Learn about the different kinds of Extra work, and why movies can't get made without them
By Wyatt Elling
Every major blockbuster movie relies on extras to make the world of the movie believable.
Would you have felt any suspense if Tom Cruise was running down an empty street from the Martian invaders in War of the Worlds, or if Matt Damon was trying to evade capture in a deserted train station in The Bourne Identity?
Extras make the world of movies live and breathe. And unlike starring roles, studios cast extras of all types and ages.
The purpose of an extra, or "background actor," is to appear in the same frame as the featured actors, alone, within a group or a crowd, but be completely unnoticeable. If an extra draws the attention away from the main action for even a second, an entire take can be ruined. If an extra either isn't doing anything, or is trying to hard to "act natural," they aren't doing their jobs.
Some shots and set pieces on major movies require days of preparation and can cost millions of dollars for a single take. These kinds of scenes, like the storming of the beach at Normandy in Saving Private Ryan, typically employ hundreds of extras, and if any one of them messes up in front of the camera a huge amount of money and time goes straight down the drain.
Extras are extremely important, and even though their main skill involves completely blending into the background, one glance toward the camera can bring a production to a halt. That said, there are different categories within the extra world with different levels of responsibility.
Want to learn about the different ways you can be an extra? Click here to read: A Guide to the 3 Types of Background Actors!
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