for soccer players to be in a movie about the life of Jay-Jay Okocha. It was soccer, it was temporary; 2 birds with one stone. Thus began my stint as a featured extra in a movie.

Day 0 - The "Audition"

I had to drive 30 miles to a soccer complex to try out. I thought 20-30 people would show, but there were 8. I actually thought I was at the wrong location until the director showed up. Asking people, who probably have jobs, to show up on a Monday at 10am, for the possibility of making very little money doesn't bring out tons of people, I guess.

The movie required 3 groups of players - members of a German club team, members of a Nigerian team, and members of a Turkish team. The players chosen to be on the German team would get paid, everyone else would not. Four of the eight who showed up to the tryout were black, 3 were white, and me. The director said "all the white guys will be on the German team, all the black guys on the Nigerian team". I asked about me; he said "you're with the white guys". Apparently, I can pass as white, or some non-black ethnicity on a German club team - one of the few times in my life being mixed has been an advantage. We were told to be on set (the soccer complex 30 miles away) at 8 am the next day.

Day 1 - The cold and the rain

At about midnight, I got an email saying we had to be there at 8:30 the morning of the first day of the shoot. It was cold and rainy that day. "It rains and is cold in Germany", said Gil, the soccer choreographer. He had a point - we were supposed to be in Germany, but that didn't make the day any more enjoyable.
We were under the kind of tent you see at flea markets, with sides put up around 3 sides. This didn't do much to stop the wind. A gas-powered space heater was put into the tent, which we (some much more than others) gathered around. One guy suggested we get a giant blanket that we all wrap ourselves in - that's not the kind of thing to say to a tent full of soccer-playing guys; everyone kind of gave him a look after that suggestion.

I was involved in 2 scenes that day.
The first involved me playing defense, but not getting the ball away from the players with the ball. This is not natural. Even though I mostly played forward and midfield on Red/Blue Storm in San Jose, I feel like I'm best as a defender, and being told to defend, but not take the ball away, was frustrating.

The other scene I was in is pictured below:
In this scene, one of the stars of the movie Jimmy (who's a really cool, down-to-earth, guy), is getting out of his gear after practice. I was sitting on a metal bench, wearing shorts, with one of my cleats off, in 45-degree weather redoing the scene at least 5 times. Each time, I would start untying the second cleat, taking it off, stand up, and then put on track pants. I loved those track pants because they were the only leg covering I had had all day. The thing is, every time "cut" was said, I had to take them off again, back to the metal bench, with my shorts on.

The day ended right after that scene was done. I left for home at about 6, and I don't remember a hot shower feeling so good.

At 2 AM, I got an email message telling me to be on set at 7:30 the next morning.

Day 2 - "We're talkin' about practice, man" - Allen Iverson

I got to the set at 7:30 that morning. I did nothing until after 9. I don't know if this is a movie thing, or a this movie thing, but I learned that being there an hour late really meant you were early, and being there on time meant you were crazy to lose sleep and make the 35 minute drive to Bel Air. Of course, most people were there when they were supposed to be, but things never seemed to happen until much later.

We filmed practice on Day 2. Before we could film practice though, we had to practice practice. Practicing practice doesn't take any less energy than actually practicing, so jumping over things and doing high steps doesn't seem any easier after the 6th or 7th time. After that, the cameras started rolling and we had to do it "for real". I was exhausted, and realized how much older I was than some of the other soccer-playing extras.

We also filmed some reaction shots to the coach. If I am to get a close-up in this movie, it will be in this scene. The frustration I had in this scene came when I was told I was nodding "no" when I should be nodding "yes", to a question, whose obvious answer was "no". I kept nodding "no", because that would make more sense to anybody except the person who told me to nod "yes", and there were no complaints.

The only time my voice may appear in the film happened on that day - I shouted "Goal!", after Jimmy (I never can remember his character's name) scored a goal in "practice".

At 5:15, we (the soccer extras) were told we would be needed for one more scene. We sat and waited, and waited, and waited. At about 6:30, we were told to get ready, at 6:55 they decided to scrap the scene and told we could go home. An hour and half a sitting around....for nothing. I began to wonder about the organization and planning ability of the filmmakers.

The late night email came again, a little earlier this time - 12:30 am; we were asked to be on set at 7:30 on Day 3.

