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A Little Taste of Hollywood



Around this time last year I was walking onto the movie set of the 

James Brown biopic Get on Up.  When I found out the movie 

would be filmed in my home state and that a casting company was 

searching for locals to play extras, I just couldn't turn down the 

opportunity to submit for a role even if it was small. I mean how 

many people can look back on their life and say they were in a 

movie especially about a man who was so influential to music 

history.


I was selected to be an extra in 3 scenes; a church scene, a concert

scene, and a club scene. The experience was so exciting and the 

best part was being transformed into a person from a different time 

period. Each day started off with wardrobe, makeup and hair 

styling, and from there the extras were taken to the set for a long 

day of filming. Filming could start at 10 am and not end until 1 am 

the next day. Each scene was filmed from different angles so that 

alone took a few hours. In my concert scene, I had to be a young 

concert goer who had to scream and dance while James Brown was 

performing. When the director yelled for the filming to stop in 

between each take, we had to recharge our energy and when the 

cameras started back rolling we had to become those excited 

screaming fans again. The first hour or two of doing this was fun 

but 9 hours in was exhausting (LOL). But if I had the opportunity 

to do it again I definitely would. I have a new level of respect for 

actors after being a part of the movie process and seeing what they 

go through in order to film one small scene.


 This was the day I got fitted for the church scene. 1950's church girl


The day the trailer for the movie was released, my twin sister who 

was also in the movie woke me up out of my sleep to watch it. We 

screamed like little school girls as we searched the trailer intensely 

trying to find ourselves so we could screen shot a picture to our 

family and friends. At the end of July, a movie premiere was 

held in Natchez, Mississippi and I was invited to attend along with 

several other extras. My opinion might be somewhat biased but I 

thought the movie was pretty good. It definitely wasn't the typical 

biopic; it focused more so on James Browns’ performances and not 

so much on his personal life. To see how the movie came together 

after being a part of the filming was amazing. Those 13 hour scenes 

that was in were only about 5 or 6 minutes in the actual movie. I 

did see myself VERY briefly in some scenes but if you blinked you 

could easily miss me (LOL). The acting was great and I think 

Chadwick Boseman did an excellent job portraying James Brown. 

 think he is going to be the next Denzel Washington. He seemed 

very humble and nice AND he isn't bad to look at either! ;-) 

Chadwick if you ever come across this, get at me!



The Tami Concert (1960s). This was my favorite look, I felt like a young Diana Ross. 



It was a great experience overall and it was so exciting to walk 

among famous actors like Octavia Spencer, Dan Aykroyd, Craig 

Robinson and Chadwick Boseman. I got a little taste of Hollywood 

and the experience will always be something I will look back on 

and smile. Life is short so live in the moments that make you smile 

and try to create memories that will last a lifetime! 



The Get on Up Movie Premiere in Natchez, Mississippi. 



Get on Up movie trailer




Chadwick Boseman interview

Comments

  1. he is an okay actor. I don't think he will portray black panther good. An African should be Black Panther not this dude. good luck to him anyway. He will never be denzel. Denzel and Will Smith are the most successful black men actor alltime it will be hard for anyone to compete with them.

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