A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN EXTRA
On the set of
EATERS OF THE DEAD
Produced by Touchstone Pictures
Now renamed
THE THIRTEENTH WARRIOR
I had the good fortune to be selected for a extra part in the movie EATERS OF
THE DEAD, some of which was filmed near Williams Lake, BC during the last
week of September 1997. Here is a recounting of Saturday, Sept 27.
Update: August 27, 1999; See postscript.
Told by Evan Williams
I wake at 4 o'clock, 15 minutes before the alarm is set to go off. I can't sleep. I
had a shower the night before so I won't have wet hair in the morning to interfere
with makeup. Soon it is time to leave. Grabbing my bag I start my truck and
drive. It is still completely dark at 5:30 am. As I drive toward the "circus" ten
kilometres past Alkali Lake Ranch the dawn light gradually fills the sky.
The
circus is the base camp of the Elk Bay production company, a collection of
peaked circus tents and 30 or so tractor trailer units with everything from
the caterer's kitchen to the director's offices. As I arrive it is now fully morning
and light enough to see without headlights. The trip takes 45 minutes over narrow gravel roads that wind through the local ranches. Many of
the crew are hustling around already with no time to chat and a few of the other
extras are already here ahead of me. I walk into the large "extras holding" tent
and drop my bag on a chair, reserving it for changing to my costume later. I chat with some of the other extras (many are friends or aquaintances, including the owner of the local movie theatre), we tell a few stories and jokes, check to see if there
is coffee this morning, but no, the coffee is not ready, again.
A little after 6:30
(our call time this morning) Wendy appears and starts passing out the sign-in
forms. I fill mine out and as usual, I have to look up my social insurance number
for the millionth time in my life. That done the forms are placed in a pile on the
table and we wait for word that we may go get our costumes. Wendy announces
that wardrobe is open and some of us are given permission to check out our
costumes. I hope I can get mine early as it takes a long time to put on... Now I go
to wardrobe and ask "NC17 please". The NC stands for Norseman Camp as I am
playing a Viking. One of the very pleasant but busy and harried women in
wardrobe grabs my costume from the rack and hands it to me. Back at the extras
tent I start changing. There is a tarped off change area for privacy but after the
first day few of us bother to use it.
I slip into my long linen undershirt first. It comes
halfway to my knees and has a drawstring at the neck. Then off with my jeans
and on with the dark grey wool pants. These have a rough rope securing the waist.
Then I put on my over-tunic made from dark brown leather in several sewn
together pieces for the body and dark wool sleeves loosely attached at the
shoulders with small metal rings. This is the easy part. Next are the boots. I put
on some slippers and then soft, loose leather boots over. These are fastened
with rough leather straps wound around the ankle several times and then under
the foot, then tied. Next are leg wraps of dark wool with binding straps of leather
wound in a criss-cross fashion from knee to ankle. It is difficult to get the ends to
wind up in the right place and usually takes several tries. Next are wrist bindings
of thin leather straps, same problem getting the ends in the right place. Finally I
put on my belt, very wide, about four inches high with two smaller straps on each
side holding the front and back pieces. Last is my scarf, this is easy. We are told
it is important to dress the same every day for continuity purposes. Movie
scenes are not filmed in sequence and what we shoot today could appear in the
final cut seconds before the scene we shot yesterday.
Costumes on, we walk to"hair" and "makeup". First is hair where the object is to make our hair look like it
has not been washed for a month or two. This is accomplished with liberal
application of hair conditioner until the hair is suitably stringy and greasy. Next is
makeup where dirt coloured makeup is smudged over all exposed skin on face,
neck and hands. This done we go back to the extras tent to wait for our call to
travel to the set. Comments are made about what a bad neighborhood this is,
filled with grungy looking characters, men and women. We imagine what it would
be like if we could walk into a bar, a crowd of us looking this way in our
costumes. Some maintain that in certain places in Williams Lake no one would
notice. By this time Craft Services (the caterers) are setting up plates of goodies,
fruit, crackers, danishes and other edibles. The coffee is not ready yet.
Some days we wait here for hours until we are called to the set, but this day we
go right away, just before the coffee is ready. Because of the location of the set
the only easy access is by helicopter. We wait in a group for the helicopter and
observe that in this business the lines grow longer from the front. This happens
as people who are more highly paid or are needed right away at the set or
simply get preferential treatment (actors as opposed to extras) move to the front
of the line. We do not engage in conversation with them as we have been told
strictly not to, especially on the set. No problem, we are being paid to wait and
being an extra means a lot of waiting. Eventually the short five minute helicopter
ride starts. Some people are still nervous about flying in the helicopters
(helicopters fly by beating the air into submission). The scenery is spectacular in
the early morning light as we swoop over the edge of the plateau and drop down
into the Fraser River canyon. We land smoothly and hurry out of the helicopter,
our bags are brought to us at the edge of the helipad. Built on the rough boulder
strewn bank of the river is a huge platform of two levels, each level 20 feet wide
and 250 feet long. On these platforms are many tents for housing the crew,
extras, cafeteria, equipment and actors. The platforms are designed to minimise
the environmental impact on the river bank. Trails through the rocks have been
cleared to ease walking and to accomodate "Gators", small six wheel atv's.
