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In our latest compilation... When a wordless role manages to steal the movie.
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00:00When you're watching a movie, how often do you even think about the hundreds or possibly thousands of extras or
00:05background artists hired to bring authenticity and ambience to the background of a scene?
00:09Generally speaking, that's the way things are supposed to be.
00:12If you notice them, it's often because they're doing a comically poor job, but make no mistake, extras are actors,
00:19and every so often an extra manages to add something to a film by drawing attention their way.
00:23And these are the greatest movie extra performances ever.
00:26The extra running away from the Chitauri, The Avengers.
00:28The Avengers movies are so jam-packed with A-list actors and digital mayhem that you would be forgiven for
00:34not paying any attention at all to the extras ducking for cover amid all the chaos.
00:38There is one exception, however, in 2012's original Avengers movie.
00:42Near the start of the iconic Battle of New York as the Chitauri descend upon the city and Cap, Black
00:47Widow, and Hawkeye arrive on the scene, dozens of civilians can be seen fleeing from a giant fireball and desperately
00:53trying to get themselves to safety.
00:55Now, for the most part, the extras actually look like they're just taking a pretty casual jog considering how life
01:00-threatening the moment is supposed to be.
01:02However, there is one person wearing a striped shirt who absolutely just bucks it across the bridge, pelting the pavement
01:08like their life absolutely depends on it, and in turn giving an all-timer extra performance.
01:13Now everyone else is alright, but that's someone genuinely running for their life.
01:17Sadly, the person in question has never been identified, but she certainly deserves to be recognised here.
01:23Sweeping his way into history, Quantum of Solace
01:26Throughout his time playing the most iconic secret agent on planet Earth, the blonde Bond shell known as Daniel Craig
01:33rarely found himself being upstaged by anyone he was sharing the screen with.
01:38However, there was a moment during easily the least adored of his 007 flicks when one hilarious extra did exactly
01:45that in Quantum of Solace.
01:47As James Bond sits on his motorcycle and unleashes his best broody stare, it's simply impossible not to turn your
01:54attention to the bloke to the left of Craig doing a bit of sweeping.
01:57Only this particular quick brushing down of the dock floor bizarrely appeared to involve the scrubbing of thin air.
02:04Maybe that dude was just practising his cleaning technique in the middle of his shift.
02:08Perhaps he was simply rehearsing a dance number for a musical he was about to star in.
02:13Either way, this guy managed to become a background superstar through his curious sweeping method,
02:18with his strange brush with Bond being one of the most memorable moments to come from the otherwise forgettable 2008
02:24feature.
02:25And while we're on the subject of Bond, what is your favourite Bond film of all time?
02:30It's probably not Quantum of Solace, but you let me know what is in the comments section down below.
02:35Margarita Man, Jurassic World
02:36My hero, my world, my idol.
02:40Jurassic World is a serviceable but forgettable blockbuster for the most part,
02:44though anybody who noticed this extra while watching the movie likely still remembers them all these years later.
02:49When all hell breaks loose and the dinosaurs start attacking the patrons of Jurassic World,
02:53the park's main square descends into chaos as customers attempt to run to safety from the peridactyls.
02:59Hilariously, we can briefly see one man running away from the carnage,
03:03while vice gripping a margarita in each hand,
03:06and even attempting to sip one of them as he disappears out of frame.
03:09The two-second clip quickly went viral shortly after the movie's release,
03:14and Margarita Man even became an unexpected cosplay character in 2015.
03:18Hey Malkovich, think fast, being John Malkovich.
03:21Contrary to popular belief,
03:23the wonderful moment when John Malkovich gets rocked by a beer can sent flying out of a car by a
03:28passenger
03:29was not a completely improvised one.
03:32But that still doesn't change the fact that it's one of the finest extra performances ever to speed past a
03:37camera.
03:38According to the titular star himself,
03:41director Spike Jonze actually almost deleted the throw in the script due to time constraints.
03:46However, after claiming no one would be able to nail Malkovich in the head with the tin in a moving
03:51vehicle,
03:51a number of folks nearby offered to try,
03:54with John Cusack's writer partner then eventually being given the chance to hit the actor.
03:59And on top of the brilliant delivery of Hey Malkovich, think fast,
04:03followed by the terrific sound of the can connecting with an infuriated Malkovich's noggin,
04:08that this chucking was actually brilliantly captured on the first try,
04:12simply makes an already superb and quite iconic moment that little bit more fantastic.
04:17The disapproving video star customer, Scream.
