Men with beards and pale, interesting ladies are being sought by a film company to star in a blockbuster sequal to the Oscar-winning film Elizabeth.
Filming will take place on my doorstep and this weekend talent scouts were out recruiting extras. Between 400-500 are needed and they were not short of offers; more than 300 budding stars signed up in Ely alone.
My confidence was still on a high after my singing debut last week so I optimistically went along to their Ely recuiting venue to enrol. Two teenage sons, my husband and father-in-law followed suit. The process involved no more than having a mug shot taken and giving our vital statistics.
The film is entitled The Golden Age with some of the important shots for Elizabeth’s court to be filmed in the cloistered surroundings of Ely and Cambridge sometime in May. The star studded cast includes Cate Blanchett in the title role, Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh and the immensley talented Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham.
Requirements for extras are that men should be bearded, with continental features an advantage as they could be chosen to play French or Spanish courtiers. Women with pale, interersting Elizabethan faces are also sought, the Enlish rose look. I’m afraid I think I might sit more comfortably in the continental court due to my half-Greek ancestory.
Grandad Roy has already experienced being an extra. Ely and King’s Lynn were all a flutter when Al Pacino arrived to star in Revolution in 1985, an unmitigated flop. The Goldcrest epic told the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of an illiterate trapper and his son who found themselves caught up in the fighting.
Well Roy was given a part to play in a crowd scene, he was instructed to wave his arm in the air – but forgot to remove his wrist watch first! His memory is of spending long, boring hours hanging about waiting, and the scene being repeatedly shot over and over again. That’s obviously why extras are advised to bring a book along, or even knitting, if selected.
My beautician friend Sue remembers taking a call during this time from Pacino’s PA who wanted to book him in for a massage. Thinking it was a friend playing a prank, she said: “F… off Celia, I know you are winding me up.”
She did get to rub massage oil over Pacino’s well toned body – and they both thoroughly enjoyed it.
I wonder if she will get a call from Geoffrey Rush…
Grandad Roy is right about being an extra – very boring! Back in my acting days, I was once a ‘featured artist’ please, NOT an extra (!!!) on Eastenders and it was the most boring day of my life – the only thing that keeps you going is the permanently available, very scrummy food. It was well paid in those days, and I did get a £5 repeat fee from the BBC some years later when the episode I was in was repeated on UK Gold!
We get paid £70 a day, plus £10 for the fitting, as well as being fed – not too bad.
Anyone interested who couldn’t make the casting should email a photo/contact number and measurements to candymarlowe@gmail.com
I never thought about asking about a repeat fee.
I was an extra in the first Elizabeth film. I was a noble lord in the coronation scene which was filmed at York Minster. I have to agree with Kate and Grandad Roy – a very long, very boring day. I only did it for a laugh – never again. And we only got £50.
I seem to recall Al Pacino mounting his horse outside Ely Cathedral for a close up, and then swapping places with his stand-in who rode off leading the procession.This scene seemed to take forever to get right.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I will see if it’s not to late for me to try my luck