My Introduction to Movie Stardom

Okay, so I was only an extra... But it was still a really cool experience!
My brother and I signed up to work as background extras in the movie Warrior. We were high school students in a drive-in theater, watching a special broadcast of our favorite teacher, Mr. C, in a big MMA tournament fight (we even made signs - mine said "Mr. C Shows No Mer-C" and my brother's read "Mr. C's Gonna Kick Your A++").
The first thing we learned on the set was that movie-making involves a lot of waiting. I caught a couple photos of the crew, hard at work unloading their vans, while we waited:

(The cameras looked especially impressive):

The crewmen then directed us to a different spot in the field, where we parked and once again, waited...
About six hours after we arrived, the sun finally began to set, and they got ready to film. Kevin and I were directed to stand in the back of a Jeep, near the mysterious crane-apparatus...

As we puzzled over what they might be doing with said crane, the director explained our streneous acting job. Essentially, we had to scream in support when our teacher appeared on the screen, then scream in horror when he started to lose his fight, then scream in celebration when he turned it around and won (hope I didn't just spoil this brilliant-looking movie for anyone... :P).
We had a few practice rounds, and then it was finally dark enough to begin filming. At this point, it became clear what the mysterious crane apparatus was for - to hoist the alien spaceship:

As the night progressed and we filmed take after take of the same scenes, our screaming voices got hoarser, our limbs tired from holding up our signs, and the alien spaceship overhead got closer...

By 6am, when our 15-hour-long stint as cast members was over, we were beat - but definitely glad we participated. If you go to see Warrior when it debuts in 2010, be sure to look for us in the drive-in scene! We'll be the kids with the neon green and pink signs, in the car behind the real actors' Volkswagon. Wooo!