04:20Generally speaking, extras are supposed to do as little as possible to draw attention to themselves in any given scene,
04:26especially when major characters are talking to each other in the foreground.
04:30But just as Wes Craven's Scream broke so many other cinematic rules,
04:33it too gave an extra a brief moment to shine.
04:36In one memorable scene, Randy and Stu are discussing the killer terrorizing Woodsboro,
04:41and when Stu asks Randy why suspect Billy would dare try to kill his own girlfriend Sydney,
04:45Randy callously replies,
04:46viewers who pay close attention to the scene though might notice that a blonde-haired woman in a blue jacket
04:55is browsing movies in the aisle behind Randy.
04:57And though out of focus, it's clear that she's paying concerned attention to Randy's increasingly deranged diatribe.
05:03After he talks about Stu being a suspect, the woman looks around the store as if to say,
05:07is anyone else hearing this arsehole?
05:09before shaking her head and then just walking out a shot.
05:12It's unclear whether the extra went into business for herself or was directed by Craven to act this way,
05:17but it's a great piece of Loki acting regardless.
05:20The Force Kick Return of the Jedi
05:22There are some out there who would have you believe that the visual of a dude on Tatooine
05:27being seemingly knocked over by a gust of wind during Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi
05:32was little more than a combination of bad choreography and camera positioning.
05:37But they be wrong!
05:38Instead, when Luke Skywalker lets loose his boot whilst attempting to fight his way through Jabba the Hutt's goons,
05:44what you were actually watching was the result of one particularly committed extra
05:48making the absolute most out of a ridiculously powerful Force Kick, folks.
05:52Hell, Mark Hamill himself even confirmed it.
05:55And this Jedi Master wouldn't lie to his Padawans all over the galaxy now, would he?
05:59You know you've accidentally produced a special and properly unforgettable Star Wars moment
06:03when folks are talking more about you being Force-booted in the face
06:07than Boba Fett being sent flying to his Sarlacc Doom.
06:10And after taking one of the silliest-looking kicks in movie history,
06:14it's safe to say this extra will be remembered for a long time, a long time.
06:19The Nuclear Wessels Lady, Star Trek IV The Voyage Home
06:23The fourth Star Trek movie, The Voyage Home,
06:25sees the crew of the Enterprise transported to 1986 San Francisco,
06:29where Uhura and Chekhov are tasked with finding a nuclear reactor
06:32which will allow them to return to the 23rd century.
06:35The two of them end up asking random passers-by how they can locate a reactor in Alameda,
06:40or Nuclear Wessels, as Chekhov calls them with his accent.
06:43Though the extras were reportedly directed not to answer the pair,
06:46one of them nevertheless gave it a shot.
06:48Extra Leila Sarkelo decided to give the duo an impromptu response, saying,
06:53quote, I don't know if I know the answer to that, I think it's across the bay in Alameda?
06:57Inspiring Chekhov to, of course, improv the famous response,
07:00that's what I said, Alameda.
07:02As it turns out, Sarkelo wasn't originally planning to appear as an extra in the film at all,
07:06but did have an ulterior motive.
07:09That's because her car had been impounded on the day of filming,
07:11after she missed a warning to move it for the shoot.
07:14In order to make some wonger to free her car from the impound,
07:16then she signed up to be an extra,
07:18and while the filmmakers expected her to ignore Uhura and Chekhov like all of the other extras,
07:22she decided to engage with them.
07:24So many, we're gonna need a bigger entry, Jaws.
07:27The folks of Amity Island could regularly be seen gathering and sprinting for their lives,
07:32around the likes of Martin Brody and the rest of the memorable characters
07:35found in Steven Spielberg's horrifying 1975 blockbuster, Jaws.
07:40And with so many extras being needed to fill out these beach town crowds,
07:44a few of those background artists diverting attention away from the main figures in front of the camera
07:49was pretty much inevitable.
07:51Sure enough, on multiple occasions in Spielberg's classic flick,
07:54extras stole the spotlight in various different ways.
07:58There was the bloke who decided to wear a blatant smile across his mug
08:01during one of Bruce's first attacks,
08:03while the rest of the folks at the beach were losing their minds over the shark.
08:07Then you have the peculiar guy in a bucket hat,
08:09trying to squeeze his way into as many frames as possible
08:12when Brody and Hooper are checking out the tiger shark.
08:15Mayor Larry Vaughn regularly finds himself having to deal with a few background performers
08:19attracting viewers' wandering eyes, too.
