Extra, Extra, Read All About It! (aka, my brushes with fame)

Wow… I barely know where to start with this. I'm still sitting here geeking out about Conor, the insanely talented makeup artist who kind of became my friend and painted my face every morning, before I realized he was THE CONOR that WON FACE OFF, which I loved! It is a special effects makeup competition show that was on Syfy!



How I didn't recognize him I just don't know, but I have to say he was the single nicest man ever, and was really looking out for me in that heat, and had a great sense of humor and gave me some great advice and made me feel better about my future and all sorts of stuff. We got along great, and then I was totally starstruck, and he thought it was so funny that I actually knew who he was but didn't recognize him. Here's a pic of him with the host of the show he was on:



Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you guys what little I can about my experience as an extra in The Hunger Games, and what I think of the awesome people I got to meet (Conor included, obviously)! First off, the things I'll avoid talking about: the scenes that were actually filmed, costumes, hair, makeup, dialog, and certain plot elements. Which means all I can really talk about is the weather and the different people I got to know :D.

Work was something interesting and new and exhausting and incredible, as we were filming outside in the sun on days with crazy weather, and I was able to talk with Jennifer Lawrence and meet Liam, Josh, and Elizabeth Banks. Liam, Josh, and Elizabeth I didn't get to talk with much at all, but they were all super nice, and Elizabeth Banks is effing AMAZING as Effie Trinket. Like, WOW. Mainly what I did was walk with a certain expression, pantomime, and stand still and react to various events that played out around me. We were in direct sunlight almost the entire time, and temperatures reached 100 degrees two days in a row, so people were dropping like flies which was really scary (seeing girls collapse all around you makes you paranoid… 'am I going to drop next?? 0.0). I did start to pass out but Keith, a super tall crazy guy from wardrobe, asked if I was okay, and I said I was fine because I thought I was, and he said 'no you're not!', grabbed my hand, and drug me over to a chair right when my vision went and I started to go down. I'm really lucky he was paying attention!

So anyway, on the first day we showed up (at 4:30am!)at the drop off location, and I met two girls, Caroline and Megan, fellow extras. We wound up sticking together the entire time, and really became close friends, and I'm so lucky to have met them both! Caroline brought her copy of The Hunger Games, and was having people sign it, an idea which I totally copied a couple days later. The different people who were kind of in charge wound up with nicknames because we didn't know their real names, like Dinosaur Shirt Guy, Green Hat Guy, Train Robber Guy, and RJG (or, Red Jacket Guy) plus the two guys named Ben, Umbrella Ben(who Caroline called Cute Ben) and Tall Ben(who Caroline called Hat Ben).

One of the assistant directors, John, grabbed me from the back and put me near the front (likely because of my convincing expression… let's just say I put a lot of emotion into it xD lol), and I wound up getting followed by the camera multiple times, so I think I'll wind up with a close up in the movie! :D :D :D. I got to talk with Jennifer Lawrence some, and told her what an amazing job she did in Winter's Bone (seriously, she CARRIED that film). She was super real and nice to everyone, and actually pretty darn funny :D.



One of the peacekeepers hit on me, told me I had pretty eyes, and wanted to stalk me on facebook, but couldn't find me because of the privacy settings I have (I JUST got an account, anyway). I avoided him like the plague the last day, because I didn't want confrontation, and if he'd spoken to me I'd have wound up telling him that I wasn't interested and didn't know him and didn't want to friend him on facebook, which I was worried he'd react badly to. This was just such an amazing experience and I didn't want the last day to be ruined by a fight :-P. Plus, I don't even know how OLD this guy was, OR his name! But moving on, Gary Ross was super cool and really nice to all of us extras, and gave motivational speeches and thanked us numerous times for being there. The medical team was also nice… I have to say pretty much everyone there was, famous or not! One of our surprises was autographs from the main cast, including Willow, Josh, Liam, Jen, and Elizabeth Banks. So I have a piece of paper with all of their autographs, and my book is signed by a lot of the crew and fellow extras as well as Conor :D. They also gave out Hunger Games stickers and I got a Mockingjay slap bracelet :D. I'd give a picture of all my souvenirs, but my camera is dead :-P.

If you want more info on Conor, read this interview. Here are some pictures of his amazing work:

Classic Zombie Chick

This was an amazing piece inspired by the Frog Prince, and is the prince halfway through his transformation. There was actually a bladder inside of the throat piece that the model blew into, making it blow out and in like an actual frog! GENIOUS!

A regal alien woman :).

So yeah, he's pretty much the most insanely talented makeup artist ever-and he touched my face and covered my zits :D :D :D. Haha, the sunscreen totally broke me out, but then he started letting me use his, which was good for sensitive skin, and I cleared back up. Overall, this experience was a LOT of hard work-work days were as long as 15 hours, almost entirely spent standing, and completely outside in an NC summer. Oh, that reminds me, I was in a paparazzi picture! Here is the original-can you find me?



And here I am!



Yep, short dark hair, pale purple dress. But it wasn't just a lot of hard work, it was a lot of FUN, with plenty of laughs and really educational. I kind of want to see if I can get a speaking role in something… but I'm just thinking out loud here. Besides, I can't exactly do that AND go to college at the same time, and my scholarship isn't a 'whenever you feel like it' kind of deal, so that dream is just going to have to be put on hold. Well, now I just have to wait until next March to see the movie and how my scenes turned out, and fingers crossed my close-ups make the final cut! :D. I'm also hoping that Caroline, Megan and I can see it together :D. HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Raisa (aka Hunger Games Lova) for posting about the casting calls-I've had the experience of a lifetime all thanks to you! I'll never forget it :). Well, hope this rambling distracted name dropping post didn't bore you too much. Thoughts? Comment! :D. OH, and I'd like to thank everyone who commented on my graduation post-for some reason, blogger isn't letting me comment ANYWHERE, so I haven't been able to respond. But thanks to ALL of you, and Jinnyd, I've missed you, and feel free to email me sometime! :). Until next time,