Day 3 - Everybody Quits

I arrived on the set 30 minutes late because I knew I wouldn't miss anything by getting there on time.
I got there to find very few people around, nothing set up on the field for filming, almost no one from the crew, but actors were ready to go. I went up to the soccer extras, wondering what was going on - a bunch of people, including the assistant director, had quit. The AD had a bunch of people who worked under him and they were all gone too.

Needless to say, the day started slowly. I had told myself I would leave if nothing had happened by 10 (two hours after I had arrived). Stuff started to happen at 9:30. People picked up the slack, and it ended up being the most productive day I witnessed on the set.

We got a new AD, a soccer playing AD, and filming seemed to go smoother and quicker than it had the first two days. He seemed to have the attitude of getting things done and moving on, and it worked. The director was barely on set that day, and, to be honest, I think that's why things went so well that day.

The scenes I was involved in that day revolved around an argument that the main character (played by Emeka Ike) has with a teammate, on the field. We again had to fake-play soccer. Because there were so few players, the entire scene had to take place in the penalty area of the field, without any attempt to score a goal. Can you say unrealistic? Looking back on it, I think it should have taken place anywhere but in the box, since being close to the goal didn't have any real bearing on the scene, but who am I to talk? Just a lowly featured extra.
We got out of there reasonably early that day, at about 6 pm. The soccer players would not be needed the next day, so it felt like the first Friday of the school year, when you know you won't have to go to school the next day. I was eager to get home that day.

Day 4 - The Day Off

Day 5 - When 11 hours = 45 minutes

Filming was now was moving to Coppin State University. We were told to be on set at 8:30. I got there at about 8:45 and there seemed to be a number of people around. We were supposed to be filming game sequences today, so there were a few new extras to fill out the crowd - not enough to fill out the crowd however, because 5-6 people are not quite enough to fill a soccer stadium, or a section of a stadium, or one of the bleachers in the section of the stadium.
We sat there until 10:30. Then a call came in; soccer players were not needed until 2, then the soccer choreographer came by; soccer players would not be needed until 3. Thank goodness for sisters with cars - mine came and picked me up, and I went back home.

I was back at the set at 3:15. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece hung around, possibly to be used in the crowd scenes. They sat around for a while with me and left at 5:30, feeling that they had better things to do with their time. At 6:30 we were asked to go to wardrobe. Finally, I thought, we'd be filming a game sequence. Nope - we filmed another practice scene. At 7:30, we were told we were done for the day. The total amount of time I was in costume was 45 minutes.
No one seemed to know what time we were supposed to be on set the next day, so I went home. I got home that night at about 8:15, and got a call at 10:30, letting me know that soccer players would not be needed the next day. We would get a call in a few days, I was told, to film some bar/club scenes. I asked if I could be given a more specific date; the person on the other end did not know.

Days Since

A couple of days later, I saw this on craigslist:
I got an email from the casting assistant that day, letting the cast know that filming would be put on hold for the next two weeks. I emailed her back, asking when we would be getting paid for the work we had already done. She said that was one of the reasons the film was put on hold; to sort out that kind of thing - who should be getting paid, and how much. It seems to me that kind of thing should be sorted out before filming started.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about being in limbo. I deleted it because I felt like the point I was trying to make wasn't getting across. My experience with this movie very much echoes the limbo I have been feeling in my life over the past 6 months.

When I left the set each day, I was never sure about when I would be wanted on set next, getting early morning emails telling me to be on set only a few hours later. When I was on set, it was never clear to me when I would be needed to do anything.

It has been a week since I heard anything about the movie (though I did hear through backchannels that the production will be moving to LA). I don't know if or when I will be needed to do anything more for this movie. I don't know if or when I will be paid for the work I've done already. I don't know if or when this movie will ever be shown to an audience.

While people may like working in film, it's not for me. I don't like limbo, I haven't liked it for the past several months in my real life, and haven't liked it for the past few weeks in my fake one.

I like knowing what I'm doing in my life and when I'm going it - I'm the kind of person who starts planning a class several months before stepping into the classroom (as I'm doing now for a class that starts in late June).

So I sit here again, as I sat here several weeks ago, only now I have a new experience I'm not sure I enjoyed or not. I just hope that some day, I have something tangible to show that I was a featured extra in a soccer movie.