08:21A young child works his way into shot with a noticeable frown,
08:26as Larry asks why someone isn't going for a dip.
08:29And one particularly excited extra also steals all the attention away from the mayor,
08:33when he's letting folks watching the news know that Amity means friendship,
08:37giddily waving her arms and distractingly throwing up a peace sign during her big moment.
08:42Put simply, none of these extras wasted their opportunity to be remembered,
08:45in what turned out to be one of the most famous movies of all time.
08:49The Big Gulps Guys.
08:51Dumb and Dumber.
08:52Dumb and Dumber remains one of the most iconic and endlessly quotable comedies of all time.
08:56And perhaps its single most repeated line occurs when Lloyd leaves a convenience store,
09:00comes across two guys drinking Big Gulps and awkwardly says,
09:03Big Gulps, huh?
09:04And then, alright, well, see you later, after getting no response.
09:08A few years ago, director Peter Farrelly not only confirmed that Jim Carrey
09:12improvised the awe-inspiring line on the spot,
09:14but that the two extras in the scene weren't even supposed to be there.
09:17The two men drinking Big Gulps were simply watching the scene being shot
09:21when Farrelly felt that they would fit the scene well and decided to drag them in.
09:25In his own words, quote,
09:26They happened to have Big Gulps and Jim just ran with it.
09:28True story.
09:29And yet, despite doing nothing more than staring at Jim Carrey and giving him a knowing nod,
09:34they immediately entered the pantheon of legendary movie extras.
09:37The fact that they completed the shot without bursting into laughter at Carrey's bizarre ad-lib
09:41is some award-worthy restraint.
09:44Stealing the whole damn scene, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
09:48There was only one cameo MCU fans couldn't stop talking about after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
09:54Sure, the arrival of a certain Reed Richards in full Fantastic Four attire
09:58was a fun addition to the multiversal mayhem,
10:01but John Krasinski's brief performance as the famous Marvel figure
10:04paled in comparison to one outstanding wedding guest.
10:08As the titular sorcerer waited for Christine Palmer to walk down the aisle on her wedding day,
10:13Stephen Strange began chatting with his fellow Doctor Nicodemus West.
10:17And it's here when the two Docs were completely overshadowed by one absolutely hypnotic extra
10:22perched on the bench behind them.
10:25Rather than taking the safe approach of just having a basic conversation with another guest,
10:29this background performer shines during the moment she knows she's in shot,
10:34pulling many an expressive face and just generally being as hilariously animated as possible
10:38over Strange's shoulder.
10:40Sure, her colourful display ever so slightly undermines Strange's serious chat,
10:44about his part in causing half of life in the universe to be dusted away for five years
10:49before Thanos was ultimately defeated,
10:51but she certainly made the most of her MCU moment.
10:54And then some.
10:55And also, just a quick thanks for making WhatCulture a part of your day today.
10:59And if you like what you see, then go and tap on that subscribe button, you lovely person.
11:03The Roherim, The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.
11:06The charge of the Roherim is largely agreed to be one of the greatest scenes in the entire
11:09Lord of the Rings trilogy.
11:11And a big part of the reason for that is the clear enthusiasm of the 150 extras
11:15who took part in the sequence.
11:17Now, director Peter Jackson famously insisted that only extras who had read the novel
11:21and could recite Theoden's iconic battle cry could be placed at the front line of the battle,
11:27as they would most appreciate its importance and convey that gravity on screen.
11:30Fans have singled out a few particularly enthusiastic riders over the years,
11:35especially one who powers forward aggressively on his horse,
11:38selling the intensity of the scene incredibly well.
11:40Then there's the poor extra who fell off his horse and somehow wasn't harmed
11:44despite falling directly in the path of numerous horses behind him.
11:48Jackson apparently loved this so much that he kept it in the movie.
11:51These extras fully gave themselves over to Jackson's epic vision,
11:54and the results are absolutely spectacular.
11:57The goon who kicked their own ass, The Dark Knight Rises.
12:00Keeping in the world of superheroes for this next tremendous piece of extra work,
12:04Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy possesses some of the most gripping fight sequences ever
12:09to grace the genre.
12:10But while The Dark Knight Rises in particular certainly boasted some of the more brutal
12:14and jaw-dropping punch-ups the franchise had to offer,
12:17that threequel also contained one of the funniest mid-fight moments too.
12:21As Batman and Catwoman kick and thump their way out of trouble,
12:25Bane's henchmen find themselves being taken out one by one by the hard-hitting twosome.
