Extras glimpse greatness

There's a pecking order on a movie set, even among the extras.

When “Up in the Air” filmed at Eppley Airfield on April 28, scores of Omahans got in on the fun. But not all of them got time in front of the camera right next to star George Clooney.

Chelsie Hartness, 26, and Nic Roewert, 27, did. Envied among other extras as “the kissing couple,” the Omaha actors share a background smooch at the bottom of an escalator just after Clooney gets off. They're what's known in the biz as featured extras.

“It was really neat, actually,” Hartness said. “I practically hung out with Clooney, and he was such a cool guy, asking me how I was doing, was I having fun, what was Omaha like.”

They did a dozen takes of the escalator smooch, and Clooney teased Roewert about “who really has the better job today.” Roewert, an aspiring film actor, had a quick answer for the Oscar winner: “You do, Mr. Clooney.”

Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, who makes his living jetting from city to city to lay people off. The movie looks at Bingham's rootless existence traveling 270-plus days a year and avoiding romantic commitment. Critics and industry experts are widely hailing the movie as an Oscar contender, and it got a leading six Golden Globe nominations.

Hartness and Roewert each scored a $50 bonus for how well director Jason Reitman thought they did. Featured extras earn a bit more, though their paychecks were still under $200.

The kissing couple ended up in the trailer for the movie, but the two friends have no idea whether they're in the movie. Footage used in trailers often ends up on the cutting room floor when the film is edited together.

Wednesday, when the movie opens in Omaha, they and several other Omaha extras will find out whether hours of standing around and waiting pays off with a few fleeting seconds of fame onscreen.

Either way, they say, it was worth it.

“I have a feeling I'll need the DVD and a remote on slow mode to find myself,” joked businessman Sean Weide, who felt right at home playing a business traveler. He was in airports more than 100 days last year, but happily signed up for a 17-hour day at Eppley, going nowhere, just for the experience.

“I wasn't able to talk to Clooney, but I was right in the thick of everything,” he said. “Just being around the Hollywood atmosphere is what I'll remember.”

In fact, all the extras were told it was fine to respond if Clooney or Reitman talked to them, but they were not allowed to initiate conversation or even to catch their eye. No snapshots or phone video were allowed. And no postings on the Internet about the experience, either, since all had to sign a strict confidentiality agreement about what took place on the set.

It was hurry up and wait all day long as groups of extras were shuttled back and forth from a conference room used as a holding area. Some played airline personnel, some business travelers, some security workers or casually dressed passengers. All brought three outfits, and the movie costume crew either picked one of those or sent them to wardrobe.

Aspiring filmmaker Mike Comstock said he's not even sure how many times he was filmed.

“I spent two hours standing in line at a ticket counter near Clooney, but I couldn't look at the camera,” he said.

But he got to hear Reitman and Clooney talk about setting up shots and movement.

“I'm educating myself on how it's done,” said Comstock, who was also on the set of “Lucky” with Ann-Margret in Omaha this fall. A screenwriter, he's begun to learn the process of filmmaking rather than wait for someone else to shoot his scripts.

“I'll hold a boom mike, whatever. I'm there just to learn something, if I'm lucky.”

Computer tech worker Laura Burroughs has no film ambitions.

“I just thought it would be fun, interesting to see how they do the whole filming thing,” she said. She met no stars, and in 12 hours she was in just two shots where she knew the camera was rolling. But the thousand little details of positioning people, changing lighting, fussing with how a suitcase rolled or examining playbacks to see if they needed another take surprised her.

“When you're watching a movie, it all looks so natural,” she said. “But they make it happen that way.”

Oh, and one other profound realization:

“George Clooney is as cute in person as he is on the screen.”

Contact the writer:

444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com