My 15 Seconds of Fame

Yesterday, I completed five days of filming as an extra for Gulliver's Travels, a new movie starring Jack Black that will be released next year. It was the first time I had done anything like that before, and it sort of happened by accident. A good friend of ours works fairly regularly as an extra (or background artist, which is the official term used for an extra). He's been in loads of big films and TV shows: Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, "East Enders," and "The Bill," just to name a few. A couple of years ago, he told me about an open call his casting agency was holding for Americans (it turns out that the film they were casting for was The Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon!). At the time, I couldn't do anything about it because I was working full time. But about a month or two ago, they were looking for Americans again. This time, I figured, "Why not?" So I filled out the online application and sent in a photo and promptly forgot about it. A few weeks later, I got a call, and things unfolded from there.

It was definitely an exciting experience. I met some interesting people, had some great food (catering was fab, and I took full advantage of the free food!), gained some interesting insight into how the film industry works (some of which still remains a mystery), and stockpiled lots of ideas for future stories. I even stood thisclose to Jack Black and Amanda Peet. But by the end of the week, any feeling of being "starstruck" had faded. We spent long hours (our longest day was about 14 hours) sitting around waiting to be called to the set, and after countless retakes in stifling heat and smelly clothes all we wanted to do was go home and sink under the duvet. At the end of the day, it was a job like any other. But, still, how many people's 9 to 5s involve watching playbacks of themselves with a major Hollywood star?

The hardest part of the whole experience was being away from Crumpet. For the first two days, she didn't even see me because I left before she woke up and got home after she was fast asleep. But, not surprisingly, it was worse for me than it was for her. Although she was excited to see me again when she woke up the third morning, she hadn't really even noticed I was gone because she had been in Daddy's and Nana's very capable hands. Though difficult at the time (I ran down the credit on my phone because I called and texted home so much to make sure everything was running smoothly in my absence), I think our separation was good for all of us. Crumpet got to understand that even though Mommy might sometimes go away, I'll always come back for her. I got a nice little break and was forced to relinquish control (something I'm not very good at but admit I need to do at times). And The Other Half gained confidence in being alone with Crumpet; even though he has looked after her before, he's never had her for a whole day, and he's never had to go through the bedtime routine with her. Once again, I find myself silently thanking Gina Ford for how contented Crumpet was in my absence.

And, in an interesting turn of events, I've already been offered another job on another film. When I called the casting agency today to give them my bank details, they asked me if I was available to work on a new film with Dennis Quaid (to be released in 2011). I'll go for a costume fitting next week and film for one day the following week. The beginning of a new career? I don't think so. But the money is a major motivator. After earning nearly a thousand pounds in just five days, it's hard to say no.

In the meantime, if they don't delete my scenes, you can look for my blurry shape (actually, I'm a little more visible than that...) at a theater near you next year.