12:29Well, most of them do anyway.
12:31One over-enthusiastic baddie appeared to have strangely got a little lost in the moment,
12:36and simply threw themselves to the ground whilst the Bat was occupied with a few other goons.
12:41Maybe the fear of tangling with the caped crusader was enough to make this Bane soldier crumble to the ground.
12:47Or perhaps one of the stunt workers involved in the multi-person skirmish
12:50simply forgot a piece of the fight routine,
12:53and this awkward tumble was the only way to save the rest of the take.
12:56Whatever the reason, the henchmen who conquered themselves
12:59quickly became a legend in their own right after this silly moment.
13:03The surprised barmaid, Terminator 2 Judgment Day.
13:05James Cameron has always had a knack for picking memorable extras,
13:08and perhaps the most canny selection of his entire filmography
13:11appears in one of Terminator 2's establishing scenes.
13:15When the new T-800 arrives in the present day
13:17and hits up a seedy bar to acquire clothes and transportation,
13:20it scans all of the bar's patrons and staff
13:23to find someone of a comparative size whose clothes it can take.
13:27In one hilarious moment, it scans a waitress who is clearly both startled
13:30and a little bit excited by the presence of the naked man.
13:34She gives the T-800 a lingering stare-down from top to bottom
13:37before smirking at the machine and letting out an intrigued home.
13:40A great background play can provide that little extra something
13:43to punctuate a scene, and that's absolutely the case here.
13:46Batman! Yeah! Batman Forever!
13:49That stumbling Dark Knight Rises background performer
13:51wasn't the first extra to make a noticeable impact during a Batfilm.
13:55Back during the far more cartoonish era of Dark Knight Pictures,
13:59Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever included a scene
14:02which involved Batman crashing through the ceiling before hunting down Two-Face.
14:06And while that may initially sound like your average moment of Caped Crusader crime-fighting,
14:11one side-splitting extra ensured that this specific Bat arrival would never be forgotten.
14:16In the seconds before slow-mo Batman touches down on the floor,
14:19one carefree party guest can be found pointing up to the sky
14:22and letting out an exuberant Batman!
14:25Yeah!
14:26That drunken wonder in this extra's voice as Val Kilmer's superhero slowly drops out of the sky,
14:32combined with the hilariously dramatic stare Nicole Kidman's Dr. Chase Meridian shoots the badass,
14:37as the guest's arm remains awkwardly aimed at his favourite hero,
14:41makes for one of the most glorious pieces of silly 90s action
14:44you'll find in the otherwise quite disappointing flick.
14:47And after catching this wonderful moment of strangeness for the first time,
14:51you'll likely struggle sitting through your next viewing of Batman Forever
14:54without letting out your own random party extra, yeah!
14:58during his shot-stealing performance.
15:00The Ghostbusters, alright, guy, Ghostbusters.
15:03Sometimes an extra might seem to draw a little bit too much attention to themselves,
15:08but the results end up becoming iconic and much-loved anyway.
15:11That's certainly the case with the original Ghostbusters,
15:13where just ahead of the finale, an extremely enthusiastic red-haired Ghostbusters fan
15:17can be seen jumping up and down, clapping and shouting,
15:20Ghostbusters, alright, alright, Ghostbusters!
15:23As it turns out, the man is now Emmy-winning makeup artist,
15:25Eldor Ray Estes, who was determined enough to ensure that he was noticeable in the film,
15:30and most certainly achieved that goal.
15:32And yet, his enthusiasm is both infectious and entirely believable within the context of the scene.
15:37Estes added that he was constantly recognised by passers-by during the summer of the movie's 1984 release,
15:43automatically making him both one of the best and most famous movie extras of all time.
15:47Oh god, I can't feel my legs, Spider-Man!
15:50When the scene which sees Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker giving that professional wrestling stuff a try,
15:55during Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man comes up in conversation,
15:59most folks will be quick to remember the brilliant performance given by real-life wrestling icon,
16:04Macho Man Randy Savage.
16:06Oh yeah!
16:08But before Bonesaw McGraw was ready to murder Spider-Man in the middle of the squared circle,
16:13a wonderful wrestling extra came along and offered another comical moment,
16:17in the wake of being sent flying by the aforementioned Macho Saw.
16:21As Parker makes his way to the ring for his debut as the amazing Spider-Man to the sound of
16:26booze,
16:27Bonesaw's last victim, a luchador who'd been smashed through a table,
16:31let Parker know what hell could be heading his way.
