Confessions... of a Hollywood Movie Extra

Confessions… of a

Hollywood

Movie Extra

Denny Dormody

AuthorHouse™

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© 2017 Denny Dormody. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/24/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6014-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6013-0 (e)

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Contents

Michael Clayton

World War Z

My Day in Court

Off the Grid

Phillip Seymour Heartbroken

Casting Responsibly

L.A. Woman

ADR

Swimming with the Sharks

Strangers on a Train

Getting Scary

Johnny Appleseed

Shameless

Sketches of Pain

Going Again

Acting is Reacting

Butch

100 % Card Billing

A Change of Latitude

The Greatest Story Every Told

Straight Out of Studio City

The Grifters

It Pays to Look Good

Hill Street Blues

Against the Wall

The Hateful Eight Minus One

What Happened Miss Simone?

Orpheus Descending

Being There

The Pits

No Money No Honey

Staying Alive and Staying Awake

Ready to Chuck it All

Jersey Boys

Meeting Tony Montana

Cartier Caper

Walking with Walken

Shall We Dance?

I, The Background

Dances with Kevin

Leaving Las Vegas

No Way Out

Studio City Shaft

Age of Dinosaurs

Angels & Demons

Western Costume

Digital Flash Frames

Praising Caine

Suburbicon

Acknowledgments

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

No background extras were harmed during the production of this book.

Well, maybe a few.

What do you call an actor without a girlfriend?

Homeless.

Angels in America

Angels tell you to keep on trying. Keep punching. Keep at it. Don’t give up.

Angels loan you a few bucks till payday.

Angels loan you an umbrella, and when the rain turns into a Monsoon, they don’t demand the umbrella back. They patiently wait.

Angels keep you going.

Angels, to all of you, thank you.

This book is dedicated to my greatest inspirations: Our son Michael in San Jose, California and our daughter Diane in Heaven.

To be nobody but yourself, in a digital world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you into everybody else;means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fight; and never stop fighting.

(Paraphrasing E.E. Cummings.)

Want to be a player in ‘The New Hollywood’?

Read on.

Hi Guys: Thanks for picking up/downloading my latest book Confessions of a Hollywood Movie Extra.

I’ve had many wonderful adventures here in Hollywood. In my anecdotes I’ve tried to show the ups and downs of my own Hollywood hustle.

Some of my fondest experiences:

Singing Happy Birthday with the crew to Meryl Streep on the set of Defending Your Life.

Shaking hands with Gregory Peck and kibitzing with Lew Wasserman at a luncheon for Catholics in Media.

Talking with Jack Lemmon, while working in Beverly Hills.

Kirk Douglas asking me If I had seen the restored Spartacus on the set of Yellow, an episode of Tales of the Crypt.

Shaking hands with David Fincher and Rosamund Pike after a Gone Girl screening.

Working as a background extra has given me a unique perspective on surviving in Hollywood. My observations are anecdotal, wearing my heart on my sleeve as usual. Thanks for being on board.

Want to be a player in ‘The new Hollywood’?

Read on.

Michael Clayton

George Clooney is inches away. Clooney is dressed like a Roman centurion. I’m dressed as a 1950’s film crew member. I’m close enough to shake his hand. This is Hail, Caesar.

Clooney has graciously taken shots earlier in the day with some of the background ladies playing Roman citizens. It’s all about timing. Shaking his hand: Awesome bragging rights. An inspiration to my acting and writing. My gut tells me no. Not now. Not at the moment.

Timing is everything. All wrong now. It’s a waiting game. I’ll wait. The timing was wrong last year, too.

A screening. Westwood. August: Osage County. Ten feet away is Julia Roberts. Five feet away is George Clooney. He’s speaking with movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. I’m three feet away. Close but no cigar. The timing was wrong once before too.

Warner Bros. The last season of ER. I’m playing a triage hospital security cop. Badge. Fake gun. Chicago PD Blues. New deal. A break. On the apron of the sound stage exit door.

As the other background actors are talking on their cell phones, I notice a guy walking slowly by. He’s wearing a rust-red baseball cap and white slacks. I recognize the profile. It’s former ER doctor, George Clooney. It’s a slow, steady, deliberate walk. In a moment he is gone with the wind.

The cover of TIME Magazine describes George Clooney: The Last Great Movie Star. Google his Actors Studio interview on YouTube. Check out his many Esquire Magazine profiles, especially the one this month. He’s been on the cover of Esquire nine times. He talks about his early struggles just surviving and always, always looking for work.

