Unfortunately for film-makers, they can’t always pay professional actors to fill their scenes and convincingly just act like human beings without falling over or doing something to mess up the scene entirely. So even the most impressively cast films have to be filled out with normal folk like me and you, told to walk back and forward, not look at the camera and just generally not to draw any attention whatsoever, unless instructed to do so.
Inevitably, this goes wrong quite often, and though the majority of Extras mistakes will never see the light of day, some are infamously left in the final films, either through editing negligence, or the financial constraints of reshooting or removing them. And what follows here is a celebration of nine of those instances, when Extras have – in one way or another – completely ruined the scene they were asked to take part in.
So read on, and point and laugh if you like – it’s probably the right thing to do.
Disclaimer: Before anyone says it in the comments thread, I already realise that an Extra isn’t really an Extra if he has a line of dialogue to deliver, but in my world, if someone has less than a minute on screen, the idea of them being called a Guest star is something of a stretch, so they’re getting lumped in here as well.
1. Little Verne Needs To Pee
Some sterling detective work went into finding this now infamous clip from Back To The Future Part III – I’d like to say it was done by my hand and trap-like mind, but it wasn’t. But we can all still enjoy it nonetheless.
Quite worryingly, the rest of the internet seems to be convinced that the little chap in the following clip is an incorrigible pervert, due to his cheeky groin pointing in the background as Doc Brown avoids telling Marty McFly quite how he managed to magic a ruddy great train time machine out of nowhere.
In reality, it is pretty obvious that Verne – played by young Dannel Evans – was merely in dire need of a bathroom break. Still, it’s remarkably funny all the same.
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79 Comments
This scene was merely trivial. The most visible and unintentional mistakes of the franchise were Episodes I, II, & III; The longest running blooper in the history of movie making.
your prequel hate is neither original nor funny. Just in case you didn’t know this.
But the prequels suck. Check out the plinkett reviews. Srsly, slap a Star Wars logo onto anything and people ‘ll insist those three dung hills are art. :p
The truth is rarely original or funny.
Great list. I remember the graduation scene in Almost Famous where an extra was super overacting from behind Frances Mdcormand.
She actually gets mentioned by Cameron Crowe in his commentary. he says how terrible she is and she’s the worst extra ever and it should be a lesson to all the people watching that if they are ever an extra in a movie do the opposite of what this girl did.
Normally I can get past bad extras, but there’s a fella in Star Trek: Generations who is in the scene where Data clenches his fist in triumph at destroying the enemy. The bloke in the background does exactly what Data does, only about three seconds in advance… He’s clearly admonished for doing so, then looks embarrassed for the rest of the scene.
I haven’t seen the film in about 10 years but it sticks with me like a bad dream. Of all the things involved with that, it winds me up no end to know they could have re-filmed that scene within a minute. Shows the standards some people are [not] prepared to work to, eh?
Trust me, there was more than just the take you saw in the movie, but the director and the editor decided that the performance by the main actors was more compelling than anything by the background actors that may have diminished it. They saw it and chose to “ignore it” or to figure that if the audience was so “out of the story” that they noticed the background guy, then they had bigger story problems than an extra in the background.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I saw Generations at a press screening the Monday before it premiered, super excited to see it. I totally remember that like it was yesterday. Why in the name of all that is holy did they not reshoot that scene? How could the powers that be NOT see that in the dailies? The fact that he did it before Data was so over the top obvious. Just terrible.
DKR an “underwhelming movie”??????
get a clue moron, it was probably the best film in the best trilogy of all time.
SIGH yet another clueless moron whos painfully wrong and SCARY dumb
Lol, best trilogy of all time, try most boring and overrated.
I’m not even a batman fan and that was my favourite movie series. You represent a minority, it was not overrated, it deserved all of the hype it got.
I agree with Noah. I started to like Batman since I watched this movie. The storyline is so rich and unforgettable. TDK trilogy truly deserves it.
That’s true, TDK Trilogy is the most overrated trilogy in the history !!! :))
The only reason people see things as ‘overrated’ is because so many people love said thing, and the ones who dislike it get all iffy and indignant over the fact they simply cannot find joy in what is a fantastic experience for everyone else. ;)
I love when little bat-fanboys insist anyone who doesn’t worship Nolan’s film is clueless, a moron, wrong, and dumb.
Just shows how painfully immature they are and that they can’t handle differing opinions. I loved BB and DK, but DKR was an overblown mess, and the first superhero movie EVER that I didn’t buy on DVD the day it came out.
