"Boardwalk" extras, anyone?

[VisforVictory]

Greetings!

Spent a wonderful day on the set of season 2 of "Boardwalk Empire" yesterday. Showed up at the wardrobe fitting in my Magnoli "New Yorker," and the costume person asked the boss "do we even need to dress him??" Of course, I was happy for the chance to try out MORE suits, and I was put into a fantastic dark blue double-breasted number and an original striped shirt with a soft collar. The haircut guy only had to give my neck a touch-up.

Anyway, the scene was at Babette's Supper Club, and the fact that it's an actual room, not a soundstage, meant that everything in 360 degrees is dressed up as something. With the smoke and late-afternoon yellow light simulation, and everyone perfectly attired and made-up, it was really one of those eerie "you are there" moments.

Has anyone else in the region worked on the show? Seems like lots of opportunities for non-union hacks like me to fill in the background.

 

[Edward]

That sounds like great fun! I've done a little bit of TV here and there over here, but nothing period, all contemporary. I did get to goth out fully, black lippy and all, as 'guest at goth wedding' in an episode of Doctors a few years ago. Nothing as cool as BE, mind. I'd have been tempted, in your shoes, to run off with the costume....

 

[VisforVictory]

I was worried that they were going to stop me at the door when I walked out with my own stuff. (Un)fortunately, everything seems to be barcoded...a lot of the principals' suits are done by Martin Greenfield, the legendary Brooklyn tailor, while most of the extras' stuff is rented from Daybreak Vintage out of Albany. There's a big mix of eras actually being worn...most of the suits are clearly '30s and '40s, with a few probably the half-Norfolk backed revivals of the '70s. Fortunately, this doesn't detract from the overall scene.

 

[Edward]

Yes, I don't imagine it would. I would suggest that most likely they have the folks right up front looking very authentic, while people passing in the background will be passable when not looked directly at, and bearing in mind a lot of them only have to look convincing from forty feet at the other side of a set... If you will, it's like having five hundred guys in a USAAF scene: the principals right up front will be in GoodWear, while the guys right at the back who are there to fill out the scene, give a sense of scale, numbers, etc, but who won't be seen closely on screen will be in a Cooper or whatever...