He’s an actor, but also a real-life activist

to respect. He’s a role model actor, director, writer, husband and soon, I suspect, a nurturing father.

He has a great relationship with his dad broadcaster Nick Clooney, and cast him in The Monuments Men. In the Actors Studio interview he humbly admits wearing out his welcome as a young actor when his Aunt Rosemary let him crash on her couch after he left Cincinnati and came to LA to be an actor. Many lean years. Many canceled pilots. Many canceled shows.

Like Paul Newman with The Hole-in-the-Wall cancer kids and Newman’s Own, he uses his celebrity to help others. Look at his efforts to help rescue the refugees in Darfur.

George is a cool guy, on and off screen. I’m so happy to seem him married with such a wonderful wife. Happy wife; happy life.

Talk about artistic inspirations: Burn After Reading, O Brother, The Descendants, Up In The Air, The Perfect Storm, Oceans 11,12,13,Good Night and Good Luck, Out of Sight and so many more. Seasons on ER. And perhaps his greatest acting character: Michael Clayton.

Clooney’s character, makes a command decision. He cleverly slays the pesticide company dragon. The story template: David and Goliath. He seeks and finds redemption. The last 4 minutes: He jumps into a taxi. He hands the taxi driver fifty bucks and says …drive.

Holding on George as emotions rage through his face. SLOWLY credits roll. More layers of emotion wash across Clooney’s face. MORE CREDITS ROLL. In his face with no dialogue we see: His struggles. His beats. This is acting with no dialogue. Awesome acting, squared.

Guess I’ll have to wait till the movie gods smile down upon me once again to shake Oscar winner and nice guy, George Clooney’s hand. I’ll thank him for his inspiring acting, writing and directing.

I’ve just submitted my Head Shot for Suburbicon with Clooney slated to direct. Hopefully our paths will cross on that show. For now, I’ll have to wait.

You do a lot of waiting here in L.A.

I’ll wait.

World War Z

I missed saying hello to Brad Pitt by 3 minutes. Brad was working late doing final edits on World War Z and walked by our background extras holding area on the sidewalk next to the large Paramount screening theater. I was too busy in the lobby, set-dressed for a school Valentines Day dance. I was dancing. Slow dancing with my fake-wife dance partner. Glee.

Been on this show a lot. Been on this lot, a lot. Paramount Pictures. TV Shows: Rizzoli & Isles. Nip, Tuck. Dirty, Sexy, Money. Many more. Features: Seven Psychopaths, with Christopher Walken and Oscar nominated In Bruges writer, director Martin McDonagh. Many more.

Features here. Commercials here. Screenings here. I actually worked a day-job on the lot here eons ago.

Had a Paramount employee ID when I sold print ads for the Blue Pages, a type of on-lot Yellow Pages. The reign of Sherry Lansing during Indecent Proposal days. Days before Christmas. An employee buffet dinner. On the lot. Nice.

Shook hands with actress and always-beautiful Susan Sarandon at an HBO premiere here in the Paramount Theater.

At the reception, after the screening, I chatted with show business vaudeville and early days of TV legend, Jack Carter, the scratchy voice of Wilbur J. Cobb, on John K’s edgy character-driven, Ren & Stimpy.

Driving a burnt-orange rusty VW bug with my SCRNWTR license plates. People used to leave Post-It Notes saying I love your vanity plates. That was yesterday.

Today, I’m driving a blue Ford Focus. The vanity plate remains the same. Color me in a constant state of evolving. This is Glee. This turns out to be a four day call.

There’s about 80 background extras on this call including about 20 dancers. I’m always happy to be here. Always happy to be working.

Working on a SAG voucher would be awesome but, this ensemble cast has about 20 ensemble regulars and 20 stand-in regulars, ruling out almost any chance of ever working on a SAG pay voucher on this show.

Only the first 22 background extras work on a higher-paying SAG voucher. Everyone else works non-union. That’s if you want to work. That’s if you need to work. Like, to pay bills. Like, to pay the rent. Like it or not.

Hope to be back on the lot again soon. Another TV show. Another feature film. Another commercial. Another screening. Maybe on Brad Pitt’s upcoming feature: World War Z 2.

I’ve worked with Brad Pitt before: Five days on Mr. & Mrs. Smith and one day on Moneyball.

Brad and I go way