A day as an extra with Jim Carrey

• By MICHAEL J. FARRAR
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Jul 15, 2008 - UPDATED: 11:55 a.m.

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Want to be in the movies? Want to see behind the scenes of a blockbuster film? Here is the good news -- you can do it and get paid for your time. Sign up to be a film extra.

What's a film extra, you ask? Well, an extra are those plain-looking folks walking around the glamorous stars in all your favorite films.

To better understand what goes on behind the scenes in some of your favorite films, I went undercover as a movie extra in an upcoming film called "I Love You Phillip Morris," starring Jim Carrey (“Bruce Almighty,” “Liar, Liar”).

After receiving a call and answering a few questions from a casting service, my car and I prepared for our day as extras.

We had to be on the set at 6 a.m.

A dozen fake golfers stood in a tent where the wardrobe people judged which of my three golf shirts and pants were appropriate -- no bright colors, logos or T shirts with outrageous slogans.

The main idea was to look, well, bland.

Then it was a shuttle bus ride to breakfast. Both meals were under an outdoor Audubon Park pavilion. If you had a bottomless stomach, this was the place to be. You could load up on all the food you wanted to eat for free. Pretty decent grub at an unbeatable price.

Two hours went by and a few extras lured park squirrels over with breakfast cereal while others stretched out for a nap on shaded picnic tables. Suddenly, the boredom was shattered when a P.A. (production assistant) pulled up in a golf cart and picked three extras to go with her.

Some of the more serious career-minded extras who had been left behind wondered if they had just missed their big chance to break into stardom. One of the sleeping extras then got up and packed his golf bag full of snacks from the food table.

Thirty minutes later, the P.A. came back for all of us. The crew handed out golf cart keys and we caravanned out to the 12th tee of the course.

That is where I got my first glance at Jim Carrey. He sat in a cozy chair in the shade talking with one of the directors. (This film actually has two directors.)

In the scene, Carrey played a brilliant conman who tried to fake his way through a golf game to get a few business men to trust him. Carrey did take after take of a goofy golf swing. My job as an illustrious extra was to drive a golf cart. Luckily, this allowed me watch each take as I rolled toward Carrey and the camera crew. The first few takes were exactly the same, then Carrey started to do things a little bit different each time.