I'm at :42 left side in the trailer walking into the scene
Helicopter Pilot Wanted: I saw an add for a helicopter pilot in the Anchorage Daily News. I wasn't sure exactly what they were looking for in a pilot but I was going to find out.
It was a ‘casting call’ – I said to myself, ‘go for it, you have nothing to lose.’ There was an email address; I sent a mini bio with some self photos, a couple of months went by and I forgot about it. One day an email showed up asking me to come in for an audition! The very thought of auditioning scared the hell out of me! They sent me a script and I had a couple of days to get my lines down cold. Mary, my wife, helped me with the expression of my lines which was huge because I was losing confidence faster than I could gain it; the more we went over the lines the more confident I became.
Long story short...they didn't pick any of us helicopter pilots in Alaska and instead chose to audition the part in L.A. Funny thing was they didn't need a real pilot but an actor pretending to be a pilot. My guess is originally the production company wanted to be able to say the actor pilot was a real pilot. In any case, a week later I was notified they wanted to use me as an extra in the movies ‘press corps’. I was excited at the prospect of working on a movie but had NO idea what to expect!
2 ½ Months Later: I just spent the last two and a half months (mid Sept -Nov) working on, "
Everybody Loves Whales" as an extra. All together I worked approximately 20, 12 to14 hour days in various locations around Anchorage. Most of my parts were done at the Ship Creek location built to look like the ice fields and the City of Barrow. It was such a surreal experience I'm afraid the words I come up with will do it no justice! My role portrayed me as the ‘sound man’ on a three person reporting team for the Press Corps; one man held the camera, I held the boom mike and a reporter (female) did the reporting.
I had a front row seat to some amazing actors/actresses and was able to watch them in action, up close as I did my part. What an HONOR that was! I'm surprised I didn't have to pay them for this amazing experience! The entire cast was very professional. They take their work seriously and at the same time they are able to have fun and be positive -- this is what one would call ‘loving what you do’. The word ‘surreal’ cannot express my experience; I was within arm's length during most of my scenes with the following actors...see photos below. It still doesn't seem real to me.
At this time I'm not at liberty to talk about the story line and have been sworn to secrecy by our Extra's Director
Stacy Stuart, besides you have to see the movie. It'll be awesome!
Stacy grew up in Palmer Alaska and now lives in the L.A. area. Everyone from the Director (
Ken Kwapis) to the producers and assistant directors made this experience such an honor to be a part of and gratifying. It wasn’t all fun and stardom, there was real work to be done and scenes to be acted out over and over and over and it was cold -- it’s a typical Alaskan winter. I wore my Sorel boots rated for -40 degree temps for 12 to 14 hours a day at times, standing on ice, sometimes in the wind and while it snowed – typical Alaska elements and half the time my feet were still cold. It wasn’t easy; I can’t imagine it was for the cast who aren’t from here!
The movie is based on the book , "
Freeing the Whales - How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event" by Tom Rose. We were here when this happened (Oct 1988) and we were here when the Exxon Valdez ran aground (Mar 1989).
Here are some photos (
click here) from the Anchorage Daily News as the movie was being filmed around town. The news articles from 1988 when the whales were trapped near Barrow by the Anchorage Daily News,
ADN. We’ve been here for 22 years less the military taking us away and bringing us back a couple of times – however, during this time Alaska has been and will always be our home.
During the filming of this movie I didn't once fly a helicopter...
I used photos for the most part that reminded me of the actors I worked with. It's funny cause the photo of Drew is the exact look she gave me one day in the beginning of the shoot. I can understand, she didn't know me from Adam. I do regret not being able to have a small conversation with her. Anyway the whole experience was very cool.
Here's some of my own photos I took of Dermot and Vinessa and other misc photos of extras waiting to go to work on the set. If you want to be an extra on a movie set be prepared for tons and tons of waiting around in "holding". There are no photos with me and the stars. I'm still kicking myself over that missed opportunity.
Vinessa Shaw and Wanda; who was a part of the National Guard in the movie
Dermot and Duane "
Dewey" Halverson, nine-time veteran Iditarod Alaska Sled Dog Race Musher.
Dewey and me became fast friends. Dewey was the camera man on our three man news team. We worked well together and would many times improvise and add to our parts in the movie, add lib if you will. We'd be willing to do a western next :-)
Eddie one of the native extras in the movie and Dermot
"Holding" for the extras. You learned to be patient, there were times we waited up to eight hours before being called upon to do our thing in the movie.
Holding for extras, standing by, waiting to be called into action!
I have so many stories I could tell but I think it best I wait until the movie comes out. The whole experience was awesome!!