Agreed. Sort of. TDK was even more of a mess storywise, but I can see why people enjoyed that one — Eckhart and Ledger’s performances rose above the material. But once Nolan took over the writing completely, his Batman movies stopped making sense. I loved BATMAN BEGINS, but both sequels had ridiculous plots which made no sense, smart characters who act stupidly to move the plot along, and so, SO, SOOO many plot holes that there’s not enough room here to list them.
name one trilogy other than Star wars thats better than Nolan’s Batman?
“name one trilogy other than Star wars thats better than Nolan’s Batman?”
The Three Colors Trilogy
The Apu Trilogy
The Vengeance Trilogy
The Man with No Name Trilogy
The Godfather Trilogy (yes, the third film is mediocre – but then again, so is the third film of the Batman franchise.)
Shall I go on?
I’ve heard of zero of those except The Godfather. Your point is invalid
His point is not invalid. Tom cannot be held responsible for your lack of film knowledge. Both the Three Colors trilogy and the Vengeance trilogy are spectacular. But then again, I wouldn’t expect a Nolan fanboy to have heard of, or seen, any of these films. Try watching a film with some subtitles, you might learn a thing or two.
I could never get past the retarded husky Batman voive.
Toy Story ’nuff said
“You don’t agree with my opinion? Get a clue you moron!”
Tell me, what do you know about “The Apu Trilogy,” “The Vengeance Trilogy,” “The Three Colors Trilogy,” and “The Man with No Name Trilogy”? Surely if you’re attacking other people for their intelligence and “wrongness” for daring to express a dissenting opinion about a film, you’ll have heard of and seen those highly acclaimed and beloved trilogies?
Or could it be that you’re another hyperactive internet fanboy who knows absolutely nothing about the history of film, but who’s convinced that Nolan’s films must absolutely be the best things ever made? Could it be that your vitriol directed at anyone who disagrees with your (perfectly valid) opinion of films is entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable, since you yourself aren’t that particularly knowledgeable or smart?
Yes, lots of people love Nolan’s Batman trilogy – but that doesn’t mean that EVERYONE is required to share that opinion. No matter how much of a film buff you consider yourself, there are plenty of people who know far more about film than you – and who rather decidedly aren’t “morons” or “dumb” – that don’t love the trilogy.
(For the record, I really, really like the first two Nolan Batman films – but calling someone a “clueless moron” for calling DKR (or any other film) “underwhelming” only reveals your own utter lack of intelligence or perspective. If you knew as much as you think you do, you wouldn’t react so viciously to a dissenting opinion.)
Though popularity obviously doesn’t equal quality I would think that in order to earn a best ever trilogy nomination more than a sliver of the population should have heard of the movies. Or is it like music where the fewer people who know about a song automatically means it is better and the more popular the worse it is?
Nolan’s Batman films are frigging fantastic; but best trilogy of all time? Hardly. Cinema didn’t start 10 years ago you know.
the worst Extra that I remember seeing (all on my own) was in the opening battle scene of Gladiator. At the bottom of the screen, after the two armies have clashed there are a couple of guys just standing there – smiling! – just looking around. I remember seeing that the very first time I saw the movie in the theater. Years later when I met my wife, we were watching Gladiator and both wanted to point out these guys… Ah, movie nerds in love!
Clint Eastwood’s “Dollars” trilogy; Toy Story; Mad Max; Die Hard 1,2,3; Jason Bourne; Lethal Weapon; Indiana Jones; LOTR.
Haha yes I love it! What a great little encomium of mishaps! The one in North by Northwest I’d never noticed! A purest may say it’s “ruined that masterpiece for me” I, on the other hand, think that little boy has turned the masterpiece into gold for me!
TDKR is a great movie.
HAHAHAHHAHA! Good one.
It’s a fun movie, sure, but it’s by no means a great movie.
The plot makes no sense, Hathaway was horribly miscast as the sexless Selina, the fight scenes between Bane and Bats are ridiculous (To buy the first fight where Bats loses, you have to buy the fact that suddenly Batman ONLY knows how to box, is unable to move in his suit, and has forgotten how to use all of his other weapons at his disposal.), and Bane sounds like King Tut from the 1960s Batman series.
In the first ‘Scream’ theres a scene in the video store where Matt Lillard and Jamie Kennedy discuss the possibility of Skeet Ulrichs’ character being the killer. Theres a girl in the nackground who’s overacting ALWAYS take my attention away from the scene with some fantastic over RE acting
There is a moment in “Spiderman” where the same extra walks past behind Tobey Maguire. What makes it more obvious is that they have a bright purple coat on!
