Look Mom, I got a job! (1 Viewer)

[Lawrence Stowbunenko]

Bit parts. You go to acting school, work at Denny's waiting for your agent to call, then find yourself in very small part. I'm not talking about being an extra, but the a very tiny yet significant part. How many of these people call up their parents and neighbors and brag about the part they were cast in, or are they just too embarrassed? A couple of examples:

1. CSI. Think about how many people have to play a corpse?

2. Sophie's mom on HBOs Carnivale? Essentially her role is to act like a corpse, but with her eyes open.

What's probably even more sad are the people that are "featured" in the deleted scenes on a DVD. They actually had lines and were able to show their skills, only to have them permanently filed under Deleted Scenes.

Can you think of any other notable examples?

 

[MartinTeller]

Most of the corpses on CSI end up having fairly significant roles due to flashbacks.

What comes to mind for me is all the other people who hang out in Central Perk on Friends, or other patrons at the diner on Seinfeld.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Watching the first season of Law & Order on DVD was amusing, because there were some actors there like Philip Seymour Hoffman who would later become very well known but just got a mention in the end credits.

And I'd call my folks - a paying gig's a paying gig, and you can at least explain that you made contacts by doing it.

 

[Jodee]

I used to work with a guy whose sister or sister-in-law (I forget) was cast as the woman who was Windom Earle's dead wife (and agent Cooper's old love interest) on Twin Peaks. I think she only appeared a few times in flash-backs and they had made this mask of her face that was used in a scene.

We were big Twin Peaks fans at the time though and I remember thinking it was pretty cool!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Lots of us would love to get jobs like that. Some people are excited just to be in the audience for show tapings.

I thought this thread was gonna be about how YOU got a part on TV.

 

[Lawrence Stowbunenko]

You're right, Chris. I should have put the subject in quotes.

I'm not sure how I would feel about getting such a tiny role. I think the average person of the street would be thrilled to get a bit part, which explains the number of applicants in "Reality TV". However, what about the serious actor that gave up on a typical career and is trying to make it big? I guess a lot depends on how long they've been trying to land a gig, and how much they gave up.

Still, it's amusing to see when they finally do make it big and then recognize their tiny parts in the past.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Also in this category, Buffy's classmates, most of whom didn't even have any lines for their first few appearances.

 

[Dave Falasco]

This thread reminds me of a stupid habit I have when watching CSI--no matter who is talking or what else is going on, if there is a corpse on the screen I stare intently at it, waiting to see some tell-tale sign of life from the actor playing it. Whether it's a flicker of the eyelids, or the chest rising and falling ever so slightly, or a twitch of a finger. I've convinced myself that I have seen such signs in the past, but my wife remains unconvinced. "Look, look, his foot just shifted a little bit!" "No, it didn't. Now watch the damn show."

And yes, I am well aware that this is not a normal thing to do.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I remember reading an article in NY Times about how L&O (all 3 versions) keeps lots of actors in NYC "alive", in that anyone half decent can get a guest role given the never-ending round of perps, vics and witnesses they go through, and since L&O is one of the few shows actually shot in NYC. And with all the syndication, it provides a welcome residual cheque once in a while.

Apparently it's gotten to the stage where if some casting directors look at a CV and don't see an L&O spot, they think either the actor/actress only just arrived in NYC, or is crap and couldn't even get a gig on L&O.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

This thread reminds me of a stupid habit I have when watching CSI--no matter who is talking or what else is going on, if there is a corpse on the screen I stare intently at it, waiting to see some tell-tale sign of life from the actor playing it. Whether it's a flicker of the eyelids, or the chest rising and falling ever so slightly, or a twitch of a finger. I've convinced myself that I have seen such signs in the past, but my wife remains unconvinced. "Look, look, his foot just shifted a little bit!" "No, it didn't. Now watch the damn show

Watch the show in HDTV and it's very easy to see these little movements. There have been some episodes where it was noticeable enough to be a distraction.

 

[LarryDavenport]

Sort of related -

Kevin Costner in The Big Chill.

His actind scenes were cut out so all we see of him is the body being dressed during the opening credits (unless that was a body double).

 

[Dustin Wind]

What comes to mind for me is all the other people who hang out in Central Perk on Friends

You can bid on ebay to become a extra in Friends. It was up to like $3,000