Ode to The Hard Working Extras in Hilary Swank's New Film (including me)

I spent Monday and Thursday of this week at the Jackson State Prison. It appears that standing in sub-zero temperatures for 4 blistering hours for a casting call finally paid off. Unfortunately it hasn't paid off yet for my loyal wife who faced the cold with me for those dreadful hours.

The film is "Betty Anne Waters", based on a true story. It stars Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell. I am playing an inmate in cell block 5. I decided that I was in for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

The days on set were very, very long. Fifty of us extras were stuffed in a room with tables and folding chairs for 14 hours on Monday and 12 hours on Thursday. I think they wanted to make it as much like prison as possible. But, they fed us well and often and the pay isn't to shabby considering all the over time. Monday was the only day that I was supposed to be part of the film, but all of the footage was ruined by x-ray, so Thursday was a bad case of groundhog day from Monday.

Overall, a very interesting experience. I met some great guys while we were held up in that room for long hours and played many games of euchre. I was lucky enough to be close to Hilary and the action in both scenes that I shot. Hopefully at least a second of the scene will make it past editing and the movie itself will do well.