16:33Oh my god, oh my legs, oh god, I can't feel my legs were the memorable words
16:38that left Pete wondering whether he'd just made a monumental mistake,
16:41choosing to take a few bumps for some dollar.
16:44Macho Man and Maguire certainly provide their fair share of amusing moments
16:48throughout this much-loved wrestling superhero mashup,
16:51but it's this extra superb commitment of flailing around on a stretcher
16:54like he'd just lost a fight with King Kong
16:56that still sticks out as one of the funniest of the entire sequence.
17:00The saluting pilot, Independence Day.
17:02Few who have seen Independence Day will ever forget President Whitmore's instantly iconic
17:07rallying cry for humanity to stand up and fight back against the aliens.
17:11It is a scene both immensely cheesy and genuinely awesome.
17:15Actor Bill Pullman's stirring performance is a big part of the reason that the scene works,
17:19but it's impossible to ignore the efforts of one extra who really helps tie it all together.
17:24After Whitmore says the iconic quote of
17:25Today we celebrate our Independence Day, director Roland Emmerich cuts to various faces in the crowd cheering
17:31before showing our pilot passionately saluting the president.
17:34The pilot in question is allegedly played by Darren Mangan,
17:38and despite appearing in the film for barely a second,
17:40gives one of its most persuasive performances.
17:43Hold your horses, The Last Samurai.
17:45Animals, like children, are known for being somewhat unpredictable on a film set,
17:49and that's something you definitely don't need to tell one of the unfortunate extras pretending to be a soldier
17:54during one rather awkward scene in The Last Samurai.
17:57As Tom Cruise's Captain Nathan Algren dismounts his steed in the middle of some nearby troops,
18:02said horse suddenly decided it had a problem with one of the extras just trying their best to stay as
18:07still as humanly possible.
18:09Rather than throwing a tantrum, dropping his spear, and demanding a word with the director
18:13after being kicked by the agitated animal though,
18:15this nut-cracked soldier kept his composure, and resisted the urge to fall to his knees in agony.
18:21You can hardly blame the horse for being a bit freaked out by the sight of so many armoured blokes
18:25holding weapons around it, can ya?
18:27But that doesn't change the fact that in the time it takes to lift your boot off the ground,
18:31this extra likely went from being excited about the idea of possibly sharing a frame with the mighty crews,
18:37to cursing the moment they were nudged to the front of their particular unit in the first place,
18:41running away with the sword, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
18:44Easily one of the most iconic pieces of action in big screen history,
18:48the visual of the legendary Indiana Jones deciding to simply gun down a giant sword-wheeling enemy is cinematic perfection.
18:56And the fun simply does not stop after a genuinely sick Harrison Ford fires a bullet through the intimidating man
19:02in black,
19:02with one side-splitting extra adding another magical detail to the already stellar scene.
19:08Keep an eye on the folks surrounding Indy's fallen foe in the seconds that follow the pistol being fired,
19:13and you'll spot one of the overjoyed civilians reaching right for the baddie's massive weapon.
19:18Instead of suddenly taking the scene down a much darker road by seizing the weapon and turning on Jones or
19:24anyone else in the area,
19:25though, this extra proceeds to celebrate like they've just won the World Cup,
19:29and runs away with the huge sword waving in the air as the euphoric crowd cheers them on.
19:34It's a little performance that can easily be overlooked during your first few watches of the effortlessly cool moment.
19:40But once you spot it, an already riotous event is made even more absurdly comical.
19:45Lovely stuff.
19:46The Clumsy Stormtrooper, Star Wars, A New Hope.
19:49And, of course, there was only ever going to be one extra in the number one spot,
19:53and that's the clumsy stormtrooper who bumps his head on a doorframe while entering the Death Star's control room in
19:59the original Star Wars.
20:00The scene has been a source of considerable amusement among fans over the last four plus decades,
20:05many wondering how George Lucas could allow such a blatant gaffe to make it into the final cut of his
20:10movie.
20:11But it doesn't really matter why it's there, we're just so glad that it is there,
20:15because while the moment might only make the stormtroopers look even more useless,
20:19it is a textbook example of a happy accident that generated one of the funniest moments in blockbuster cinema history.
20:25Though many have claimed to be the extra in question, it appears that the real actor under the helmet was
20:30Laurie Good.
20:30As nobody called cut, he just assumed that the bump wasn't visible on camera,
20:34only to be surprised when he sat down to watch the film and saw that it was both on camera
20:39and also in the actual movie.
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