We gather in the extras holding tent and check to see if the coffee is ready. No
coffee yet. Someone plugs it in (yes, the generator is running). Now we wait to be called to go to the set. Some play cards, others try to catch up on lost sleep. Most spend the time
watching the filming of a scene involving the caravan of camels and horses with
Antonio Banderas and Omar Sharif directly in front of our tent on the river bank.
Only a few of the extras are in this scene, those dressed as Arabs. This takes an
hour or so to complete. We laugh at the realisation that directly behind
the camera man filming a scene of a caravan in the wilderness there stands a
plastic outhouse.
The set of the Viking village is over half a kilometre down river around a
small point. Just as the coffee is almost ready to drink our "extras wrangler",
Wendy, tells us to be ready to travel in a few minutes. The word comes over her
radio (all the crew wear them) and off we go. We march along the trail, a motley
looking group of Vikings, Arab traders and assorted slaves. Arriving at the set we
take up positions that we were in the previous day. Each of us has been
assigned a particular small part to play, perhaps stirring a cook pot or carrying
some burlap sacks, perhaps unloading one of the long boats. I am a Viking
trader selling drinking horns and knives (I am pleased with my assigned role). These are spread on a wool blanket on
the sand in the middle of the beach. I take up position sitting beside my wares.
Up from the water a hundred feet or so is the main Viking tent, a truly impressive,
authentic looking and functional structure large enough to house at least 50
people. It is built in the form of a large square cross from what are probably
imitation but very real looking hides and burlap cloth. Inside, however, are stored
many of the props used on the set. This set will not be used to shoot interior
scenes, only the exteriors. It takes a long time to get everyone into position. The
special effects wizards are hurrying about setting up "smokers". These are small
smoke generators powered by propane torch bottles. One is placed under the
giant outdoor cook pot that hangs from a tripod over a firepit. The smoke curls
up convincingly around the pot, the smoker hidden in a pit under the pot.
Another smoker is set on top of a tall ladder in the centre of the main tent, the
smoke escaping through the smoke hole at the top giving the appearance of a
cook fire inside.
Eventually all is ready and we are prepared for a rehearsal. The actors are on
set including Antonio Banderas, Omar Sharif and Asbjorn Riis (bjorn means Bear, a fairly common name in Scandanavia). Bear is a giant man with long blond hair. He plays the part of one of the Viking leaders. In todays scene the Arab caravan arrives in camp. The
scout for the caravan has just ridden into view and Bear walks down to see who
is here. In part of todays scene as Bear reaches the scout he grabs the
scout from his horse and carries him back to the camp under one arm. This is
practiced many times as we look quietly on. After much waiting a full rehearsal is called.
We all go through our assigned movements. After several repeats we feel more
comfortable with our roles. Now it is time to shoot some film. Director John McTiernan calls
"Picture!". The crew all hurry to clear the set of anything that does not belong in
the picture, including themselves. Each command of the director is echoed by
the assistant directors (AD's) all over the large set so everyone may hear. Next
is "Rolling!". The camera is now running and after a few seconds to get up to sound speed the director calls "Background action!" This is our cue to start our
activities. Next is "Action!" which is the cue for the actors to start. The entire take
lasts perhaps 45 seconds. We then hear "Cut!" and "Reset!" which means to go
back to our starting positions. We do several takes of this scene, sometimes
taking 15 or 20 minutes to reset everybody and everything including camels and horses.
By now it is time for lunch and the director calls "Lunch!" which means lunch. We
all trek back to the extras holding tent upstream from the village set. The cast
and crew eat before the extras so we help ourselves to some coffee which is
finally ready. After half an hour it is our turn to eat. Lunch is excellent with
barbecued steaks and assorted other goodies. After lunch it is back to the set.
We take up positions again. People are hurrying around the set
checking our makeup, hair and costumes. Perhaps a little more fake dirt is
needed on some elbows and knees or maybe a little more grease in the hair. I
submit to the ministrations of the hair lady, feeling vaguely pleased and even
imagine myself as an actor. Everyone is now in place and ready. There is
only one small problem, the sun has gone behind clouds and this scene
calls for sun. Bear paces down by the river and we wait.