In “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” in one of the shots you can briefly see a man wearing a white cowboy hat in sunglasses – not necessarily an extra, possibly a crew member, but it’s great.
Robocop 1
For years now I have seen movie bloopers programs and mistakes shows.
But no-one ever mentions the bouncing politician the Robocop punches through the window.
In the actual scene you dont see him land it’s in the news clip straight after.
Every time I watch that film I always laugh at it.
10 things I hate about you, when the Gym teacher get’s arrowed and a girl gets sent for the nurse, she runs half way up the field, and must think she’s out of shot as she suddenly stops running and makes a complete 180
A little lost?
There’s a scene in “The Godfather” when Marlon Brando’s character opens the door to let out the baker and an extra walks in front of the door before she was about to, looks at the camera and backs backout of the shot when she realizes she went before she was supposed to. Also, this isn’t an extra moment, but in the same movie, when Michael Corleone and the nurse are wheeling Vito Corleone into a different room, they accidently squish his hand into the doorway and he quickly pulls his hand back out of pain. :P
And also, The Dark Knight Rises was in no way underwhelming. I liked it more than The Dark knight to be honest.
what about the laughing extra in the background in enter the dragon when bruce lee is battling han’s men?
In the Dark Knight Rises , when Bruce escapes of the pit, one of the extras look at the camera! look: 01.53.43 xDxDxD
How about in Fast and The furious? During the scene where Where Dom and Brian just finished their head to head race, and Dom won. There’s this Hefty Asian guy in the front, and he like the rest of the crowd is cheering Dom on when he makes a point. But this kid just tries way to hard to look cool and be tough. He keeps saying “Yeah, bitch!” It’s G-d awful really! He’s Impossible to miss- and kills the scene, cause you just want to go a slap this wanna-be tough!
Star Wars: New Hope after the Death Star destruction when Luke lands his X-wing and is being congratulated. Princess Leia calls out “Luke!” to him and he replies …”Carrie!”
Check out the blooper in “The Last Samurai” where Tom Cruise dismounts his horse and the horse kicks some poor fella (looks to be within the “crotchal” region)… You’ll find it towards the end, in between the battle scenes in the end.
Worst candyman ever?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51MIw5JONKI
haha. teen woof.
I love how the people on the set of Star Wars didn’t notice that the stormtropper slammed his head into a doorway.
ABRE LOS OJOS, a spanish film that inspired “Vanilla Sky”
At the beginning of the film, when the protagonist finds himself in the Gran Via of Madrid totally deserted, it can be seen, when the plane is opened, a man leaning on a balcony on the right side of the image above the traffic light.
http://youtu.be/YR_YdbsHovU
Never noticed the Goodfellas Diner one before.
I didn’t think it was that bad. People eating alone at a place often look around like that because they have no one to talk to.
In The School of Rock at the moment where the other band (No Vacancy) wins the battle of the bands, one way too excited fan is pretty happy for them, while the rest of the crowd is pissed.
There’s a scene in “True Lies” where Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Tom Arnold are getting into a parallel parked vehicle while talking, and an old woman is in the background noticeably watching the whole thing.
The funniest thing in Jaws is, right after the actor reacts to being told it was a tiger shark by saying, “A what?”, with a effeminate voice, the next scene shows him speaking like an angry Teamster from Chicago.
Let’s not forget about the famous Vulcan hand sign “Live Long and Prosper” at the end of Logans Run, just before the closing credits. It’s right in the foreground where all the people crowd around the old man. Classic that he got away with that.
Meh. Minor complaints, these extras weren’t noticed when I watched any of these films and seeing them revealed now? Doesn’t affect my enjoyment of those films any more or less.
Monster’s Ball when Halle gets the “news” about her son, the nurse behind her is smiling, ruining the very emotional scene.
4. Coach Carter Upsets Hysterical Man – nothing wrong with that one.
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?! HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the final mayhem scene of Animal House, when the camera is looking down on the street and smoke, a little old woman runs into the middle of the street waving an American flag–no, she is waving it like a hanker-chief–and then she reverses direction back into the chaos.
She always causes a distraction when I watch that movie.
the British soldier in Braveheart. During one of the battles that the Scottish win (I think it might be the one with the blue face paint. You can see him in the background over Gibson’s shoulder jumping around waving his sword and lightly hitting the ground with it. It’s pretty funny to see
I don’t remember the film, but I remember this fuss being made about an extra who did this bizarre walk in the background and was dressed completely conspicuously. Oh, and kept looking at the camera.
