When you're an extra, all you really have to do it stand there and not look distractingly
pretty.
Or animated.
Or otherwise out of place.That doesn't always go as planned, and aspiring actors have ruined
many great scenes by not knowing their role.
Here are a few moments that have been totally ruined by a scene-stealing extra.
"Brains!
Brains!"
"Cut cut cut!
What the Hell are you doing?"
Everything Must Go
In this serious scene from Everything Must Go, two adults are talking on a porch while
two children sit on the lawn.
Something must have happened between takes, because it seems like those kids were told
to sit quietly and not be distracting.
Being kids, it looks like they took their instructions a bit too seriously.
They're not even moving!
For the record, this is not a composite shot.
Those kids are actually just holding perfectly still!
They worked so hard to not distract the audience that they ended up doing just that.
Can't fault them for trying, though!
Quantum of Solace
We know that Quantum of Solace was made during the writer's strike, but there's no excuse
for this extra.
If you look closely, you'll see that the guy with the broom either never learned how to
sweep, or he knows something we all don't.
There's no reason why his broom would be so high above the ground.
Perhaps he thought since he wasn't getting paid to sweep, he didn't actually have to.
He ends up drawing precious attention away from James Bond, which is just plain wrong.
Planet of the Apes
If you've ever fought an ape, you're probably lost, because they're super-strong.
If you haven't, don't, once again, because they're super-strong.
One extra from the original Planet of the Apes clearly didn't know that apes are super-strong.
As the other angry apes chuck fruits and vegetables at Charlton Heston, this guy couldn't be bothered.
He tosses his veggie in a bored, limp-wristed and totally ineffective way.
Since the produce was probably made out of foam, there's no way this actor was worried
about actually hurting Heston.
Either this was a troll having a laugh, or someone needs to stop skipping wrist day at
the gym.
Goodfellas
It's clear that in this scene from Goodfellas, the one extra who had the privilege of sitting
just over Robert DeNiro's shoulder was explicitly told to not look at the camera.
In every shot, this man turns his head to look in a different direction, looking anywhere
but down the lens.
"I say to you don't think about elephants, what do you think about?"
"Elephants."
This poor extra is making every possible effort to look away from the camera, when it seems
like that's all he wants to do.
Don't give in, hungry man.
Braveheart
Telling the tale of the legendary William Wallace, Braveheart is full of epic battles
across sweeping, beautiful landscapes.
Hundreds of extras were required to give it their all as Wallace's fearless, passionate
army fighting for their homeland.
But one extra must have missed that memo.
Dressed in orange, you can clearly see him attempt a lunge at his opponent with all the
energy of an exhausted retail worker at the end of their shift.
We get it - battles are hard, and a soldier's bound to get tired.
But you'd think the director could have hidden this extra better, instead of putting him
in plain sight.
The Return of the Musketeers
When you're an extra, you should always do your best to keep your cool, regardless of
how epic the scene around you is.
You should be engaged in the action, but not overtly so.
Basically, you should do the opposite of what these two extras did in The Return of the
Musketeers.
When a musketeer shows off a treasure chest full of loot, the man and woman just over
his shoulder start pulling faces like crazy, the man grinning like a maniac while the woman
struggles to stay in frame, perhaps so she could have some footage to use in her reel.
While she eventually gives up, the man's crazy mugging continues.
Since this is clearly his only 15 seconds of fame, you can almost sympathize with him.
Dunkirk
It's tough to bring levity to a World War II movie, but one Dunkirk extra did his best.
This shot features a group of allied soldiers looking up
at an incoming squadron.
But check out the soldier to the right.
He doesn't look like an army is flying in to kill him.
His smirk and sleepy eyes suggest he's more like a baked college kid than a soldier fearing
for his life.
Does one extra reacting to a Nazi invasion like it's some mediocre air show ruin Dunkirk?
Hardly.
But it does make you wonder how that footage made the trailer, let alone the final film.
Robocop 2
One extra in Robocop 2 was doing so well… until he wasn't.
That is, he did what he was supposed to, only he forgot to stop.
This extra was one of dozens booing and jeering at a man taking a stand.
The man eventually headed back to his seat, but our extra wasn't done.
He kept on shouting and angrily gesturing for the man to sit down like a parent who
still yells at their kid after putting them in time out.
"Shame.
Shame."
Perhaps he thought he was being dramatic, but he ended up just looking silly.
He clearly was going back to his seat, you really didn't have to keep waiving your arm
like that.
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