Extras who mug.

[Bolty]

Anybody hate when an extra (usually in an older movie) mugs for the camera?
In newer movies they may use CGI if they are really offending to much in order to change their expression.

Especially in a movie you love and you are drawn to it every time you see the movie?

There's an engineering extra in Star Trek 6 who I can't manage to avoid looking that I just thought of that made me think of this topic.

Any examples?

[unberechenbar]

Sorry but what do you mean by mug here?

[steel_breeze]

During the high school graduation scene in Almost Famous, I believe Cameron Crowe goes off on the commentary track on the background performer sitting in front of or behind Frances McDormand, mugging it up and reacting wayyyy too "big". I never would've noticed her before, but he actually drew my attention to it and now that's all I ever see.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

During the high school graduation scene in Almost Famous, I believe Cameron Crowe goes off on the commentary track on the background performer sitting in front of or behind Frances McDormand, mugging it up and reacting wayyyy too "big". I never would've noticed her before, but he actually drew my attention to it and now that's all I ever see.

I actually noticed her the first time I watched the theatrical cut, but listening to him talk about it on the commentary track for Untitled causes me to really pay attention to her when I watch the movie. Almost Famous is one of my favorites because it's so wonderful, but that less-than-wonderful part is very endearing to me.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Bolty

In Spider-Man 3 there is a lady on stage when Peter is about to swing in and get the key to the city and after Bryce Howard finishes she starts to flail around. Can't look away...

omg. I know this one. She grabs her head and loses her shit. Hilarious.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by unberechenbar

Sorry but what do you mean by mug here?

Someone who overacts in a distracting manner.

For me, it's an Asian guy in the first Terminator in the scene where Michael Biehn emerges from an alleyway after turning his shotgun into a sawed-off model. He walks onto the sidewalk, and there's the Asian dude in the extreme foreground who suddenly starts looking left and right and then directly into the camera.

[JoeKryten]

Jim Belushi in Brian DePalma's The Fury is an all-timer.

[Moviefan2k4]

This isn't about an extra, but I think its worth mentioning. If you pay attention to Denise Crosby during her time on the first season of Star Trek TNG, there's a background shot of her in the cargo bay, near the end of the episode before her character is killed off. She ends up waving at the camera, because that episode was shot before her last one, Skin of Evil...so it was her way of saying goodbye to the fans.

[Gacivory]

There’s an extra in the prologue to Fellowship of the Ring, that’s moving his head up and down almost as if he’s saying “awesome”, when Sauron gets wiped out.

[mcrowell415]

The kid "Verne" at the end of BTTF III. Once it was pointed out I can't not see it every time now.

[RossyG]

The oriental guy in this oft used Fight Club still. It’s been 23 years since I saw the film so I can’t remember if he’s an extra or an actor with lines, but while everyone else is acting like they would in the situation, staring at the beaten opponent, he’s both striking a pose and also making a face that suggests he’s thinking, “Ooh, look, it’s Brad Pitt! He’s such a hunk!”

[HomerThompson]

I don’t know about mug but there’s a distinct extra who’s appeared in a lot of major 2000s movies, from American Pie 2, Catch Me If You Can to Spider-Man to Austin Powers 3, The Social Network and literally looks at the camera in Transformers 3.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IdEBu7ODVk8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0dYunEVCvdw

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by HomerThompson

I don’t know about mug but there’s a distinct extra who’s appeared in a lot of major 2000s movies, from American Pie 2, Catch Me If You Can to Spider-Man to Austin Powers 3, The Social Network and literally looks at the camera in Transformers 3.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IdEBu7ODVk8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0dYunEVCvdw

That guy got so much extra work I think certain directors actually sought him out to be in the backgrounds of their movies. He never really mugs as such, but every time you see him, you go "Oh, it's that guy again!"

He had a regular gig in the TV series Chuck as one of the Buymore staff, but I'm pretty sure he still got no lines...

He's even got his own wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Heiman


Surprised no-one's mentioned the guy with his cock out at the end of Teen Wolf yet. Again, not really mugging, but certainly very noticeable & a little distracting...

[RossyG]

Just remembered, in Dr Strange 2, while Strange sits in the church just before the wedding and talks to his former colleague, the fairly elderly yet glamorous woman behind him certainly gives it all she’s got.

UPDATE: And looking on YouTube for a clip, it seems I’m not the only one who thought this, haha!

Doctor Strange Amazing background Extra - YouTube

[saltysam]

Enter The Dragon, when Bruce & John Saxon start kicking ass at the climax, one of the karate guys watching on breaks out into a big shit eating grin

[HomerThompson]

This guy from Ghostbusters, who's not actually an extra but just a guy who wandered into the shot.

[Rayjaymay]

I wouldn’t say he’s mugging, but this guy in the red tie shows up in almost every scene during the wedding at the beginning of The Godfather. I realize he’s supposed to be a guest, but once I started noticing him, my eye would go to him every time I watch.

[PipesDonatello]

Originally Posted by HomerThompson

This guy from Ghostbusters, who's not actually an extra but just a guy who wandered into the shot.

Speaking of Ghostbusters, let's not forget the red-haired ar$ehole who appears in the crowd outside Dana's building and makes every scene he appears in all about him instead of what's going on in the movie.

[unberechenbar]

Not sure if this counts but watching Bullet Train yesterday during the final scene

[Show spoiler]there's a girl who gets hit with a truck speeding down the road

and in one of the shops in the background there was an extra cracking up. It didn't feel like a normal response to that happening in front of you.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by unberechenbar

Not sure if this counts but watching Bullet Train yesterday during the final scene

[Show spoiler]there's a girl who gets hit with a truck speeding down the road

and in one of the shops in the background there was an extra cracking up. It didn't feel like a normal response to that happening in front of you.

I didn't notice it during the film, but it seems par for the course with that film's humor to me.

After all, every Japanese knows that getting Truck-kun'd isn't an end but a new beginning