The director calls "Waiting for the sun!" and we wait. Bear paces. The special
effects people are trying to start a water pump that is used to wet the rocks along
the trail. There is some whispered speculation among the extras why the rocks need to be
wet for the scene. Some think it is because it was supposed to be raining, others
suppose that is just for a shiny appearance. Finally the sun comes out enough to
shoot the scene but the recalcitrant water pump refuses to start. At last the water
pump starts and the rocks are wet down just as the sun hides behind another
cloud. We wait. The waiting stretches into an hour or more. It is hard to tell as
we are not wearing watches. The sun comes out through thin clouds but the
rocks have dried. My costume is extremely warm and I am sweating profusely. I practice
juggling the knives. It is a very good thing they have no edge. We wait as the crew
tries to start the water pump. No luck. Fed up, the director decides to shoot the
scene without wet rocks and we do so several times. The next scene calls for the
caravan to be slightly closer to the camp, perhaps five seconds of travel. To put
all the extras in the proper positions the extras are "advanced". An AD calls
"Background action!" for the extras and we all do our thing. After five seconds he
calls "Freeze!". This is our new starting position for the next scene. We shoot the
next scene many times. This is the scene where Bear hauls the scout from his
horse and it requires many takes to get just right. Eventually the director is
satisfied. But, we now must reshoot the scene from the morning as the light has
changed with the sun behind thin cloud. So, we all return to our original start
positions and do several takes of the scene we did before lunch. It is now about
5:00 pm and the director calls "Its a wrap!". That is it for today. We trudge the
700 or so metres back to extras holding and gather our things. The helicopters
arrive and we line up for a ride. We again experience the phenomenon of
the line growing from the front as the actors, crew, stunt people, wranglers,
assistant directors, and anyone else in sight go to the head of the line. Some of
us wait over an hour to hop on the helicopter. We remind each other we are
being paid to wait and accept our position as the lowest ranking people on the
set. At last we are on the helicopter and once again see the incredible scenery
of the Fraser River and surrounding area.
Back at the circus we shed our
costumes, put them back on hangers and turn them in to wardrobe. We sign out
with Wendy, another 12 hour day at the set. During this day perhaps two or
three minutes of usable film was shot. This seems to be the norm. I climb in my
truck and drive home. As I drive I contemplate the day and realise that I greatly
enjoyed every minute, even without much coffee. As I arrive home it is just dark
enough to need the headlights.
August 27, 1999
PS: I saw the movie on opening night. It suprises me how much film was shot and not used, many scenes of the Viking village were shot showing every-day life in a Viking summer camp, at least in the background, none of these scenes are in the final release, not even the impressive tent exteriors or the many shots of three Viking longboats pulled up on the beach with stacks and bales of goods being unloaded, not to mention the sacrifice of the virgin? and her final speech expressing her willingness to join her ancestors in Valhalla. The scenes on the day described above did not make it into the movie, except for about five seconds of a closeup of Messrs. Banderas and Sharif talking in the caravan (the scene with the blue plastic outhouse just behind the camera). I was told that the production cost at least $1,000,000 per day here. I had special access to the local production office, I installed and repaired all the fax and copier machines, a real "fly on the wall" job. I saw the location manager's plans and pictures as well as the shooting schedules, accomodation plans and transport arrangements and times. Interestingly, on the daily shooting schedule the big name stars are not refered to by real name, only by character name. During one scene Antonio Banderas' wife, Melanie Griffith, visited the set with thier child and held up the shooting for a bit while said child was posed for some still shots on the white arab pony, with John McTiernan grinding his teeth in the background. The three helicopters alone cost about $2000 per hour, running from dawn to dusk for two weeks. Factor in the cost of about 500 people (actors, extras, crew, support staff, some exceptionally well paid, especially the actors) plus transport of sets, catering, lodging for the out-of-town people (quite a few from Sweden and Denmark), reconstruction of the river banks (done very well, I hear), garbage clean-up (also very well done, they even cleaned the roads of trash not related to the shoot), many "special skills" extras at $300 per day, construction of a set that was not seen in the final cut but for perhaps five to ten seconds (even then, just barely), and I believe the $1,000,000 per day. It is amazing how much effort was expended to construct the Viking village here and not include it in any signifigantly visible way in the final cut. I hope Touchstone Pictures will release a Directors Cut on video with the unused scenes. It could really add to the story. For my part, I am clearly visible for a few seconds about five times in the first 15 minutes of the movie... My first and probably last film. As a last comment, all the crew and cast I came into contact with were extremely professional and capable, a real pleasure to work with. This business could be really addictive.
World of Earth Copyright 1999 Evan Williams
