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Think the movie business is all lights and glamour? Raz-mataz and dazzle?
Not quite. Just ask Brian Rice, a statistics department office assistant. He
signed on as an extra in Patch Adams, a movie shot in part on campus this
summer about an unorthodox doctor played by Robin Williams.
"The first day I got here it was kind of exciting standing there behind Robin
Williams in the first scene," said Rice, interviewed while biding his time in
Memorial Hall, which served as an extras holding pen during shooting. "But
after the first day and the days to follow, the Hollywood glow went slightly
dimmer, simply because it's a job."
A job with long hours. During one day of filming, Rice had to be available
from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. He spent as many as five hours idle, waiting to be
called before the camera.
"It's frustrating, but on the other hand, it's mixed emotions--it's money for
nothing but you say, `Boy, I sure would like to be doing something else,'" he
said.
And how do you kill five hours? Read magazines, play cards, get to know your
fellow extras and--when you've been up and at `em since 6 a.m.--catch a little
"nap time," according to Rice.
"It wears you out," he said, referring to the summer heat of outdoor shots
(made doubly oppressive by the corduroy blazer he had to wear for a `fall'
student orientation scene). "And you're on your feet all day."
Still, Rice added, the film's extras were treated well, as the production team
provided plenty of fluids and generous meal-time spreads boasting steak, salmon
and other high-end sustenance.
"On the whole, we can't complain," he said.
Rice was among about 1,000 Patch Adams extras, many of whom work at the
University. Unlike the unfortunate folks never called for their 15 minutes (15
seconds?) of fame, Rice will likely grace the screen in two scenes--as a
student during orientation and then later as a graduate taking part in
commencement exercises.
Rice sits next to Williams in the graduation scene and follows the star in
getting his diploma, so Rice's moment in the spotlight should be spared the
cutting-room floor.
"There's a very good chance that I'll be highly visible," he said.
Another University employee who may see screen time is John Akin, professor of
economics. He plays one of about 40 gynecologists who attend a convention at
Virginia Medical University--the Carolina scenes' fictional setting--and he
also plays a dignitary at graduation, sitting in the first row.
"I've been very lucky in getting a chance to see how it works," said Akin,
taking time out from lunch on the set for an interview.
And how does movie-making work? Very slowly.
"So much of it isn't shooting--it's getting organized and getting things ready
to shoot," Akin said. "Everything has to be there in the right place at the
right time. ... I have much more appreciation for how much work it takes."
And even when the director rolls the camera, Akin learned, the end may not be
at hand. Case in point: the gynecologists' convention scene, shot in part in
front of Murphy Hall.
"We kept having to march back and forth across that quad--it must have been 15
takes," he said.
Not privy to the script, extras tend to simply follow orders, in the dark
regarding the picture's big picture.
"You really don't know what's going on," Akin said. "You're in this one little
scene and you don't know if it's early in the movie or late in the movie."
Like Akin, Rice experienced firsthand the hours-behind-the-minutes nature of
movie-making. For a scene shot in Wilson Library, an entire day's effort went
into three-and-a-half to four minutes of screen time.
"I never would have guessed it takes so much to do so little," Rice said.
Robin Williams' presence on the set helped ease the tedium between scenes,
when the comedian/actor entertained anyone within earshot in his trademark
style.
"It was like a conversation--we were together--but his personality is such
that when something clicks in his mind he goes off into this
stream-of-consciousness thing," Akin said. "It was fun, it was amazing."
Williams' extemporaneous musings weren't limited to down time, either.
"They'd start rolling film and Robin would be in the middle of a monologue
he'd do off the cuff," Rice said. "It'd be difficult to keep a straight
face."
As for the stereotypical notion of the arrogant Hollywood superstar, there was
none of that in Williams.
"He really is nice," Akin said.
Although Rice dabbled in film and stage as a student at UNC-Greensboro, he
said he'd never done anything on the scale of Patch Adams. The chance to work
on a Robin Williams movie and learn about big-budget filmmaking prompted him to
sign on.
"It sounded like it would be fun," he said.
Akin had no acting experience at all before Patch. What inspired his thespian
venture? It was pure spur-of-the-moment stuff. "I was walking by Memorial Hall,
which is near my office, and I saw the sign [soliciting extras] and said, `What
the heck?'"
While Akin and Rice both found their movie experience educational, they don't
plan to give up their day jobs for extras' minimum-wage salaries.
"You don't do it for the money--it's just for fun," Akin said.
But what if this could be the start of bigger and better things?
"Maybe, if the legislature doesn't give us a good raise this year," Akin
said.
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