YKFK reader Sarah is trying out to be an extra on the Coen brothers forthcoming movie, A Serious Man. She has been through the first session already and has written a little something about the experience. She has also said that she will update me as she goes through the process. Over to you, Sarah…

“Today I went to a casting call for the Coen brothers’ next film, “A Serious Man.” It is about a Midwestern Jewish family in 1967.

I arrived at the casting call about a half hour after it had began. One of the requirements for the call was to bring a photograph of yourself taken on the day of the shoot. Fortunately, I have a photo printer at home and could quickly print one out rather than wait an additional hour for pick them up at a Walgreens or Target. Unfortunately, I live alone so I spent about 45 minutes doing a trial-and-error photo session with the automatic timer, holding it up in front of my face, etc. There are about 20 photos strewn about my kitchen table destined for the trash. The rejects, so to speak.

Anyway, because of this requirement, there were a lot less people than I expected when I walked in. I’m thinking most people will be getting there later in the day, as the casting call was open from 11 am to 6 pm.

When I first walked in to the nondescript building (which I believe has been rented out as the production offices, as I saw a couple doors with signs saying “SET DRESSING” and things of that nature), a man at a desk greeted me and a few others who had walked in in front of me. He handed us each a form and a two-page description of the film, what they were looking for, requirements/expectations of being an extra, etc. He said to read it as if we being tested on it.

My next step was to take my forms to a table and get to filling them out! I filled out my contact information, age, previous experience as an extra and/or stand-in (6 movies as an extra for me), any conflicts between the shooting dates of Sept. 8 and Nov. 14 (none!), and then detailed info about my physical characteristics, including height, weight, hair color, eye color, dress and shoe sizes, and bust, waist and hips measurements. I had to check a box saying I was willing to alter/cut my hair.

I then checked out the two-page info sheet, containing your basic info on being an extra for all the newbies (you WILL work at least 12 hour days and MUST be there the whole time, you must be QUIET, etc.). There was a big section on NO CAMERAS, NO AUTOGRAPHS, NO TALKING TO CAST/CREW. In my movie extra experience, there is always some nut who thinks they can photograph and/or make friends with the stars. It’s always an adult, too. Idiots. In a high-profile film like this with A-list people, this info is especially important to people who have never done this before.

An interesting part of this film is the physical requirements of the extras. I never thought my dark Italian hair and light Irish skin would pay off! Here are some of the requirements:

Men, Women, and Kids: No artificial/extreme tans, no frosted/highlighted/lowlighted hair, no asymmetrical, punk, overly modern hairstyles. Most extras will be BRUNETTES so no beachy or bleached blondes. No visible tattoos or facial piercings. Most men will need to be clean-shaven. No braces. No breast implants–women wore bullet bras and girdles, which all female extras must be willing to wear. We LOVE interesting faces. Big noses a plus!

So after I read up on the rules and details, I went over to a second guy who made sure my photo was okay (if it wasn’t, they would retake one for you) and attached it to my form.

I was then moved to a line where yet another guy looked over the form to make sure it was complete. He also seemed to be weeding out people with major conflicts, as a woman in line in front of me had to go talk to someone at a table when it was discovered she’d be out of town at some point. She was a blonde anyway so I’m thinking she was destined for the reject pile.

After that was approved I went to a room where people waited in lines of 10. A short wait ensued (wherein a guy behind me attempted to make a couple Coen film jokes–i.e., I heard something about a woodchipper) and then my group of 10 was taken to a room where a young guy went over all the information on the sheet and answered any questions we had. He mentioned we all have to have MN id cards to get paid (woohoo! I’ve only been paid for 1 film). We gave him our forms and were done! Easy as pie!

They don’t know when we will find out if we’ve been cast in the film, but they *think* they are trying to get everyone cast and set in specific scenes before shooting commences on Sept. 8. However, we could be called anytime during filming, so hopefully I’m not in for too long of a wait to hear!”

Good luck to you Sarah, I really hope you land the job!