The Extra ®
HBO US Comedy Arts Festival - Official Selection
Watch "The Extra®"Our concept for "The Extra®" first came about as a sequel to "The Production Assistant." Due to all the prior success of "The Production Assistant" Chris Hume and I were able to make "The Extra®" with a much larger budget as well as shoot it on 35mm film as opposed to the 16mm film of The Production Assistant.
With their generous donations and support, industry vendors, as well as major Hollywood studios all came out in support of the making of "The ExtraŽ". Paramount Pictures donated the costumes from "Saving Private Ryan," and Disney donated the costumes from "Kundun." Chapman Leonard donated their largest crane to us, and the City of Los Angeles agreed to allow us to close traffic on Vermont Avenue in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles so that we could film there. The legendary Hollywood director and film editor, Robert Wise, ("West Side Story," "The Sound of Music,") personally telephoned me agreeing to appear in the film as himself. Unfortunately, he spoke with me too late as we were already in the process of shooting the scene when he called.
Our concept for The ExtraŽ was very similar to that of "The Production Assistant," namely the same overly eager and utterly conceited low end Hollywood worker, (played again by David Avallone), pontificating on how important his work is, and how much skill and dedication it requires while at the same time being so irritating that he is simply an annoyance to the entire crew. In the case of The ExtraŽ, he is only finally picked once there is no one left to chose from and then manages to ruin the shot with his scene stealing antics.
The humor of "The ExtraŽ" was to focus on iconic Hollywood films such as Star Wars, and, "Braveheart" whose thousands of background characters are instantly recognizable yet we never think of the actual human beings in what must have been ridiculously uncomfortable costumes earning what was most likely just a few dollars a day and a meal or two.
Sponsored by HBO, "The Extra®" was chosen to screen at the 2000 U.S. Comedy Arts festival in Aspen where it played to packed audiences. In 2001 "The Extra®" premiered at the legendary Vista Theatre ("Ed Wood") in Los Angeles ahead of their features as well at The Los Feliz Cinemas which can be seen featured in the film. That same year, like the "Production Assistant" before it, "The Extra®" became an official candidate for nomination for an OscarŽ in the Best Live Action Short category.
Click to view Programs, Poster, Slideshow and Crew List from The Extra®:
