10 More Greatest Movie Extra Performances Ever
These background artists all absolutely stole the show.
Transcript
00:00From that time a mesmerising wedding guest completely overshadowed one of the MCU's most powerful heroes,
00:07to the moment audiences found themselves being hypnotised by a brusher in the background.
00:13These are some more utterly wonderful pieces of extra work.
00:17I'm Gareth, this is WhatCulture, and here are 10 more of the greatest movie extra performances ever.
00:2310. Sweeping his way into history, Quantum of Solace
00:27Throughout his time playing the most iconic secret agent on planet Earth,
00:31the blonde Bond shell known as Daniel Craig,
00:34rarely found himself being upstaged by anyone he was sharing the screen with.
00:38However, there was a moment during easily the least adored of his 007 flicks,
00:43when one hilarious extra did exactly that in Quantum of Solace.
00:48As James Bond sits on his motorcycle and unleashes his best broody stare,
00:52it's simply impossible not to turn your attention to the bloke to the left of Craig
00:56doing a bit of sweeping. Only this particular quick brushing down of the dock floor,
01:01bizarrely appeared to involve the scrubbing of thin air.
01:04Maybe that dude was just practising his cleaning technique in the middle of his shift.
01:09Perhaps he was simply rehearsing a dance number for a musical he was about to star in.
01:13Either way, this guy managed to become a background superstar through his curious sweeping method,
01:19with his strange brush with Bond being one of the most memorable moments to come
01:23from the otherwise forgettable 2008 feature.
01:26And while we're on the subject of Bond, what is your favourite Bond film of all time?
01:31It's probably not Quantum of Solace, but you let me know what it is in the comments section below.
01:359. Hey, Malkovich, Think Fast! Being John Malkovich
01:39Contrary to popular belief, the wonderful moment when John Malkovich gets rocked by
01:44a beer can sent flying out of a car by a passenger, was not a completely improvised one.
01:50But that still doesn't change the fact that it's one of the finest
01:53extra performances ever to speed past a camera. According to the titular star himself,
01:58director Spike Jonze actually almost deleted the throw in the script due to time constraints.
02:04However, after claiming no one would be able to nail Malkovich in the head with the tin in
02:08a moving vehicle, a number of folks nearby offered to try, with John Cusack's writer
02:13partner then eventually being given the chance to hit the actor. And on top of the brilliant
02:18delivery of Hey, Malkovich, Think Fast!, followed by the terrific sound of the can
02:23connecting with an infuriated Malkovich's noggin, that this chucking was actually
02:27brilliantly captured on the first try, simply makes an already superb and quite
02:32iconic moment that little bit more fantastic. 8. The Force Kick – Return of the Jedi
02:38There are some out there who would have you believe that the visual of a dude on Tatooine
02:43being seemingly knocked over by a gust of wind during Star Wars Episode VI,
02:47Return of the Jedi, was little more than a combination of bad choreography and camera
02:52positioning. But they'd be wrong. Instead, when Luke Skywalker lets loose his boot whilst
02:57attempting to fight his way through Jabba the Hutt's goons, what you were actually watching
03:01was the result of one particularly committed extra making the absolute most out of a ridiculously
03:06powerful force kick, folks. Hell, Mark Hamill himself even confirmed it. And this Jedi master
03:12wouldn't lie to his Padawans all over the galaxy now, would he? You know you've accidentally
03:16produced a special and properly unforgettable Star Wars moment when folks are talking more
03:20about you being force-booted in the face than Boba Fett being sent flying to his Sarlacc doom.
