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15 seconds of fame
was walking through the door
to Angell Hall one day a few
weeks ago as a young man and
woman walked out. With a casual
flip of his tousled hair and a con-
fident gaze through his Woody
Allen-esque glasses, he said to her,
"They told me absolutely no hipster
clothes. Nothing even resembling
hipster is allowed."
The student was talking about
the same event that lured a lot of
us who were stuck on campus dur-
ing Spring Break: the chance to be
an extra in "Betty Anne Waters," a
drama about a working mother who
earns her law degree to defend her
brother. If you were in Ann Arbor
over break, you might have noticed
the huge trailers blocking an entire
side of State Street and the fluores-
cent pink signs with bold arrows
helping the film crew navigate
campus.
I was surprised and then
intrigued by the casting e-mail for-
warded to me by my advisor in early
February. With a "why the hell
not?" attitude, I sent in my head-
shot, age and contact information.
A few weeks later, I received notice
that I had been selected to be one of
the anonymous people necessary to
produce a large-scale movie. So on
Feb. 24, I showed up for the 2 p.m.
crew call, dressed in the requisite
"90s law school attire" and ready to
be a blurry face in the background
of any scene that needed me.
Being an extra meant more to me
than the possibility of meeting the
stars of the film, two-time Acad-
emy Award winner Hilary Swank
and Emmy Award-nominated Min-
nie Driver, and I didn't harbor any
whimsical dream of being picked
out of the crowd for instant star-
dom. I simply wanted to be on the
movie set. In comparison to my
own experience working for the
student-run M-agination Films,
'89 CHAMPS
From Page 5B
The celebration at the Ohio State
game was organized by an Athletic
Department that is trying to rees-
tablish the tradition of Michigan
basketball, remind students that
losingseasons are not the norm and
encourage students to purchase
season tickets.
But last Sunday, it was a differ-
I wanted to see how bigger com-
panies make multi-million dollar
films, what equipment they use and
how the director interacts with his
crew and cast. Butmy romantic side
also knew that I just wanted to be a
part of it that exciting, mysterious
and glamorous movie industry that
has shaped so much of American
culture and my own life. I wanted
to be "in the movies".
Considering my enthusiasm, it
was a little jarring to arrive at the
crew call and find a lot of people
standing listlessly around, looking
confused and lost or gloating about
their non-hipster clothes. Having
brought a book and some snacks, I
settled in for the long haul. From
my experience with film, a ton of
set-up and technical adjustment
needs to happen before the scene is
ready to shoot. I looked around at
the rest of the extras. Some I knew
from campus, but a lot of people
seemed older than your typical
undergrad. It was strange to be in
such a familiar setting with none of
the people who made it familiar.
Our '90s garb had a strange
effect. Gone were the social cues
that allow you to judge someone
at first sight. Even though we were
only extras, we were all in on the
charade of "Betty Anne Waters."
Our appearances were no longer an
expression of ourselves but props
in the movie. We weren't people
anymore; we were little more than
"large ficus tree, stage left."
As the day wore on, a few ran-
domly selected groups were called
in to film before a vigorous shout
of "ROLLING!" would silence the
rest of us. A woman from the film
crew nicknamed Pittsburgh told
us where to go and when. The gra-
cious extra herder told us that our
complimentary lunch would be
arriving soon and expressed how
appreciative the crew was of the
ent kind of rally that united stu-
dents for the first time in years to
celebrate the basketball team.
In a moment not all that different
from the celebration after the 1989
championship, students gathered
with the team to watch the NCAA
Selection Show.
As team after team was
announced before Michigan, the
doubt of the last 11 years began to
surface.
large number of extras that came
out. Other than that, we were
left to our own quiet devices for
hours. I waited patiently with my
book, which I occasionally used as
a cover for people-watching and
eavesdropping. One girl behind me
gushed about her acting experience
- she used to do pageants and had
realized at a young age that act-
ing was her life's calling. The girl's
My big break
as Girl With
Bag in "Betty
Anne Waters"
friend listened absentmindedly
while reading for her law school
class. Another extra who had
made friends with a security guard
entertained himself by borrowing
the guard's crew ID and pretend-
ing to direct his fellow extras: "Can
you carry that notebook in your left
hand? No ... maybe the right ... No,
definitely the left. OK, yeah, that's
good. Don't mind me, guys, I'm
just looking for the right person."
Meanwhile, the clock ticked on.
