I Got My Five Seconds Of Glory In George Clooney's 'Leatherheads'

Hundreds of extras in "Leatherheads" gathered for the movie's premier

Well, I made it!

After anxiously and excitedly waiting for over a year to see if my once-in-a-lifetime experience working on the set of the new Hollywood movie Leatherheads, starring George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, and John Krasinski which hit theaters nationwide on Friday, actually resulted in face time in the movie, I'm thrilled and honored to announce I'm IN the movie!!! WOO HOO!!! Sweeeeet! Can you tell I'm stoked?!



Christine and I couldn't wait to visit our local movie theater here in Spartanburg, South Carolina just after noon for the first showing of Leatherheads to see if my scene as The Doorman opposite Clooney himself ended up in the final version. I was pretty confident that it would since this was the ONLY thing we worked on for an entire Sunday filming about 30-45 seconds worth of a scene. I was looking for it and within 15 minutes of watching the flick on the silver screen, there it was:



That big tall guy on the left standing there looking down with a condescending face at Clooney's character coming off of his motorcycle--THAT'S ME (CLICK HERE to see a blown-up version of this still shot)! In all, this scene was about 8 seconds long total and I was on screen for about 5 seconds. It wasn't much screen time when you think about a two-hour movie, but I felt extremely fortunate to have gotten that much time. Many of the hundreds of extras either got a flash-in-the-pan blip on the screen or nothing at all. I was indeed lucky and appreciated the opportunity to be a part of something so special.



Now, Christine on the other hand was as giddy as a schoolgirl when she saw me standing there and couldn't keep quiet. As soon as she realized that was me standing at attention next to George Clooney on that spittin'-and-sputterin' motorcycle in front of the hotel, I thought they were gonna throw her out of the theater for causing such a ruckus. She started whoopin' and hollerin' pointing her finger up at the screen saying, "Oh my God, there you are, oh my God, there you are!" I tried to get her to put her hand down and lower her voice as people were starting to stare. She was proud and happy to see her man in a real live movie. What a neat moment I'll always treasure for the rest of my life.



Just a couple of hours after the matinee showing of Leatherheads at our local theater, Christine and I got all dressed up in our formal attire and headed down the road a few miles to Greenville, South Carolina where a group of several hundred extras got together to watch the movie together and to reminisce about our time on the set of a Hollywood film. It was neat meeting up with many of the extras who I shared hours upon hours of waiting and waiting and waiting with last year just so we could make it to this moment of glory. Everyone was grateful this time had come and we even got the royal treatment from the local press, too.



They rolled out the Red Carpet for us and had local television personality Jack Roper from CBS affiliate WSPA Newschannel 7 on hand to announce our names as people gathered along both sides of the carpet cheering for us and taking our pictures as we entered the movie theater (when he introduced me and Christine, Jack said, "Next up we have Jimmy Moore and his friend." Uh, yeah, she's my friend known as my WIFE, Jack! I quickly corrected him to stay out of the doghouse). Okay, now that was weird! But I liked it and ate it up, baby! How often do you get a chance to do something that this, right? :D



As the movie was getting close to the end, I leaned over to Christine and said that we should leave early (since we had already seen the film once that day) to beat the crowd over to the BMW Zentrum where the after-party would be taking place. She agreed and we headed out the door. Three seconds later we heard this loud explosion as a bright light filled the stormy sky--a transformer had blown from the major thunderstorm that was moving through the area and the entire block immediately went black. Boy, that was great timing! It turns out the movie had JUST ended and the closing credits were showing, so nobody missed any of the movie itself.



At the earlier showing, we stayed all the way through the ending credits to see if my name would be there as "The Doorman." It wasn't. I guess they only put your name in there if you had a speaking part and I did not have one--although it was VERY close to happening. Interestingly, even if I did end up having that speaking role in the scene I was in, it would have been cut. They chopped off the last 5 seconds of that scene where the line was scheduled to happen and went right to the next scene where Clooney's character clashes with Zellweger's character inside the hotel. Oh well!



All in all, this romantic comedy set in the 1920s about the birth of professional football is a fun movie to watch and I was humbled to be able to play even a teeny tiny little role in it. I'm thankful for the memories that I have from this experience and if given another chance to be an extra in a Hollywood film, I'm there! Actually, there is supposed to be another movie being shot down the road in Columbia, South Carolina real soon and I'm seriously thinking of pursuing it, too. I've got the itch now that's just gotta be scratched. :P



At the after-party, I was interviewed by a reporter from The Greenville News and they quoted me first in their story. It was an unbelievable experience that will give me something to talk about besides livin' la vida low-carb for the rest of my life. If you haven't seen Leatherheads yet, then do yourself a favor and GO SEE IT! It's a great film that just about anyone will love and enjoy.