03:26And after taking one of the silliest looking kicks in movie history, it's safe to say this
03:31extra will be remembered for a long time. 7. Jaws
03:39The folks of Amity Island could regularly be seen gathering and sprinting for their lives
03:43around the likes of Martin Brody and the rest of the memorable characters found in Steven Spielberg's
03:48horrifying 1975 blockbuster Jaws. And with so many extras being needed to fill out these beach
03:55town crowds, a few of those background artists diverting attention away from the main figures
03:59in front of the camera was pretty much inevitable. Sure enough, on multiple occasions in Spielberg's
04:05classic flick, extras stole the spotlight in various different ways. There was the bloke who
04:10decided to wear a blatant smile across his mug during one of Bruce's first attacks, while the
04:15rest of the folks at the beach were losing their minds over the shark. Then you have the peculiar
04:19guy in a bucket hat, trying to squeeze his way into as many frames as possible when Brody and
04:24Hooper are checking out the tiger shark. Mayor Larry Vaughn regularly finds himself having to
04:29deal with a few background performers attracting viewers' wandering eyes too. A young child works
04:34his way into shot with a noticeable frown, as Larry asks why someone isn't going for a dip.
04:40And one particularly excited extra also steals all the attention away from the mayor,
04:44when he's letting folks watching the news know that amity means friendship,
04:48giddily waving her arms and distractingly throwing up a peace sign during her big moment.
04:53Put simply, none of these extras wasted their opportunity to be remembered
04:57in what turned out to be one of the most famous movies of all time.
05:016. Stealing the Whole Damn Scene – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
05:06There was only one cameo MCU fans couldn't stop talking about after last year's Doctor
05:10Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Sure, the arrival of a certain Reed Richards in
05:15full Fantastic Four attire was a fun addition to the multiversal mayhem,
05:19but John Krasinski's brief performance as the famous Marvel figure
05:23paled in comparison to one outstanding wedding guest. As the titular sorcerer
05:27waited for Christine Palmer to walk down the aisle on her wedding day,
05:31Stephen Strange began chatting with his fellow doctor Nicodemus West. And it's here when the
05:36two docs were completely overshadowed by one absolutely hypnotic extra perched on the bench
05:42behind them. Rather than taking the safe approach of just having a basic conversation with another
05:47guest, this background performer shines during the moments she knows she's in shot, pulling many an
05:53expressive face and just generally being as hilariously animated as possible over Strange's
05:57shoulder. Sure, her colourful display ever so slightly undermines Strange's serious chat
06:03about his part in causing half of life in the universe to be dusted away for five years before
06:07Thanos was ultimately defeated, but she certainly made the most of her MCU moment. And then some.
06:13And also, just a quick thanks for making WhatCulture a part of your day today.
06:17And if you like what you see, then go and tap on that subscribe button, you lovely person.
06:225. The Goon Who Kicked Their Own Ass – The Dark Knight Rises
06:25Keeping in the world of superheroes for this next tremendous piece of extra work,
06:30Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy possesses some of the most gripping fight sequences ever to
06:34grace the genre. But while The Dark Knight Rises in particular certainly boasted some of the more
06:39brutal and jaw-dropping punch-ups the franchise had to offer, that threequel also contained one
06:44of the funniest mid-fight moments too. As Batman and Catwoman kick and thump their way out of
06:49trouble, Bane's henchmen find themselves being taken out one by one by the hard-hitting twosome.
06:55Well, most of them do anyway. One over-enthusiastic baddie appeared to have strangely got a little
07:00lost in the moment, and simply threw themselves to the ground whilst the Bat was occupied with a few
07:05other goons. Maybe the fear of tangling with the caped crusader was enough to make this Bane
07:10soldier crumble to the ground. Or perhaps one of the stunt workers involved in the multi-person
07:15skirmish simply forgot a piece of the fight routine, and this awkward tumble was the only
07:20way to save the rest of the take. Whatever the reason, the henchmen who conquered themselves
07:24quickly became a legend in their own right after this silly moment.
07:32That stumbling Dark Knight Rises background performer wasn't the first extra to make a
07:36noticeable impact during a Bat-film. Back during the far more cartoonish era of Dark Knight pictures,
07:42Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever included a scene which involved Batman crashing through the ceiling
07:47before hunting down Two-Face. And while that may initially sound like your average moment
07:52of caped crusader crime-fighting, one side-splitting extra ensured that this specific Bat arrival would
07:57never be forgotten. In the seconds before slow-mo Batman touches down on the floor,
08:02one carefree party guest can be found pointing up to the sky and letting out an exuberant
08:07BATMAN YEAH! That drunken wonder in this extra's voice as Val Kilmer's superhero slowly drops out
08:14of the sky, combined with the hilariously dramatic stare Nicole Kidman's Doctor Chase Meridian shoots
08:19the badass, as the guest's arm remains awkwardly aimed at his favourite hero, makes for one of the
08:24most glorious pieces of silly 90s action you'll find in the otherwise quite disappointing flick.
