My SUPER Day

In 1995, I was cast as an extra in the Superman Returns movie. At the time I was really excited as I’ve always been a fan of Superman and Smallville (the series). I was due to be on set by 8am but the night before I received a call saying they wanted me on location by 4.30am as they wanted to use me in the opening shot. Early mornings are not something I miss from my Nursing practicums but I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The next morning, I managed to get into the city by 4.30 but we ended up sitting around until 8am or so in one of the Hotel conference rooms. They provided us with breakfast but I didn’t end up eating much in case I needed a bathroom break later. Then again, I’m not usually that hungry so early in the morning.

After getting the OK for my costume, I headed into hair and makeup (even though they asked us to have it done ourselves). My role was to look like a uni student – hence the backpack but the two other outfits I was asked to bring were not even used.

Courtesy of Superman Homepage

It turned out to be a very long and freezing day in July (for Sydney) with the shoot ending at 5.50pm. By late morning, I really started to feel the weight of a full backpack plus having to look up at the sky for hours made my neck and shoulder very sore by the end of it.

That night when I got home, I did a search for the movie and found this on Superman Homepage. It gives a nice description of what we did for the whole day with some pics and even a short video of what this spectator saw while filming.

Basically we had three scenes to shoot. The first involved rushing through the street just after a ‘big disaster’ had occurred. This was filmed ~15 times. The next scene had our hero flying through the city with everyone looking up at the sky while a camera suspended by a wire whooshed past us. As the camera passed, we all had to jump backwards as we reacted to his super speed. The third involved a small group (including myself) who were directed to walk slowly to our marks on the footpath and look up at Superman hovering in the air. Unfortunately, when the film came out, the last scene involving our closeup did not make the movie – another group of people were used.

All-in-all, it was a pretty memorable experience and even though you can’t see me clearly in the movie, it’s nice to be able to say I was involved. Navi and I even made a date to see it at the cinema soon after the release.

This post is part of IntPiPoMo – posting 50 screenshots in 30 days.

#IntPiPoMo 23/50