NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Jim Hodges

It began with Susan Kizer seeing a notice in @LaRC that a casting director was looking for "extras" for "The Box," which finished filming at NASA Langley on February 1.

Kizer, who works in the Chemistry and Dynamics Branch, carefully cut a head shot from a family Christmas photo, then decided to add a shot of husband Ed, who was on the other side of Santa in the same picture. She sent both in and waited for opportunity to call.

By the fourth day of Langley filming, "I was thinking about how I could get back at her," said Ed Kizer, an IT Task Manager with the Science Directorate who spent four days as a "special operations" soldier in the "The Box."

He laughed when he said it.

"I took four days of vacation for this," he added, no longer laughing.

Image right: Susan Kizer cut a head shot of herself and husband Ed from a Christmas photo to begin the process ended with both as extras in the motion picture "The Box." Credit: Sean Smith.

Susan got one day of work, the final day of shooting. Look for her in a shot along North Dryden Street. Or in front of Building 1299. Or in back of the Reid Center.

That's if you recognize her from the back.

"They never did get my face," she said, somewhat mournfully.

The Kizers were among dozens of Langley employees who took time – and a healthy pay cut; extras earned $65 for an eight-hour day, plus overtime – to try their lot in front of a camera.

They learned something about what happens in movie-making when you're not Frank Langella, James Marsden or Cameron Diaz, stars of the film.

"We were 'background,' " Susan Kizer said. "It was (a call of) 'background' and we'd move."

They were selected because they looked as though they could fit into a 1970s movie and its costumes. "When they called, they asked me if I was all right with a 'hair modification,' " Ed Kizer said.

That meant a military cut, tight on the sides.

The Kizers had heard that the lot of the extra – for that matter, much of the process of making a movie – is long waits, punctuated by brief work and seemingly endless repetition. Ed Kizer found that to be true, and then some, on Day One when he reported for his "hair modification," then a wardrobe fitting for a uniform and body armor. By then, it was 10:30 a.m.

He was called before a camera at 8 p.m. with nine other "special ops" actors.

"It was not what I expected," he said. "It was more so."

Walk up a ramp in the Full Scale Tunnel on Langley's East Side.

Walk back down in bone-chilling cold.

Up.

Down.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down, until director Richard Kelly was satisfied.

"We had a sound guy tell us we were walking too loud," Ed Kizer said. "We're wearing combat boots, walking on a metal floor. But we tried to walk more softly."

That night, he reported to Susan after midnight, telling her of his hurry-up-and-mostly-wait day. Undeterred, she grew more excited about her turn on Friday.

On Tuesday, there were steps to climb.

"Background."

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.

Break to eat. Like an army, a movie company travels on its stomach.

"The food was great," Ed said.

Up. Down. Wait. Up. Down. Wait. Up. Down.

Cut.

Image left: Ed Kizer took 2 1/2 hours for wardrobe on the first day of filming, then spent almost 10 hours waiting for his first movement on camera. Credit: Sean Smith.

"You're going to see the back of my head, if anything," Ed said. "I'm waiting for the movie to come up, so I can say, 'see, that's me.' "

Another late-night report to Susan, who was still undaunted.

Day Three.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Try to do it with less noise.

"I remember a movie 'Underdog,' when the character said, 'What's my motivation?' " Ed said.

His motivation was the call "background."

Up. Down. Up … and then …

A scene called for Marsden to faint and be caught by two soldier.

No. Not Kizer, but he was next to the action.

"They might have gotten my face," he said. "I don’t know. I'm hoping my mother will be able to see me in that movie, or my son."

The report to Susan. "He would say, 'I had a conversation with Jimmy …' " she said.

Kizer laughed.

"Frank Langella was a real nice guy," he said. "I don't think there was supposed to be any interaction between actors and extras."

But some was unavoidable. The actors were friend, and the extras took note of how they performed.

Day Four, and the cast moved, first to the Gantry, where a volunteer was sought to climb in the cold wind. Kizer emerged from the group of "special ops" soldiers huddled behind a van to stay out of the wind.

"I have zero fear of heights," he said.

That will be him, high in the air, hundreds of feet from the scene. It's the ultimate "background."

"I'll probably be about this big," he said, holding his fingers about half the width of a dime apart.

And then it was done. And then it was Susan's turn.

And the temperature went up to 70 degrees as she walked along the sidewalk.

Her first thought: "This is very realistic." Her second thought: "Oh, man!"

The camera had captured the back of her head.

On to another scene. The back of her head. And another. "Maybe 1/1000th of a second on me?" she said. The day raced along. It was a total antithesis of those her husband had spent earlier in the week: more speed, less cold.

By evening, she was in a news conference in the Reid Center, a camera hanging from her neck by a strap. And then "a very special announcement," came the call. "Frank Langella has wrapped the movie."

For the Kizers, the great adventure was over until "they roll out the red carpet (at the premier)," Ed said.

"We can check it off the list of things we want to do," Susan said.

And do again?

"I would," Susan said. "But next time I won't be so unrealistic that extras play such a big role."

And send in Ed's picture again?

"She'd better not," he said. "It was worth the experience … once. I'd much rather go to Vegas for four days."



NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Adams