By Abha BhattaraiThe Daily Northwestern
“Here we go, this is Ernie Davis’ first college touchdown,” someone tells the several hundred extras in the bleachers at Ryan Field.
“When he scores, you get up, you scream, you go nuts – except you’re miming.”
Then the cameras start rolling. A stunt double runs across the field and scores a touchdown. The extras in the bleachers – many of them dressed in skirts, suits or argyle sweaters – jump up silently, wave Syracuse University flags and high-five each other.
More than 1,000 extras, about a quarter of them Northwestern students, have shown up at Ryan Field for the filming of “The Express” since Friday, said Taylor Black, the movie’s casting assistant. Most of the extras were outfitted with vintage clothing and cast as spectators, while a handful were picked to be football players.
The film, set in the late ’50s and early ’60s, follows the life of Ernie Davis, the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy. Davis, who graduated from Syracuse, was the No. 1 pick in the 1961 NFL draft. But in 1963, Davis died of leukemia at age 23, before he had the chance to play his first NFL game.
Rob Brown, who played the lead role in “Finding Forrester,” plays Davis, and Dennis Quaid stars as former Syracuse head coach Ben Schwartzwalder.
Filmmakers chose Ryan Field because of its size and its proximity to Chicago film crews, according to Dave Fulton, the film’s publicist.
“We needed a big-time stadium where we could duplicate big-time games,” Fulton said. “We’ll obviously alter some things with visual effects, but the bones of this stadium are really, really good.”
Ryan Field will be used for “all the (movie’s) big games,” including the landmark 1960 Cotton Bowl between Texas and Syracuse, Fulton said.
People will be added to the crowd, and “anything Northwestern” will be edited out, he said. For now, hand-painted orange and blue banners that read “Orange Attack” and “Syracuse Orange Punch” hang from the bleachers.
The uniforms, costumes and football equipment are historically accurate, Fulton said.
Weinberg freshman Ashley Tulloch said she reported to the set at 5:30 a.m. Sunday to be an extra. She was given a “very hideous brown plaid coat” to put on over her pink polo shirt and black skirt, and her hair was curled and combed.
Many of the female extras had their hair cut, temporarily dyed and curled for the movie, Tulloch said. Black added that some men also got crew cuts.
After hair and makeup, Tulloch said she spent 13 hours sitting on the bleachers and standing on the sidelines of the game.
“It was a lot of sitting,” Tulloch said. “We did so many takes of each scene that every time they yelled ‘background,’ we’d have to pretend we were cheering and clapping on the sidelines.”
“And,” she added, “we were boy-gazing the whole time.”
It was Tulloch’s first time as an extra in a film. She said she liked the excitement of “seeing how a set actually works.” Plus, she said, “it was good money.”
The film’s production crew declined to disclose how much money extras received.
Filmmakers have been shooting the movie around Chicago for about a month, Fulton said. They will be in the area for another couple of months before heading to Syracuse to film “the campus stuff,” he said.
Gary Felder, who directed “Runaway Jury” and “Kiss the Girls,” is directing “The Express,” which is slated to be released in 2009.
Students interested in being extras for the film should report to Ryan Field or call (877) 492-7109, Black said.
Additionally, there is a casting call for football players between the ages of 18 and 30 on Saturday morning at Lane Technical High School in northwest Chicago.
Reach Abha Bhattarai at [email protected].
