When I was about 9, I was asked to be an extra in "Searching For Bobby Fischer" with Trevor and my friend Kathryn. Her friend's mom was a talent agent and needed a bunch of kids for a scene with a big chess tournament. They were shooting the movie in Toronto, I believe somewhere on the U of T campus.
It was a great experience. There was a good 50 kid extras and in between shoots we were kept in a big room that had unlimited snacks, a courtyard to play in, board games, and a big TV that played "Fern Gully". Sometimes the actors in the movie would come to visit us (so we thought...they might have just wanted to watch Fern Gully, or more likely, to eat). A couple even came to sing songs with us. I think she was Diana from Anne Of Green Gables and he later did "Men in Black" with Will Smith. I'll have to IMDB that later to see if that makes sense.
When we got to the set in the mornings they would send us one by one through wardrobe and make up. We had to bring a couple changes of clothes for them to choose from, and they wanted my blue plaid dress, with my white and pastel glasses, and they French braided my hair each day. I didn't realize it at the time but I personified the geeky chess child.
While shooting, they paired us up at tables with a partner and we were to play chess as fast as we could and use those clicky "your turn" things. My partner was a little Asian girl who also didn't know how to play chess. So we just pretended and made our horsies chase each other. I think at one point our royal families decided to end their battle and have a wedding instead. We got shushed a few times for giggling. Chess players do not giggle.
The audio guys had tiny microphones taped to every few tables or so in order to pick up the ambiance. I recall deciding to keep a microphone for my barbies, and being told that they need to stay taped to the table for the movie instead.
One day we were sat at a table that had one, and we thought that we now had speaking lines in the movie. Each shot of that afternoon we repeated the same serious chess conversation over and over.
There was another scene where we all had to run from the back of the room to the front stage to pat Bobby on the back and congratulate him. Even at the time, I thought that was a weird thing to do, but damn it I was going to run the fastest and get there first. I was quite competitive, you see, plus I really wanted to be on camera.
When the filming was done, we all received a pay cheque. It was the first money I ever made and I was intensely proud of it. I have no idea how much it was for, but I do remember I was allowed to buy a "Fern Gully" VHS with it.
I never ended up watching "Searching For Bobby Fischer", not even to see if you could pick Trevor, Kathryn or I out from the crowd. Who wants to watch a movie about chess anyway?