08:30And after catching this wonderful moment of strangeness for the first time, you'll likely
08:34struggle sitting through your next viewing of Batman Forever without letting out your own
08:39random party extra YEAH! during his shot-stealing performance.
08:433. Oh God I Can't Feel My Legs – Spider-Man When the scene which sees Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker
08:49giving that professional wrestling stuff a try, during Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man comes up in
08:54conversation, most folks will be quick to remember the brilliant performance given by real-life
08:59wrestling icon Macho Man Randy Savage OH YEAH! But before Bonesaw McGraw was ready to murder
09:07Spider-Man in the middle of the squared circle, a wonderful wrestling extra came along and offered
09:12another comical moment in the wake of being sent flying by the aforementioned Macho Saw.
09:17As Parker makes his way to the ring for his debut as the amazing Spider-Man to the sound of booze,
09:23Bonesaw's last victim, a luchador who'd been smashed through a table,
09:27let Parker know what hell could be heading his way.
09:30OH MY GOD OH MY LEGS OH GOD I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS were the memorable words that left Pete wondering
09:35whether he'd just made a monumental mistake, choosing to take a few bumps for some dollar.
09:40Macho Man and Maguire certainly provide their fair share of amusing moments throughout this
09:44much-loved wrestling superhero mashup, but it's this extra-superb commitment of flailing around
09:50on a stretcher like he'd just lost a fight with King Kong that still sticks out as one of the
09:54funniest of the entire sequence.
09:59Animals, like children, are known for being somewhat unpredictable on a film set,
10:03and that's something you definitely don't need to tell one of the unfortunate extras pretending
10:07to be a soldier during one rather awkward scene in The Last Samurai. As Tom Cruise's Captain
10:13Nathan Algren dismounts his steed in the middle of some nearby troops, said horse suddenly decided
10:18it had a problem with one of the extras just trying their best to stay as still as humanly
10:22possible. Rather than throwing a tantrum, dropping his spear and demanding a word with the director
10:27after being kicked by the agitated animal, this nut-cracked soldier kept his composure
10:32and resisted the urge to fall to his knees in agony. You can hardly blame the horse for being
10:37a bit freaked out by the sight of so many armoured blokes holding weapons around it, can you?
10:41But that doesn't change the fact that in the time it takes to lift your boot off the ground,
10:45this extra likely went from being excited about the idea of possibly sharing a frame with the
10:50mighty Cruise, to cursing the moment they were nudged to the front of their particular unit in
10:54the first place. 1. Running away with the sword, Raiders of the Lost Ark
10:59Easily one of the most iconic pieces of action in big screen history, the visual of the legendary
11:05Indiana Jones deciding to simply gun down a giant sword-wielding enemy is cinematic perfection.
11:11And the fun simply does not stop after a genuinely sick Harrison Ford fires a bullet
11:16through the intimidating Man in Black, with one side-splitting extra adding another magical detail
11:21to the already stellar scene. Keep an eye on the folks surrounding Indy's fallen foe in the seconds
11:26that follow the pistol being fired, and you'll spot one of the overjoyed civilians reaching
11:31right for the baddie's massive weapon. Instead of suddenly taking the scene down a much darker road
11:37by seizing the weapon and turning on Jones or anyone else in the area though, this extra proceeds
11:42to celebrate like they've just won the World Cup, and runs away with the huge sword waving in the
11:47air as the euphoric crowd cheers them on. It's a little performance that can easily be overlooked
11:52during your first few watches of the effortlessly cool moment, but once you spot it, an already
11:57riotous event is made even more absurdly comical. Lovely stuff.