Post by Webmistress on Jun 26, 2010 23:01:55 GMT 8
Geelong Advertiser:
The Cup runneth over with enthusiastic extras
Danny Lannen
June 24th, 2010
IT seemed my cinematic acting debut was going to be tragically cut short on the opening day on set by a malfunctioning lock on the toilet door.
The little handle spun around and wouldn't slide the lock bolt back.
Being a film extra might involve a fair bit of standing around, but standing stuck in a cubicle in escalating alarm when the cameras were ready to roll certainly wasn't scripted.
Celluloid providence can shine in dark places and along with some hasty lock manipulation afforded escape back onto set and into the crafting of another Australian epic.
The $15m movie The Cup is set to hit screens at Easter next year, portraying the story of Damien Oliver, the great jockey who lost his jockey father Ray to a fall in 1975 and piloted Irish gelding Media Puzzle to Melbourne Cup victory in 2002 three days after the death of his jockey brother Jason in a racing fall.
The story runs through Geelong because Ollie and the Puzzle won the Geelong Cup as prelude to their Melbourne triumph.
So it was that 320-odd extras from across town and beyond filled the Rimfire Stand at Geelong racecourse on Tuesday afternoon dressed to the nines cheering an imaginary winner home down the straight in a re-enactment for the cameras.
Well, it wasn't entirely imaginary because they played the race call from the day and there was a bloke running along the course holding a witch's hat hoisted on a stick to make sure we all had eyes on the same target on the track.
Such are the hi-tech tricks of the game eh?
Glam gals, sharp lads, racing industry veterans, would-be actors and people just keen to be involved worked at Geelong racecourse on Monday and Tuesday and at 13th Beach yesterday as extras supporting stars Stephen Curry and Tom Burlinson and acclaimed director Simon Wincer.
We'd been waiting around from 6.15am to 7.45am on Monday, while people were being made up and briefed on their cameos, when a big young bloke turned to me and asked "where's the bar?"
There were no heart-starters, though things started looking up when we filed out to start filming at 9am and crew handed out stubbies and champagne flutes.
Alas it was only the appearance they were after. They poured soda water and other deceiving liquids into them and there we stood out on the lawn around the racecourse mounting yard pretending we were lapping up mid-afternoon on a buoyant spring Cup day watching the runners parade.
Geelong's overnight temperature was 3C. It felt that and a fair margin less as a few thousand toes were numbed for a couple of hours and people dealt with that constant drippy, numb nose look which can really bring you down when you're trying to cut it at Cannes.
The strappers and horses went round and round, the jockeys got on and got off, got on and got off, and so people cheerfully worked their way into two days of freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing around the mounting yard, stalls and grandstand in the name of art.
We checked our form guides, walked stairs, waved racebooks, learnt the leg-weary way that "one more" might not necessarily mean that during filming of a scene, and relished the privileged chance to provide background to a great Australian story.
Media Puzzle's Australian strapper, Drysdale trainer Rick Page, played himself on set.
He rated himself as a "fairly ordinary" actor but remembered the gelding as having had a strong arrogant streak.
"He'd stand quietly but if he didn't like something he'd strike out, and he bit too," Page said. "If he wanted to have you he'd just do it."
Page said Media Puzzle knew he'd won his Melbourne Cup.
"And he knew how easy he'd won too," he said.
Feeling for the film was strong among the smiling community of the extras who helped The Cup shine in Geelong.
"This film isn't about racing," one industry bloke said to another with heart during a break in filming.
"It's about family, and that for all of the heartache this lad deserves a Melbourne Cup."
The Cup runneth over with enthusiastic extras
Danny Lannen
June 24th, 2010
IT seemed my cinematic acting debut was going to be tragically cut short on the opening day on set by a malfunctioning lock on the toilet door.
The little handle spun around and wouldn't slide the lock bolt back.
Being a film extra might involve a fair bit of standing around, but standing stuck in a cubicle in escalating alarm when the cameras were ready to roll certainly wasn't scripted.
Celluloid providence can shine in dark places and along with some hasty lock manipulation afforded escape back onto set and into the crafting of another Australian epic.
The $15m movie The Cup is set to hit screens at Easter next year, portraying the story of Damien Oliver, the great jockey who lost his jockey father Ray to a fall in 1975 and piloted Irish gelding Media Puzzle to Melbourne Cup victory in 2002 three days after the death of his jockey brother Jason in a racing fall.
The story runs through Geelong because Ollie and the Puzzle won the Geelong Cup as prelude to their Melbourne triumph.
So it was that 320-odd extras from across town and beyond filled the Rimfire Stand at Geelong racecourse on Tuesday afternoon dressed to the nines cheering an imaginary winner home down the straight in a re-enactment for the cameras.
Well, it wasn't entirely imaginary because they played the race call from the day and there was a bloke running along the course holding a witch's hat hoisted on a stick to make sure we all had eyes on the same target on the track.
Such are the hi-tech tricks of the game eh?
Glam gals, sharp lads, racing industry veterans, would-be actors and people just keen to be involved worked at Geelong racecourse on Monday and Tuesday and at 13th Beach yesterday as extras supporting stars Stephen Curry and Tom Burlinson and acclaimed director Simon Wincer.
We'd been waiting around from 6.15am to 7.45am on Monday, while people were being made up and briefed on their cameos, when a big young bloke turned to me and asked "where's the bar?"
There were no heart-starters, though things started looking up when we filed out to start filming at 9am and crew handed out stubbies and champagne flutes.
Alas it was only the appearance they were after. They poured soda water and other deceiving liquids into them and there we stood out on the lawn around the racecourse mounting yard pretending we were lapping up mid-afternoon on a buoyant spring Cup day watching the runners parade.
Geelong's overnight temperature was 3C. It felt that and a fair margin less as a few thousand toes were numbed for a couple of hours and people dealt with that constant drippy, numb nose look which can really bring you down when you're trying to cut it at Cannes.
The strappers and horses went round and round, the jockeys got on and got off, got on and got off, and so people cheerfully worked their way into two days of freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing around the mounting yard, stalls and grandstand in the name of art.
We checked our form guides, walked stairs, waved racebooks, learnt the leg-weary way that "one more" might not necessarily mean that during filming of a scene, and relished the privileged chance to provide background to a great Australian story.
Media Puzzle's Australian strapper, Drysdale trainer Rick Page, played himself on set.
He rated himself as a "fairly ordinary" actor but remembered the gelding as having had a strong arrogant streak.
"He'd stand quietly but if he didn't like something he'd strike out, and he bit too," Page said. "If he wanted to have you he'd just do it."
Page said Media Puzzle knew he'd won his Melbourne Cup.
"And he knew how easy he'd won too," he said.
Feeling for the film was strong among the smiling community of the extras who helped The Cup shine in Geelong.
"This film isn't about racing," one industry bloke said to another with heart during a break in filming.
"It's about family, and that for all of the heartache this lad deserves a Melbourne Cup."