Here's the trailer in case you've missed it:



You can read all of my blog posts and see lots of pictures I took while on the set of Leatherheads at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Links" blog. Special THANKS to Jim Fair who created the extras web site TheLeatherheads.com and organized the Red Carpet Gala for us to treasure this moment. It's one I won't soon forget! And I can't wait to buy the DVD this Fall!

I'll Know This Week If I Made It In George Clooney's 'Leatherheads' Movie

"Leatherheads" is FINALLY coming to theaters on Friday, April 4, 2008

The wait is almost over and I can hardly contain myself waiting for this Friday when the romantic comedy vintage football film Leatherheads hits movie theaters across America. It was just a little more than one year ago that I was given an incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear in this major Hollywood motion picture starring two of the hottest stars in Tinseltown today--George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. The experience of being on set for what will surely be one of the top films of 2008 is one I'll not soon forget and the anticipation leading up to this Friday to see if any of my scenes actually made it on the silver screen is killing me right now. I WANNA KNOW!!! :D



For my newer readers, it all started back in December 2006 when a local call for football players in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC market was put out across the media and my ears perked up. Was it because I had the big strapping body of a football player because of my tremendous prowess in my younger years? HA! Yeah right, that's a good one! Remember, I was the fat kid growing up and actually I played in the band in high school.

And yet there I was waiting in line with over 1,000 other guys who were vying for their chance to be in a big-time movie. That alone was a neat experience and my story very well could have ended there. But then I got a call at the end of February 2007 from the casting director wanting to know if I still wanted to be in the Clooney flick. Uhhhh, lemme think about it--YES YES YES (and did I mention YES?!)!!! In fact, I thought I would be a football-playing extra in the film, but...



It turns out they needed me to play the role of The Doorman for the "Emerson House Hotel" (thus, the EHH on my hat) because of my height and slender body type. Uh, okay...whatever it takes to be in this movie, I'll do it. You can read all about how that glorious all-day Sunday event went in my first experience on the set of Leatherheads in downtown Greenville, South Carolina by clicking here.

I'll never forget the amazing job the wardrobe department did to make that hat work on my big head. Everything about the costume fit perfectly EXCEPT for the hat. My enlarged forehead (gee, thanks Dad!) wouldn't even allow it to come close to fitting. So they ripped the back of the hat out and put in some stretchy material so it would wrap around my head. Never mind the fact my brains felt like they were gonna squeeze out of my ears that day it was so tight! But at least it was on my head! ;)

That wasn't even the most memorable part of my story of being The Doorman, though. It turns out, this role was an integral part of the 30-second scene we were shooting because Clooney's character (Dodge Connolly) rides in on an old-timey 1920's motorcycle in front of my hotel where I am standing guard and parks it right there while swaggering his way off of it looking at me stating sarcastically, "Keep it close now, will ya?" The director instructed me to give him the dirtiest look I could and then shut the door behind Clooney after he enters the building. I'm almost 100% sure this scene will be in the final version of the film (did I say HOPING?!). The camera was just a few feet from where Clooney and I were standing during the scene and we did a bazillion takes of just this scene all day long. It's GOTTA be there!



In fact, George and Renee were in town this past week thanking our area for their hospitality during the filming and promoting the movie. Uh, yeah, I think we'll sell out a few theaters in this area just with all the extras and their families alone! But this Friday will be quite an eventful one for me and Christine because we will be participating in a special Red Carpet Gala just for the extras who were in Leatherheads. I'm getting dressed up in a tuxedo and Christine will wear her favorite black evening dress for the opening night festivities. The press will be there interviewing us about what it was like being on the set, so we'll get our few minutes of glamour and glitz!

But I've already told Christine that I wanna go see the movie earlier in the day around noon on Friday to see if my Doorman scene made it. I was also a fan in the stands for several of the football scenes that were shot in Traveler's Rest, SC and Charlotte, NC, but you'll never be able to make out the faces of the extras in those scenes. I'll be zeroing in on The Doorman scene when I'm watching the movie. It's so exciting and I'll be sure to let you know if I made the film or not (cross your fingers for me!).



Be sure to check out all my Leatherheads posts which include lots of pictures from the set, including exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of Clooney and co-star John Krasinski in action. If you happen to go see this movie, then watch for The Doorman giving George Clooney a "dirty look." That'd be me! Is it Friday yet?!

4-4-08 UPDATE: I'm in the movie!!! Christine and I went to see Leatherheads for the matinee showing at 12:30pm and there was my brief glimpse of cinematic glory about 10-15 minutes into the film. Clooney drives up on his motorcycle in front of the hotel and there I am (all 6'3" of me!) standing at attention in my green doorman outfit. They cut the scene short, but Christine about had a hissy fit seeing me in the movie. :D I'll be blogging more about this after our big Red Carpet Gala event tonight. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!! :)