Many thanks to Mark for recounting his experiences (and pictures!) as an extra on Iron Jawed Angels!

They had a major casting call in Richmond, VA for the movie. They were looking for about 360 or more people to be in a parade scene that was being filmed Columbus day weekend. I went to the casting call and waited in line for about 2 hours. We had to fill out information about our clothing sizes and such...and give them a picture of us.

About a month later, they called me and asked me to come down to a wardrobe fitting. When I got there, they already had wardrobe for me to try on. Once they found a costume that fit me...a grey double-breasted suit...they labeled it with my pic and told me to show up at 6am on the day of the shooting.

The morning of the shoot, we put on costumes, had hair and makeup done...and then were driven to the set. They had turned 4 blocks of a street in our town into a street from 1920. Julia was on a horse and was dressed as an angel. Some of my friends did not recognize her until I pointed her out. We also saw Angelica Huston, Hilary Swank and the rest of the cast that day. Sixteen hours and one meal later...we were done. That went for 2 days, and I managed to get a little screen time in the movie during that scene.

On the 3rd day, some of the casting scouts pulled about 40 people out of the crowds to be in a movie scene with Hilary, Julia, Frances and the rest of the girls. So, while they were finishing up the parade, I got to sit in a movie theater for about 4 hours, while they filmed a scene. I was sitting 2 rows behind the main actresses, and I am seen briefly in that scene.

My big moment came when I was called a few weeks later to be part of an art gallery scene. I had to go to another wardrobe fitting. This time I got to wear a tuxedo. I think the wardrobe was very old, because it had moth holes in it. But, in the movie you couldn't see them. We all looked so elegant.

The day of the filming, We arrived around noon...got into wardrobe and were driven to the set. They had converted an old warehouse to a beautiful art gallery. We were all given glasses with grape juice in them. Some men were given cigars. Then we were placed throughout the set. They started filming the opening of that scene, and it took about 3-4 hours.

We took a break, and during that time...a casting person went around and picked a few guys to be in a close-up scene. I was one of about 6 people they picked. When we went back on the set, they told us we would be Julia's suitors in this scene. I was so excited. They were trying to find one of us who could take a metal spoon and stick it to our nose...making it stay there by balancing it. So, we all started trying it. It looked rather funny.

While we were doing that, Julia and Patrick Dempsey arrived. She was so elegant. She walked up to each of us and introduced herself and shook our hands. Then, they both proceeded to try and stick spoons on their noses. It was quite funny. I managed to get my spoon to stay, and I tried to explain to Julia how to do it. I had gotten it sticky with some of the juice, and It was also quite warm...that is how it stuck. She grabbed my spoon and stuck it right on her nose. I was quite amused.

Hilary Swank then showed up, but she did not talk to us like Patrick and Julia. We started filming the scene... and I got to stand next to Julia. It took about 6 hours to film, and in between takes, her and Patrick would tell jokes. The dress she was wearing was just as old as my tux, and she showed us how it was rotting. There were parts of it that they had colored her skin black with a magic marker to hide the holes in the dress. We all thought that was funny. Patrick laughed so hard at one of her jokes, that he split his pants, but because it was a waist up shot, he didn't really worry about it. It was a very excting day. After that we went back to crowd scenes in the gallery. But, I am very happy for that one moment, because, it got me some good screen time in the film. I didn't say a word...but it is always nice to see yourself on TV. And to meet such nice actors.