It’s that time of year again and that means Home Alone is on most channels. And that means we revisit one of our favorite conspiracy theories.
As Butch Cassidy might have said: Who is that guy?
Surely the Screen Actors Guild knows who this guy is. He didn't just walk in off the street and straight onto the set of a major motion picture.That’s Richard Karn from “Home Improvement.”
Jimmy Hoffa?
I don’t think so, Tim.
No, but if he’s a crowd extra he not necessarily[ul]
[li]is a member of SAG[/li][li]got paid[/li][li]had his name taken down by the folks making the movie[/li][/ul]I was a crowd extra and all three of those were true (if you don’t count lunch for #2).
It was a “Karate Kid goes to college” knock off and I don’t remember how I heard about the extras call. The shoot was in the old gymnasium at San Jose State for what looked like the penultimate scene at a karate tournament, and they needed the extras for the stands behind the action. As we came into the lobby of the gym, we were told to sit in a particular section of the gym where (I assume) the assistant director took charge of us and told us where to sit and what to do. In addition to us in the stands, a call had gone out to the local dojos and there were bunches of kids in their gis sitting on the floor.
While the rest of the talent was getting ready, about a half hour was spent shooting us directly for reaction shots, cheering, looking horrified, etc. The rest of the time we were just in the background while the action was being shot on the floor. There were fewer of us than they would have liked so we sat in a bunch directly behind where the camera was looking and get moved from time to time for each new setup. It lasted from 10am to 6pm or so and every hour a prize was drawn to keep us there, plus a box lunch for everyone. Quite a few left after lunch but I was interested in the craft of making a movie so stuck it out.
Unfortunately, I took no notes and this was before the web, never mind the IMDb was available, but I believe it died in the can. The working title was A Touch of Wing but looking for that draws a blank on IMDb as well as any of the other searches I can think of.
A standard stunt pulled by extras: do a little move that maybe the director won’t notice during filming and order a reshoot. But up on the big screen draws attention to the wanna be actor.
Dude, that was awesome! Merry Xmas!
And the same to you, burpo.