The Unsung Heroes

Layered Butter

All the eyes on the stars – the actors, the directors, the sounds, the picture...these are all the pieces that make cinema really what it is – but we always seem to forget, the unsung heroes. Our background artists. In this weeks episode of the Layered Butter Podcast, Rod, Raf and Jordan are joined by former assistant director, background wrangler and all-around film fan, Mike Roi, as we venture deep behind the scenes into the nitty and gritty of the world of the background artists. Popularized as the “extra” in cinema, these are the artists and actors that fill every single camera frame, every battle sequence and every diner scene with a representation of reality. They are the police officers, the waitresses, the kids on the playground – without them, cinema would just feel....empty. There’s more to just being able to fill a scene and make it seem busy. From timing around the camera and the hero actors to integrating crosses and turns to fill the frame; the “extra” isn’t an extra. They’re artists. They are one in many pieces of the moving orchestra. It isn’t all the fun and games either – from the different types of artists on set, to location days in the burning heat to the blistering cold and the adrenaline to catch your big upgrade just by saying 1 line of dialogue. It’s not all glitz and glamour too – what kind of challenges do the crew (ADs/PAs) face when they are in public locations? Is it just a wall of PAs defending the shot or do we dive into the public – just to get what we need to move on? Can anyone walk into a set? Rodrigo talks about his big break into acting and how...he almost ruined a take. The LB trio then chat about a different take on John McClane, the absurdity of physical media and cashing in on a present day conflict for the sake of cinema. All of this and more in this week’s Layered Butter!

Preshow:
Clint Eastwood passing on Die Hard
https://www.slashfilm.com/779219/heres-why-clint-eastwood-passed-on-starring-in-die-hard-exclusive/
The First Print of The Terminator sells for $32,000 on VHS
https://consequence.net/2022/02/the-terminator-vhs-auction/
Sean Penn is filming a documentary on the Ukraine/Russia border.
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/sean-penn-ukraine-documentary-russia-invasion-1235189570/
Film Club:
Miss Sloane (2016)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4540710/