Here’s the scene in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQllYcTEUQ
I about rolled when I saw the clip from Coach Carter, it’s just so overblown, but number 1? You seriously think the director would have called cut. And the editor? Were they just doing that on purpose? Clearly they must have noticed it.
In the 1st Fantastic Four movie there’s a scene where the Human Torch is showing the Thing his action figure in the lobby of the Baxter Building. They cut to a long shot and an extra is pulled out of the shot from behind.
For me it was in Ghostbusters – when the crowd cheer for them near the climax theres a red headed guy who go’s “Ghostbusters! All right!” you see him jumping up and down as well. Also Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones on the battle of Geonosha, the overacting female Jedi who slays a battle droid and goes “YAAAHH!”
I remember hearing the Gladiator commentary and Ridley Scott was going on and on about this one extra in the crowd of spectators who just stood there when he should have reacted and further went on that he wishes he could have digitally painted him out. LOL.
Ron Jeremy in Ghostbusters was pretty bad. And the extra that leaked the footage of DKR did many of us a favor in saving us the ticket price to see that steaming pile. Sooooo many plot holes combined with totally defying everything the Batman character represents. You really mean to tell me he’s going to quit fighting crime because his girlfriend died after his parents being shot in front of him is what started the whole thing?
Daredevil.- in the end when bullseye falls on the cop car an extra points a gun at joe pantalione, he points down to the bad guy and the extra quickly points the gun back at the badguy
Okay, I watched the NxNW shot about ten times before I saw the little boy… if you’re like me and can’t see it, look over her shoulder at :19. Now I will see it forEVER!
Should have added the scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when one of the dancers accidentally kicked Jane Russell into the pool when they were all jumping over her.
I tried my best to avoid any spoilers when it came to Dark Knight Rises. I remember seeing these pictures on the internet.
Not sure if is true or an urban myth, but isn’t there supposed to be a couple of extras in the background of an orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut, that are being quite ‘realistic’ in their acting?
In the De Niro/Meryl Streep starrer “Falling In Love”, there is a scene in the second half, where Streep is talking to her friend, while walking down a busy sidewalk, and through the scene a guy keeps up with them, all the time looking at the camera and smiling. A bigger goof-up than any you have here!
I was there with friends for the Dark Knight Rises filming (to the video recorder’s left side of the stadium) and we signed contracts to not record or photograph anything. I was a bit bummed that people took photos and recorded bits because it does take away from the “magic” of the film. The only takeaways from the film that I have is my set pass, ear plugs (for the explosions), yellow handkerchief, and a white washcloth (because of the extreme heat we could wet them and apply to ourselves). I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. :)
I have seen Star Wars hundreds of times and never caught that Stormtrooper hitting his head scene…
When having kids as extras they really need to have a set disciplinarian to take the kids off for a good hard caning and the admonishment that they’ll get it twice as bad if they screw anything up. ;-)
I love the whole extras overacting thing. You know that someone told them,
‘Hey, you gotta do something to get yourself noticed. That’s how (big name star) got discovered.’
I can’t find the clip anywhere online, but in a documentary about The Muppets, one of the directors of an early special was directing a final crowd scene where about a hundred Muppets sing together. All was fine except for one little rabbit off to the side, which was “overacting” and distracting from the rest of the Muppets. He called out the person doing the rabbit, to tell them to calm it down a bit, and when the puppeteer stood up, it was … Jim Henson.
The prequels were not bad at all, and the casting was perfect.
Samuel L. Jackson is awesome!!, Are you freakin’ kidding me. Watch Pulp Fiction. Best character in the Star Wars prequels. Criticize bad actors like these young actors comparing themselves to legends Like Samuel L. Jackson.
The Stormtrooper didn’t ruin that scene, he MADE that scene！
In the movie, “Being John Malkavich” the most noticeable extra makes his appearance.
What was supposed to happen was John would walk down along the side of the road and a car would drive by *driven by extras* what happened instead was while he was walking a drunk extra drove by yelled “Hey, Malkavich, Catch!” then threw a full can of beer at him hitting him in the back of the head. those swears after are true blue swears of surprise and pain
Spiderman 3 when they are having the ceremony to honor Spiderman, and then when he shows up, the woman on the far left of screen goes incredibly cartooning and over acting. It has always stuck out as a sore thumb to me since the first viewing.