First of all, I have to say that after being an extra on the movie Whip It, I’m totally in love with Drew Barrymore. I mean, I’ve always loved her and her work (Donnie Darko and Never Been Kissed are my favorites!) but after seeing her take on directing, producing and acting in her own film I’m totally impressed … especially since she is going through her recent break up from Justin Long. I heard her mention on the set that she had been acting since she was seven months old, and her professionalism and experience was apparent in my humble opinion.

Back to the movie. I found out about being an extra on Whip It from an actor I met at another small indie film I was an unpaid extra in a few weeks ago … and he mentioned that I should email “so and so” to see if they still needed extras … as he was playing a police officer in Whip It. Low and behold, they emailed me back and invited me on the set for many days, but since I work and had vacation and surgery this week, I only could come twice. I worked two days, the first from 3pm – 5am and the second from 11am – 1:30am and was paid $7.40 plus overtime and given 3 meals per day … and it was worth every penny!

Being an extra was hard, the days were long, tough, sweaty, thirsty, painful due to my AS, RA, and Fibromyalgia but yet exciting and fascinating. Basically, I stood under hot lights, drinking fake beer, and cheered on the actors. Most of the time we yelled silently, which was a little surreal, and funny as hell when you caught a clever person mouthing funny things to you. I love movies, I love movie stars, and I love production. I used to be a Telecom Major @ MSU and had to give up an internship to Sesame Street when my grandma died, so I also hung up my dreams of working in tv and in film. Which was too bad, as I was really good in my classes and even worked on a student run show @ MSU called “The Show.” But, this is what happens when you are poor and no one can pay for an unpaid internship in New York …

And the people watching was out of this world … every type of person was on this shoot. I met young college kids from EMU and U-M who were looking for a good time, high school and elementary school teachers looking to make some extra money, older people in the 50’s and 60’s that were retired and looking for a fun way to pass retirement, chicks who thought they were hot enough to be famous … (and they weren’t, which was the best part) and interesting people such as real Roller Derby Girls from the Detroit Team who weren’t a part of the movie, but wanted to be extras for fun and for $$$. I met one girl who was a real life derby girl with a partial shaved head, leather collar, but who also was a out of work chef who passed the time as a prep cook. She was there with her hubby and she told me about giving her daughter up for adoption seven years ago. I mentioned my own friends who have adopted two kids and told her how wonderful it was of her to give someone that chance to raise a child they desperately wanted.

I also met quite a few people who really called themselves actors, but had no experience. I love a person who tells me they are an actor, but when I ask were they in anything, even high school plays, they say no, and then they can’t even recognize the celebrities on the set, nor name movies that the actors had been in. For instance, not one of the young guys I stood next to could name a single Juliette Lewis movie, and after naming off all of her best films I was forced to utter Old School and only then did anyone know who she was. That is crazy. I repeated so many times that if you want to work in the film business you should be a movie fan and know who you are working with. There were so many weird people in crazy costumes on the set, such as a 60 year old dude I called Fat Elvis who wore fake tattoo sleeves on his arms and who attempted to sneak his way into every shot, but then just stood there like a turd when they wanted us to cheer on the derby girls.

Whip It is based on the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. The author of the book also wrote the screenplay for the film Whip It – Whip It is the signature roller derby move. The movie, just like the book, is set in Austin, Texas, and Ellen Page (Hello, Juno!) plays Bliss Cavender, an ex-beauty pageant queen who discovers and joins the roller derby.

All of the scenes I was a part of were at the roller rink, and I was along side the rink, walking in the parking lot after the game, and cheering in the stands. I wore a semi-punk outfit the first day which included my authentic Scottish beret and plaid Converse, and the second day I just wore a cute chubby girl multi-colored shirt with my cool huge silver hoops and sunglasses. I’m in a ton of shots, and was privileged to stand next to Drew and her directors and go to watch back the playback for about half the scenes I shot that second day and I totally saw myself in the crowd, which was cool as hell. In the stand scene I’m totally in front of camera 3, so you should be able to recognize me in the film, as I left my glasses off for that shot. Afterwards, as it was the last shot of the night, Drew specifically told Me that “You look awesome, and you are awesome.” Wowza!

Also you will notice me in the film when a polish blonde chick standing 2 people away from me holds up a funny sign.  And I’m right behind Drew when she is in a fighting scene. I’m also in scenes with the police. Plus, as the cast skates, you can see me along the rink from scene to scene. And I’m right next to the plank when they jump off … such as when the actress Zoe Bell who plays “Bloody Holly” skates on to the rink and does a cartwheel. On a side note, Zoe Bell was on Lost, one of my favorite tv shows, and played Regina, who was the chick who rapped herself in chains and committed suicide by jumping off the boat. She is one hell of a stunt person, and was a crack up on set, even burping and making jokes about it. I also heard her mention something about french fry farts, but didn’t hear the whole story.

