Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 31, 2007|Volume 36, Number 1|Two-Week Issue

Among the Yale affiliates who were tapped for parts as extras or "background specialists," as they're more formally known — were (standing from left) Nina Glickson, Edward Kamens, Steven Smith and (sitting) Mary Miller.

Yalies get taste of Hollywood
as ‘Indiana Jones’ extras

For the lucky Yale and New Haven community members chosen to serve as extras, the film shoot for “Indiana Jones IV” held in New Haven in June offered a behind-the-set glimpse of both Hollywood glamour and the sometimes monotonous realities of movie making.

Led by director Steven Spielberg, the Paramount Pictures production company rolled into town overnight, unfurled and instantly assembled a small city’s worth of sets, props, lights, equipment and facilities to serve its itinerant cast and crew. The movie makers were welcomed by New Haven and Yale officials, and their activities attracted crowds to the downtown area, eager to get a glimpse of the action.

Using movie magic, the crew transformed downtown New Haven into the platonic ideal of College Town U.S.A., 1957. Yale’s Old Campus and Sterling Memorial Library served as backdrops for some of the film’s action sequences, and other Yale buildings, including the Law School and William L. Harkness Hall, were used for interior shots.

Then, as quickly and efficiently as a Ringling Brothers production, the movie crew left town without leaving a physical trace.

For Lauren Thompson, a Woodbridge Fellow in the Office of the President and one of the Yale community members chosen to serve as extras in the film, the event was “exciting, riveting and intense.”

Thompson marveled at the dedication and hard work of everyone involved in a process of such coordinated complexity. “No Yalie I know would walk down the street at 5 a.m. with hair rollers and sit through another hour of ‘make up’ just to go to class, but for Mr. Spielberg, one makes exceptions,” says Thompson. She adds that following such a grueling regimen did not inspire in her a calling to the acting profession.

Reggie Solomon, a Yale College graduate now with Yale's Office of New Haven and State Affairs, donned a collegiate outfit for the film. The extras' woolen garb was at odds with the 90-degree weather during the shoot.

Because the film was set in a cooler time of year, Yale extras had to don 1950s-era woolens — in 90-degree heat — for a few fleeting seconds of celluloid fame. Reggie Solomon, program director in Yale’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs and a Yale College graduate, was surprised at the tedium of film production. He described the experience as an endless cycle of waiting, going for an espresso and waiting.

Mary Miller, the Vincent Scully Professor of the History of Art and master of Saybrook College, had a cinematic stint as a 1950s businesswoman.

“The 15-hour day is a tiring one, especially given the repetitious work of the ‘background specialist,’ as extras are described in the contract,” Miller wrote in an e-mail. “Nevertheless, I found the opportunity to see Steven Spielberg in action — he did direct the final scene of the day — quite thrilling.”

Regina Starolis, executive assistant to the Yale president, enjoyed the chance to ride the 1950s-era bus that figured prominently in a chase scene.

The excitement of watching Harrison Ford doing much of his own stunt-work, which included jumping off a motorcycle through the window of a moving car was “fun,” she said.

Starolis was especially impressed by the precision and synchronization of the action shots, and by the unrelenting attention to detail of the crew.

“They followed us around refreshing our lipstick at every retake,” she says of the ubiquitous make-up crew. “Perhaps the most exciting moments of the two-week shoot,” she added, “was actually seeing Spielberg direct and seeing how much he enjoyed it.”

Other members of the Yale community who appeared as extras included Yale faculty members Steven Smith, Hugh Flick and Edward Kamens, and Aislin Colon and Nina Glickson, respectively associate Calhoun College master and assistant to the Yale president.

— By Dorie Baker

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

University is welcoming its most diverse freshman class in history

Yale will bring educational treasures to iTunesU

Appointments Announced

Yale College deans for student and Native American affairs

Deputy provosts for science, faculty development

Coordinator of community programs in science

Yale Arab Alumni Association launched this summer

Yalies get taste of Hollywood as ‘Indiana Jones’ extras
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT NEWS

Five new faculty members begin teaching this fall

Students win championship round of new game show

New clinic offers free aid to local businesses, non-profits

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld cited as a business school ‘All Star’

DeVane Lectures to explore impact of performing arts

Scientists discover that evolution is driven by gene regulation

Exhibit explores fusion of fact and fiction in pirate portrayals

Also on view at the Beinecke Library

Exhibit features landscapes by photographer Jem Southam

Volunteers will again help during ‘Days of Caring’

Show celebrates East Asia collection’s 100th anniversary

Appointments at Center for Bioethics include a new director, David Smith

New residential college deans named

Events explore topics of reconciliation and ‘laws common to all mankind’

Yale Art Museums’ Open House to feature music, tours and more

Yale Library unveils blog and search tool

OISS seeking hosts for its Community Friends program
IN MEMORIAM

Letty Russell: Feminist theologian, leader in ecumenical movement

Brevard S. Childs: Influential Old Testament scholar, beloved teacher

Memorial service to be held for astronomy researcher Dorrit Hoffleit

Campus Notes

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