Finally, at 6:30 p.m., the crew
announced they would be filming
the final scene of the day and that
anyone whohadn'tbeen in ashotyet
would be needed. I waited in line at
the exit of our holding hall. In small
groups, we filed into the lecture-
hall-turned-movie-set across the
corridor. When I entered, a man
directed me to sit in the second row.
More people filtered in and were
told to act like they were coming
to the start of class, to make small
talk as they came in and sat down.
"I was so nervous," fifth-year
senior guard David Merritt said.
"My stomach was turning over just
to think that there was a chance we
wouldn't make it."
And then Michigan's name
flashed on the screen and the Wol-
verines began dancing around the
court, exuberantly hugging one
another.
Martin called it one of the top
moments in the rebuilding of the
About 10 of the crew assembled at
the front, making adjustments here
and there, listening attentively to
director Tony Goldwyn or waiting
around until their specific job was
required.
Then, Minnie Driver walked in.
A hush settled over the lecture hall
as the brown, curly-haired actress
in a green top, black skirt and black
Uggs pranced in and sat down in
the second row (my row!). As the
crew was setting up, a man named
Nick talking to the director began
to scan the lecture hall, searching
for something. Suddenly, I was real-
ized that he was the guy who could
get me on the big screen. I started
waving at Nick and smiling uncon-
trollably, and even jumped up a lit-
tle in my seat. He continued to scan
the room until, noticing my bag, he
smiled and asked me to come up
to the front. My role was to stand
in front of Minnie Driver, looking
through my bag for "a thing," until
Hilary Swank got so far down the
aisle, which was my cue to leave the
scene.
The assistant director (or direc-
tor's assistant) asked me my name.
While he fumbled to pronounce it,
I found myself squarely in front of
Minnie Driver. With surprisingly
clear hazel eyes, she shot me a big
smile and said in a delightful Brit-
ish accent, "That's pretty, where is
your name from?" I told her I was
from India but that I used to live in
Pittsburgh. She asked if my parents
had met in America. I told her no,
they'd had an arranged marriage.
She said, "You know, I think I'd like
an arranged marriage. Two of my
best friends have an arranged mar-
riage and it's one the happiest mar-
riages I know."
I was taken aback. "Really?
You'd want an arranged marriage?"
I asked her.
"Well, after enough horrid love
basketball program. He also said
the joy of making the tournament
feels all the better after the despair
of not making the tournament for
more than a decade.
To the players on the 1989 team,
it seemed only a matter of time
before the Wolverines returned to
the Big Dance.
"Michigan has tradition, so I
always knew they would come
back, in terms of the basketball pro-
affairs, yeah, I kind of do."
"Well, my mom could probably
set you up."
"Oh, really? Well, I want an
arranged marriage with Brad Pitt!"
she said.
We talked a little more after
that, about how sometimes mar-
riage is really just the "coalescing
of resources" as it was in the case
of my parents. But something in
the way she said Brad Pitt's name
struck me. When Driver first start-
ed talking to me, it seemed to be a
very sincere interaction. But to use
such a sensational name in conver-
sation - she does not know me, I
do not know her, and I sure as hell
don't know Brad Pitt enough to use
his name on a conversational level
- it was as though she assumed I
was a starstruck Midwesterner
who adored her, Brad Pitt, Swank
and even Nick, the assistant direc-
tor. Thewayshe said "Brad Pitt" felt
so much like a show, but she obvi-
ously knew that the nature of her
work makes it necessary to uphold
a "good" public image. In the end,
though, I think the Minnie I met
was something of a mix between
kindness and pretense.
After they filmed the scene and
moved on to another one with
Swank and Driver, I was moved
frommyprimespottothesideofthe
auditorium. I watched the produc-
tion crew fiddle with equipment,
move a reflector and put the boom
in the correct place, with everyone
moving like a machine with one
mind. The girl who was now sit-
ting next to me was from Adrian, a
freshman and really, really excited
to be in the movie. I smiled, and
thought, "large ficus, stage left."
Maybe that was the case, but we
were all mostly just thrilled to be
"in the movies."
-Yasaswi Paruchuri is an LSA junior.
gram," Higgins said. "Just because
of the expectation here in the Ath-
letic Department."
And on the night of celebration,
an 18-year-old freshman looked
up in the rafters and dreamt about
having a chance of putting another
banner up there.
"It's all we've worked for," guard
Stu Douglass said. "Just to have that
chance is something I've dreamt of
all my life."