Evan Nattrass loves the Lord of the Rings books. So he jumped at the chance to be an extra in one of the Lord of the Rings films. 'I put my name on the list a long time before filming started,' he says. 'Then I had to go to Wellington [in New Zealand] with lots of other people to be photographed and measured.' Months later, Evan took a holiday from his job as a school librarian and went off to be in films!
An extra has a small role in a film, but doesn't speak. As an extra in The Lord of the Rings, Even had lots of different roles. One of these was an evil 'orc'. To become an orc, he had to wear an orc costume. The costume was made of rubber. He had to put on rubber arms and rubber legs, and a big ugly rubber head. Then he had to put on his armour. 'It was very hot and very uncomfortable,' says Even.
Then someone threw mud all over Evan and the other extras to make them look as dirty as possible-just like soldiers who have been fighting in a long war. During the filming, though, there was nobody there to fight. Evan remembers, 'We were told, "That's where they're going to be. Imagine they're there."'The film-makers added the other soldiers to the film later.
So what was the herdest thing about being an extra? 'Waiting two years to see it-I'm only in the third film!' says Evan.