'Pursuing' Acting in a Local Movie

Author: Matthew Christ

Although Hollywood, Calif. is the mecca of the entertainment industry, other parts of the country are able to attract talent and creativity. Telluride, Colo. has the Sundance Film Festival and Middlebury, Vt., has "Pursuing Happiness."

The film is being directed by John Adams, a Yale University graduate who received a Student Academy Award for his last film. He wrote the script for "Pursuing Happiness" last fall and produced the film this past winter.

The film has a $10,000 budget, which is quite large for a film by such a young filmmaker. The production team also has hopes of showing the film at the Sundance Film Festival.

The plot revolves around the relationships of three couples. The first is an elderly couple dealing with the trauma of a debilitating disease. The second is middle-aged and falling out of love. The final couple is in high school, and their story involves the love between an upper-class girl and a farm boy.

Last Thursday, 30 Middlebury students, myself included, drove to Cornwall, Vt., to be extras in a "party scene" for the locally-produced films. I didn't have lines or character purpose, but my performance will undoubtedly be memorable.

My acting experience is limited to say the least. In fifth grade, despite being 200 pounds under the part, I was Augustus Gloop in my school's production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." That summer, I tried out to be an extra in a fairly major movie that was being filmed in my town but I didn't have the right look. I saw "Pursuing Happiness" as the perfect opportunity to redeem myself.

For some unexplainable reason, all my friends were thrilled to be involved in the project. The scene was supposed to recall high school, so maybe all of us college students were motivated by nostalgia, or maybe it was the possibility of movie star fame and fortune. Maybe it was the lure of the free non-alcoholic beer being offered by the producers, but whatever the reason, we were all excited.

My friends and I reverted to the stereotypical, Hollywood inspired image of high school partiers. The girls were sporting high pony-tails, short skirts, pseudo-snake skin tube tops and huge wads of gum that they smacked and snapped. I wore a tight, black, sleeveless undershirt and a gold chain. We piled into a car and blasted "pop" music. Ironically I had never left the house in high school without a collared shirt and the girls had worn J.Crew sweaters and pearls more than miniskirts and silver hoop earrings. But we saw an opportunity to live the stereotype.

As we pulled up to the location, I quickly realized that this was not in fact an average high school party We were quite far out in the country, and we were greeted at the door not by loud music and a keg but by the quiet elderly couple who owned the house.

Apparently, the other extras were not as excited about the opportunity as we were. They didn't dress up or have huge smiles on their faces, they were just there. They must have been those jaded, higher-than-thou actors. They did manage, however, to laugh at the get-ups my friends and I had donned.

The producers passed out hockey jerseys to a lucky few who were supposed to represent the jock contingency. My jealously was all-consuming when I did not receive one. We took our places in the room and waited for the fake beer, which didn't come. I then became disgusted with myself — I was doing this for all the wrong reason. From then on I focused exclusively on my character and his motivation.

We weren't given any instructions, we just stood there for 20 minutes with music playing. Then when they began the actual filming, the music had to be turned off for copyright reasons, so we had to talk at a volume that would be above that of the music. This was the most difficult part, but like any good thespian, I was ready. I saw this as a chance to make a mark on camera, so I began to shout dialogue and flair my arms wildly about. It was at that point that I was labeled "disruptive" and asked to leave — revolutionaries in any field are always misunderstood.