Movie gives locals chance to star as extras

Despite low pay and long hours,
residents eager to play a part

By Don Ward
Editor
MADISON, Ind. (October 1999) – Sporting polyester clothes and 1970s hairstyles, they patiently stand in the shade of Madison City Hall awaiting their instructions.
Suddenly, a man with a walkie-talkie comes over. “OK, ladies, we haven’t seen you in a while. You want to come and be in this scene?”

Photo by Don Ward “Madison” co-author and director Bill Bindley (left) discusses an upcoming scene with actor Jake Lloyd prior to filming in front of Rogers Corner on East Main Street.

And with that, they trot off to take their places along Madison’s Main Street to star as movie extras in the independent film “Madison.”
“This is so exciting; I love it,” said a bubbly Debbie Yingst, a Shaw Memorial High School religion teacher who, with that hairstyle, resembled Maryanne from “Gilligan’s Island.”
Moments later, the camera rolls, classic cars cruise up Main Street and these Madison extras do their thing: walk along the sidewalk, window shopping and greeting one another as they pass.
Although they never speak, this is a job they’ve dreamed of doing all their lives.
“I used to do this when I was in college at Cal-Tech,” said Madison’s Brian Cox, dressed in a suit and tie with painted-on brown sideburns.
“I think it’s neat to be in a movie. But this shirt is way too small,” he said, tugging at his sides.
Carrie and Duke Boles and their four children are all playing extras in the movie – everything from street walkers to Carrie’s portrayal as a boat crew member’s wife.
“Today, they asked me to be a stand-in for Mary McCormack,” she says, referring to the New Jersey actress hired to play the wife of 1971 Miss Madison hydroplane driver Jim McCormick.
Hanover homemaker Tonya Hill decided to try out as an extra “to get out of the house.” She got the job and now is pulling minimum wage to walk up Main Street several times a day while wearing a sleeveless flowery dress and her hair tied into a “French twist.”
Madison school bus driver Judy Duncan had a special reason for taking on her role. “My mother passed away recently and I was depressed. So my daughter urged me to come down and try out,” said Duncan, 45.
Since then, both Duncan and her daughter, Grote employee Kim Perkins, have been in several shots. Duncan was wearing high heels and her mother’s blue dress during this day’s shoot.
“My feet hurt, but I’m doing this so that in 20 years when this movie hits the screens, my grandchildren can say, ‘That’s my grandma up there.’ ”
Most of these extras began work during Labor Day weekend, when Madison Miracle Productions started filming along the Ohio River banks. They have agreed to be available at a moment’s notice to show up at the wardrobe office on Second Street, where they are dressed and made up. They are then driven to the filming locations, where they mostly stand around and wait for their cue.
“I think it’s a lot of fun, and you get to meet a lot of interesting people,” said Claudia Barbour, 28, a self-employed civil engineering consultant who drove from Owensboro, Ky., to be in the move. She wasn’t sure where she would be staying that night, since all the Madison hotels were full.
Barbour was an extra in Walt Disney’s “Flubber,” filmed in San Francisco. She heard about this movie on a radio station in Owensboro, which was McCormick’s hometown. Then she called the Ohio Film Commission to find out more. She drove to Madison in early August to try out and returned in late September to traipse along Main Street in front of the cameras.

Photo by Don Ward (From left) Judy Duncan of Madison, Ind., Tonya Hill of Hanover, Ind., and Claudia Barbour of Owensboro, Ky., await their cue during filming on Madison’s Main Street.

“I was pretty surprised to learn of a movie being filmed here,” said Barbour, dressed in a sleeveless, green polyester dress and sandals. “I was expecting someplace like Chicago.”
Sherry and Brian Boldery and their daughters, Brittany, 12, and Katie, 9, also have worked as extras and have met many of the actors. But Sherry says the job isn’t all fun and games.
“It’s time-consuming work just to get one shot,” she said. “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so we wanted to do it.”
The 1999 Madison Regatta president Denny Jackson of Milton, Ky., also landed a part as an extra in the film. He could wind up in the awards presentation scene that took place following Jim McCormick’s – er, actor Jim Caviezel’s – no, make that vintage Miss Madison boat driver Dave Williams’ Gold Cup victory.
But perhaps the biggest coup among “Madison” extras went to 12-year-old Kyle McClanahan. The Madison Junior High School 7th-grader was originally selected to play a paper boy. After filming the scene, he was called back to take on a speaking role as one of Mike McCormick’s two young friends and, in doing so, met actor Jake Lloyd, who plays the younger McCormick. The two boys and a third boy from Chicago filmed the bicycle-riding scene behind Clifty Inn and will be in at least one other scene.
In between shots, Kyle chatted with the “Star Wars” film star. “We talked a lot about how he got into the movie business and what music he likes,” said Kyle, the son of William Hall and Ginny McClanahan.
As far as his acting, Kyle said, “I was a little nervous at the beginning, but I think I did OK.”
His mother said Kyle was determined to be in the movie ever since he heard it would be shot in Madison. “We were going to go on vacation, but he wanted to be in this movie. We took him down for the tryouts, and they called me later that night,” she said.
Kyle said his schoolmates think his getting a role in the movie is “really cool.”
Also “cool” was Greg Chatham’s selection as Lloyd’s photo double after approaching the star for an autograph. The Madison youth got the job and the autograph and was later filmed cheering on his fictional father’s race boat from atop of a riverfront mooring tower.
Ovo Cafe owner Greg Thomas, another silver screen hopeful from Madison, actually studied theater at Hanover College and in New York. He has three independent film credits and once starred in an off-Broadway production.

Photo by Don Ward Madison 7th-grader Kyle McClanahan has landed a speaking role in a scene with actor Jake Lloyd.

Thomas was taped reading a part with actress Mary McCormack for the movie “Madison” and a few weeks later was awarded the speaking role by director Bill Bindley. Thomas will play a construction worker in the scene.
“It took Bill a while to find time to view the tape,” said Thomas, 30. “I’m excited. It’s going to be great.”
Local casting director Kathy Binns of Cincinnati is in charge of recruiting and managing extras, and although she still needs people, she cautions that the job is not for everyone.
“The most important qualities are to be dependable, smart enough to listen and follow directions, and understand that it is a job,” she said. “Patience is probably the biggest quality of all because there’s a lot of down time.”
With 30 years of experience as a talent scout for commercials and feature films, Binns says she has heard all sorts of reasons why people volunteer as movie extras. Some try it and never come back.
“People don’t understand our insanity. It’s hard for them because they don’t know until the last minute when they’ll be needed,” she said. “Our shooting schedule changes daily because of many factors – the weather, the actors’ availability and just seeing where we are at the end of each day.”
But for some, such uncertainty only adds to the Hollywood-style fun. And who knows? They might just wind up on the silver screen.

Copyright 1999-2008, Kentuckiana Publishing, Inc.