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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 background 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, and 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 not 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 Widow, and Hawkeye arrive on the scene, dozens of civilians can be seen fleeing from a giant fireball and desperately trying 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-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 like 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 rarely 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 that 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 attention to the bloke to the left of Craig doing a bit of sweeping.
01:58Only 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 feature.
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.
03:22Contrary to popular belief,
03:23the wonderful moment when John Malkovich gets rocked by a beer can sent flying out of a car by a passenger
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 camera.
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 vehicle,
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,
04:47viewers 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.
05:53Hell, 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.
07:08That'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,
07:23she 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. True 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.
10:07As 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
10:23perched 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,
10:45about 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
11:09in the entire Lord 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
12:09ever to 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.
12:30Well, 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.
13:06James 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.
13:56Back 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!
14:25That 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.
15:48Oh 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,
15:56during 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!
16:07But before Bonesaw McGraw was ready to murder Spider-Man in the middle of the squared circle,
16:14a wonderful wrestling extra came along and offered another comical moment,
16:18in 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 booze,
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,
16:42choosing 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 mash-up,
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.
17:35The 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.
17:42Hold 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 still as humanly possible.
18:08Rather than throwing a tantrum, dropping his spear, and demanding a word with the director after being kicked by the agitated animal, though,
18:16this nutcracked 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 armored blokes holding weapons around it, can you?
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,
18:36to 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 in 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 anyone else in the area,
19:25though, this extra proceeds to celebrate like they've just won the World Cup,
19:29and runs away with a 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 the 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 movie.
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 Laurie 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 and also in the actual movie.
20:41So,
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