Other stars of the film were the lovely and adrorable Drew Barrymore,

Juliette Lewis, who plays Dinah Might,

Kristen Wiig, (SNL),

who plays Malice in Wonderland,

and Eve, who plays Rosa Sparks.

There are two LA Derby girls (Thanks Stefcon!) playing other skaters, sort of like the chick version of the Hanson Brothers from that Paul Newman movie Slapshot. (Another side note, I dressed up as a hanson brother years ago … and you will see that picture during the Halloween season.) I also saw the actress Alia Shawcat on set who played Maeby Funke (The little teen girl) on Arrested Development, and she was adorable. She plays Pash, who is a friend of Bliss, according to IMDB.

All of the actresses were super tiny and thin. All of them. Ellen Page was so tiny I could fit her in my pocket. They all looked great, and they had to skate for hard, long hours under horrible hot bright lights. I don’t consider that to be glamorous work at all. Being on set for them was hard. Often, air was blasted on the actors and extras, and the stars were treated to snacks and ice cream between breaks. (Yes, I was jealous of those snacks!) And each star had their own make up and sweat blotter who ran on set to fix their make-up and hair. Not to mention the fight scenes. I saw a few start take an elbow or body check and land flat on their back with the wind knocked out of them from time to time. Ouch! But they were good sports and got right back up.

And finally, we get to Jimmy Fallon. He was on the set, talking on the mic and gearing up the extras.  According to IMDB.com, he is rumored to play the  MC of the roller derby in the movie, and was the most funny person on set. Constantly singing and dancing and talking to the extras. One time he was on the mic and asked me my name, in front of THE ENTIRE SET and I proudly told him it, which I’m not sharing here, as I like to keep it a mystery…. and, he gave me a high five off camera, and most of the actresses gave me a high five on camera, which was also cool as hell. But, my favorite moment during the entire set (Beside getting Sweddish Meatballs and garlic bread Wednesday night) was when I was brave enough to walk up to Jimmy Fallon outside the extra tent, shoo away all of the extras buzzing around him, and have a five minute conversation with him … and I was not nervous. I learned my lesson after the Ethan Hawke episode in Santa Monica years ago where I hid in the corner like the blair witch was getting ready to attack while my friend Guy simply chatted away with him. Here is my conversation, which I got permission to quote Jimmy for my blog. (He is such a great sport, isn’t he?):

Jimmy, can I ask you a question and quote you on my blog?

Sure!

What do you think of Detroit so far?

Laughs, I just got here, so I don’t know … tell me, where can I go to eat, what bars should I check out?

Try The Rochester Chop House or Kruse and Muir in Rochester, right by the Royal Park Hotel, one of out two 5 star hotels in Detroit. Great steaks.

Oh, well the movie is low budget, I’m not staying near there. Tell me about the bars … your open until 4am, right?

No, we are lame, 2 am. If you want to go out late tonight you can try MGM Grand, they have clubs that are open late.

No, I’m looking for dive bars.

I tell him about Gusoline Alley in Royal Oak. Oh, you should get Kid Rock to take you out. He loves to go to bars around town.

Do you know him, can you call him?

No, but I’m sure you can get a hold of him.

Is he in town?

Probably … call your agent. You’ll have a good time with him.

And then it was over, as we had been called back to the set an a P.A. whisked us both away. You need to read the text messages my friend Debi sent me in reference to that conversation, check out my blog titled Random test message on my phone right now.

I wish I was young and healthy enough to do that job full time, but I’m not. I went more for the experience rather than to become famous. Sure, it would be fun to be an actor, but come on! I’d love to be a Production Assistant, but I don’t have enough experience and I’m afraid all of those hours on my feet would kill me. As it was I didn’t wear my leg braces and felt like I was dying most of the time on set. And I’d love to be the photographer on set. Actually, I shot some pictures for another director on the indie film a few weeks ago and she wants me back. Its unpaid, so I’m not sure … still thinking about it …

And let me give a quick shout out to Jenny from the Block aka Governor Granholm who signed the Michigan Film Initiative which allows filmmakers get up to 40% refundable tax credit for filming here in Michigan. People in my town desperately need work and a little excitement. If you haven’t heard about our economy let me just tell you this – I have been looking for work for two years after graduating from college with a 3.79 and CAN NOT find a job because EVERYONE in Detroit is looking for work because everyone has been losing their jobs due to the decline of the auto industry. I’m not in that field, but it doesn’t matter, as we are all scrambling to find work anywhere possible. So, BRAVO Jenny, and because of what you did I had a great time this week!

*Sites used as character and plot references include IMDB.com, mtv.com, hutchinsonleader.com, en.wikipedia.org, movies.about.com, comingsoon.net, michiganextras.net, azcentral.com, pastemagazine.com, filmschoolrejects.com, blog.mlive.com, and milannews.com, and jimmyfallon.com.

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