Before you read, I'd like to say sorry in advance for all the grammar and spelling errors, I've got to go to work and wanted to get my description up before this weekend.
Wow! That was such an unbelievable experience. I went to the Grand Olympic Auditorium to be an extra for fight club. Got there at about 10:50...so of course I was way, way back in line. Although, I don't think it really mattered because they moved all of our seats so many times. The only thing about being early was probably for one tight shot, where GA walks down through the extra fans....not the pros. More on the spoilers later.
They let us in about 11:30, we were given a white envelope which contained a description of the episode, a release form, peanuts, candy and later we got a program, also our hands were stamped with the word "X-Files" very large. The pro extras had pink bracelets on...there were probably about 150 or so paid extra's...they sat on the floor, but I actually think it was better to be with the fans. At first the pros were like "oh come on"... but then I think they wanted to be with us because we were having so much fun! A guy named "Dave," a comedian, entertained us for when they were setting up for other shots... there were talent shows, etc., raffle's, and there were trivia questions (courtesy of the trivia biotches<g>).
During the talent shows that took place, at one point, a crew member came up and did a really funny voice (yeah I know, I should know the name of the character, but I don't..<g>)...anyways, it really amazed me that they were all paying attention to our little fun, it was really cute.
When we first came in they told us all about the episode. I swear for the 10 hours I was there, I think they only really did 1-2 minutes of the show, maybe a little more ::bows to the xf cast and crew::. Anyways, we're told about the episode and then we see the first filming, other side of the auditorium..between the paid extras....or as we were all referred to as "background artists". Mulder came down from the stairs...and talks to some girl (Kathy Griffith)...this is actually the only scene I could hear because we were told to be silent. I heard "Agent Mulder FBI"...then then two twins start talking "He's mine" Mulder grabs Kathy Griffith, picks her up and walks to the other side of the wrestling ring. This is shot like 5 times. Every time you have the paid extras, pantomiming...(Cheering for the wrestling match with no noise). One time, after cut was yelled,, DD put Kathy into the ring instead of setting her down, another time he carried her all the way back to the starting point, got a laugh from everyone.
After that scene is finished...lunch break is taken...the paid extras and cast and crew go outside. The one bad thing about being a fan was...for lunch and dinner you had pizza, pizza and more pizza... also soda. Watching all the paid extras with that great food made ya pretty hungry.
So, during lunch the comedian Dave entertained us. He was really a funny guy. He was amused that a lot of people knew so much about the show. There were a few questions that the trivia biotches came up with, everyone was stunned and wondering how the he** anyone would know the answer.
There were actually quite a few wrestling fans for Tex Cobb, and Rob Van Dam...they are the two wrestler's in the ring. Van Dam...known as Death Angel, and Tex Cobb, Zupanic the Titanic. Van Dam (sp?) signed autograph's for everyone. I got one, woohoo:). I also got a Gillian autograph, but more on that later.
Dave entertained us with raffling off great prizes, the talent show was really funny, the trivia bitches made up some impossible questions...for the T-shirt give away stuff. One of the questions towards the end was "What was Scully case number for her abduction?"...or something like that. Everyone was like.......oh come on, who the heck is going to know that. But a lady actually did! It was amazing.
So back to the filming...at around 2 the crew and cast returned. This was when us fan extras actually got to do some stuff. I don't remember the exact thing we did first, but I think it was 'pantomiming', as Mulder still had Kathy over his shoulder, but the camera was in our direction we acted as if we were watching the fight. They passed around signs...the one I got later said "Give Death Angel the Boot" with a boot drawn on it, they also passed around major popcorn, but we were told not to throw too much of it, as of yet, that fun was sill coming!
After about an hour that scene was finished...we all applauded after every cut, later some of the paid extras and crew did too. Now came for the real fun, we were told in the upcoming scene, we would all break out fighting... Kathy Griffith would see her double and mass chaos would result. Every take they passed around more and more popcorn. The first time this scene was shot...it went like this: we all pantomimed as Mulder had Kathy over her shoulder...we were waiting for the cue "Fight"...but never got it...instead it was "cut" everyone booooed...but in a cute nice way, cuz everyone wanted to fight. The guy said we hadn't gotten to that part yet, lol.
