We've heard it said many times, "I wish I could be in the movies," or "I wish I could be on the same set as Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, and Susan Sarandon," all famous Hollywood stars.
These wishes and dreams are often just that, and they never come true, except in the recesses of our minds.
The closest most of us will ever come to any of these stars is after we pay our $7 at the local box office, and quietly settle into our seats with our drinks, popcorn, Twizzlers, and Junior Mints.
No... most of us will never have the experience of being on a movie set, surrounded by famous Hollywood stars, and waiting for the director to yell "action!"
Unlike the rest of us, local funeral director Jason Watson, of Watson and Hunt Funeral Home, can proudly boast that he has had this experience.
While Jason was not cast in a major role in the upcoming film, "Elizabethtown," he was cast nonetheless. Jason described his role as an extra in the film as, "just background scenery." However, being scenery is a little more complicated than most people would imagine.
This was an experience that Jason never dreamed of, and it was certainly something that he had never planned. A friend of his had heard about the casting call for extras, and he invited Jason to go along with him.
So the two of them traveled to the Galt House in Louisville and took along 8x10 photographs of themselves, which was a recommended part of the casting process.
According to Jason, around 7,000 people showed up to the casting call and out of this vast host, only 200 were chosen for particular scenes of the movie.
After a video interview Jason returned home and didn't give much thought to being chosen for a role in the movie.
"I really wasn't expecting to be called back," Jason said. Several weeks later Jason received a surprising phone call from those in charge of casting for the movie.
They wanted to cast him as a funeral director. (Who said Hollywood doesn't typecast?)
However, movie-makers have a way of changing their minds, and that is exactly what they did.
They called Jason back a week later with a new role. They scrapped the idea of him playing a funeral director, and instead, they wanted him to play a businessman checking into a hotel...
Again, they changed their minds, and this time they wanted Jason to simply sit in a lounge as a guest at a hotel. Finally, after all of the changes, this was to be Jason's role. In the world of Holly-wood even extras put in long days. After waiting for 12 hours to shoot his particular scene, Jason was finally ready for his big debut on a movie set.
The scene that Jason was a part of took nearly four hours to shoot. The scene, if it survives the cutting room and makes it into the movie, will last for around 30 seconds.
So what did Jason learn from his experience?
"It was interesting to see the film-making process and what all goes into making a movie," Jason said.
"From now on I am going to look at movies from a totally different perspective."
Instead of just paying attention to the actors and what they are saying, there is a lot more that Jason now appreciates when it comes to movies, such as the background scenery, lighting, and other special effects.
According to Jason, "I now have a fuller picture of what is going on."
Congratulations Jason! We all hope to see you on the big screen as we devour countless boxes of over-priced Raisinettes.
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