Member-only story
What it’s Like to Work as an Extra on a Major Hollywood Movie
Spoiler: There wasn’t much sleep to be had
It’s 4am and my alarm vibrates under my pillow. As quick as I can, I whip it out and silence it. I slip on my clothes from the neat pile beside the bed in the dark and creep out of the hostel dorm room to the bathroom across the hall.
It would be nice to have a hotel or at least a private room, but for £13 a night in the city centre, I couldn’t justify going anywhere else.
I’m brushing my teeth as one of my roommates comes in, bleary eyed. For the first few days we were energetic and excitable, now we’re just going through the motions.
We’re extras on a two week shoot for a huge Hollywood movie and this has become our daily ritual.
Yawns all around
We board the coach around the corner and find seats amongst our yawning colleagues. The trip takes an hour to the location and we stagger off at the other end to sign in.
There’s a hot breakfast waiting for us which we eat from polystyrene boxes before being ushered into hair and make-up and then costume. We each have one…