So next shot,we got our first take of about 20 of fighting. It was absolutely hilarious! People punching, choking, kicking, throwing popcorn, choking, whacking people with their signs, all out fighting, fake of course...as we were reminded several times, Fox has no insurance... teehee. Everyone loved fighting and cheered greatly after each shot. We did this 5 or so times, took about 2 hours.
Dave (the comedian) came up later (after all the following fighting scenes), and told us how hilarious and great we looked on the screen. He told us that all the paid extras, were saying we worked too hard, put too much effort into it. Dave couldn't stop laughing about how the scene looked on the screen, mass chaos I'm assuming...?
They shifted our seats several time...we went to the other side of the arena and back 3 or 4 times. More fighting, more popcorn, more fun.
We're back in our original seats and were told Gillian Anderson is in the house, everyone cheered really loudly. David got the same, just earlier, he was there all day...Dave (comedian) had us all say "Good Morning David"...to get it out of our system.
The AD (Assistant Director), or it might have been the director, I was getting confused by that, told us we were doing great and the next scene GA would walk down through us with Tex Cobb and a sheriff, Tex in shackles. Many people were surprised to see GA's double standing right in between the aisles. The AD, told us to chill when GA was up there, no autographs, no yelling, just be cool. Everyone was really good with that direction. They moved about 3 rows of people in the front and put some 'stunt people' there... during this scene, a guy gets punched and flies over the railing, it was really funny. In this scene, GA walks down the aisle with Tex and the sheriff. Tex sees his double, the other Tex, in the ring and breaks out of his shackles, the fan extras mildly yell in reaction. This scene begins with us in fight mode, then were told to look at Tex in the ring or Tex in the aisle... because we can't believe were seeing two Tex's... then as the shackles are broken the chaos resumes.
After the first scene with DD talking to Kathy, the paid extras...they didn't do much. They just did the fighting on the floor. I was actually surprised they didn't have GA do their scene between them, as they were up higher in the seats at the beginning of the day. I guess the crew just loved our "enthusiasm" so much.
After the GA scene, she said a few words to the fans, thanked us for coming, then she signed autographs or at least a few of them. GA left and told us David would still be here. I got my program for the Fight signed by her....we all got programs, on the front they say "As your main event......Zupanic The Titanic Vs. Death Angel.........Professional Wrestling at it's Finest....Official Program"...On the inside left is a note saying "The cast and crew of the X-files wish to thank you for helping make this a great episode"...on the right is a bunch of gibberish basically...maybe it has meaning to the episode, I don't know, and on the back of the program is an ad for some sort of car.
After GA's goodbye we did some more talent show stuff...had a great time, never really a dull moment. They had to pour kitty litter all over the auditorium steps because people were falling from the popcorn. If you want more details about the stuff Dave the comedian did with us, email me and I'll let ya know. As this description is probably really boring already!
Next shot, we moved to the other side of the auditorium once again. There were some paid extras to my left who kept throwing popcorn at me and this girl below. This was just when we were sitting there...so there was a minor popcorn fight.
This scene was more fighting just another camera angle...hey, by this time we were pros at fighting! After watching the stunt doubles and pros, our fighting actually was getting better. One shot, that I was not in, I just sat there and watched everyone else..it was great, I actually got to see what the actors below were doing too.
After that, DD thanked us all,he was there from the beginning...'til 8. He didn't sign autographs though, but that's cool :). After this we did more raffle, both the stars were gone and they were wrapping up, after a few more fights we left, around 8:30.
I had a great experience as a "background artist" <G> on the X-files. I've never been to the set of X Files before, but I don't know how it could be any better! Everything was perfect, and I thank Fox and the X-Files for making it such a memorable experience.
If you're still reading my experience, thanks a lot. If you have any questions, just let me know.