Which movie has the record highest number of extras?
The film industry is notoriously hard to get into. It’s one of the most competitive businesses on the planet, with countless hopefuls across attempting to break into Hollywood and become a star. Sometimes, the only way up is from the bottom, and that’s when working as an extra enters the fold. While this can allow budding actors the chance to experience a film set and potentially build connections, the hours can be gruelling for minimal payoff.
Working as an extra can often result in a lot of waiting around, sometimes in uncomfortable costumes and makeup, only to be paid a small amount of money. Moreover, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to spot yourself on screen, or the scene could be cut completely, making the experience feel somewhat redundant.
However, being an extra is not all bad. Some of the biggest Hollywood stars got their foot in the door by working as an extra. One of the most notable examples is Brad Pitt, one of the most sought-after actors in the film industry. Before he landed significant roles in the 1990s, he spent the end of the previous decade making uncredited appearances in movies such as Hunk as ‘Man at beach with drink’ and No Way Out as ‘Black-tie party guest’.
With that, even Sylvester Stallone spent most of the early 1970s working as an extra, appearing in movies such as Klute, What’s Up, Doc?, Bananas, and M*A*S*H. Soon after, he found success with Rocky, becoming one of the biggest action stars of his generation.
However, extra roles can vary. Some scenes might require a handful of extras that will subsequently be clearly seen in the background. Elsewhere, hundreds or thousands of extras might be needed to create crowd scenes, often for free. In 1982, Richard Attenborough’s movie Gandhi unintentionally made it into the Guinness Book of Records due to the incredibly high number of extras it used. In total, the funeral scene featured 300,000 extras, around 200,000 of which were unpaid volunteers.
Attenborough and his crew gathered the extras by creating announcements that were broadcast on television and radio, as well as advertising via loudspeakers in the streets. The scene was filmed on the 33rd anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s real funeral, with 11 different camera crews capturing the masses of extras.
Of the 300,000 extras, only 94,560 were contracted, earning around 40p each for their uncredited roles. The result of the mammoth production was a 125-second shot of the procession, proving how much time and effort can go into a short film sequence.
Gandhi was hugely successful upon its release, winning eight Academy Awards, including ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actor’ for Ben Kingsley. The movie was not only a critical success, but it was a box-office smash, raking in over $127.8 million.
