My friend’s dad has a new movie gig. 
It’s been several years since his appearance as an extra in “Legally Blonde II.”
(For scenes that were supposed to be taking place in the White House, the “Blonde” film crew came to Springfield, IL, to use the more accessible state capitol building. My friend’s Dad drove from his home in nearby Rushville to get a chance to appear in the background.
At the time, he enjoyed a red-carpet-roll-out, literally, at the local movie theatre. And, if you make it to the end of at the very end of that painfully bad movie, if you’re looking out for him, you can catch a two-second flash of him in the background.) 
Anyway, ever since then he’s hoped to do more movie stuff.
But it’s hard to get movie work if you’re a downstater.
If you live in Chicago you could probably turn exra-ing into a part-time job.
I met a kid last year, a Western student from the suburbs who, every time he was home on a break, would make a few bucks by popping into the city and appearing as a crowd member any time he could. He said he thought he was on set of the Jennifer Aniston/ Vince Vaugh pic “The Breakup,” but he wasn’t sure because, as he’d learned by this seasoned point in his career, the real name of a movie-in-progress was rarely revealed.
And btw, as we speak, Hollywood filmmakers are in Chicago. They’re filming a Johnny Depp pic about the 1930′s gangster John Dillinger. Which, by the way, has a pretty cool connection to Galesburg. And the subject of which, by the way, should not be confused with Rick Derringer of “Rock And Roll Hoochie-coo.”)
Anyway, it’s a bit less frequent, of course, that Hollywood filmmakers, when coming to Illinois, would be filming anywhere other than Chicago.
Arguably, with its sports legends, legendary underworld mob bosses, skyscapers—and, um, population—it’s only natural that the camera crews, if they come to Illinois, land in Chicago rather than a place like… well, say Decatur.
But Decatur is where Matt Damon is now filming a movie. (And according to this web site, his character requires him to look like Ned Flanders.)
I’ve lived my entire existence in Illinois, but couldn’t locate Decatur on a map without a lit bit of finger-hovering. I know there’s some connection between it and “MacArthur Park” (?). I’ve heard people say it’s somehow a “rough” town—although in “lots-of-crime” way or “blue-collar-dominated” way, I’m not sure.
So it’s a pretty big deal that this movie is being filmed in such a very un-Chicago location.
The Decatur paper even offers a web site chronicling Decatur-area Matt Damon sightings.
And as this story confirms,
Matt Damon Headed To Decatur
Reported by: Amanda Evans/ WCIA 3 News
Friday, Mar 7, 2008 @10:12pm CSTDECATUR- A real life corporate scandal is bringing a big time move star to Decatur. Matt Damon has set his sights on the soy city to play a whistle blower caught in the 90′s in a multi million dollar price fixing scam by ADM.
Although the film digs up some dirt about a major corporation in Decatur. [sic] Most the people in town sound pretty excited.. to hear their town could see it’s [sic] name in lights on the big screen.
Skip Huston, theater owner says, “I think it’s pretty groovy tell you the truth.”
When my friend’s dad, named Jim, found out about the movie being filmed in Decatur, he headed out to see if he could get a spot. But on his way out of town, he decided to stop by a place in Rushville to purchase a gift for the casting crew.
(Perhaps this would be a good place to mention that my friend’s dad is, [as you will surely agree by the time you read his quotes below], is one of the real “true characters” you will ever meet in life.)
Anyway, he arrives at the casting trailer, or whatever, for this upcoming Steven Soderbergh film, bearing… gifts.
Several weeks go by.
Jim drives back, and, apparently, sees his picture up on a wall “next to a bunch of women.” (This meant, he says, “He liked me.” He meaning Soderbergh.)
He tries to put a word in for himself, ask around, etc. And, apparently, he is told by some official-seeming person, “Yeah, we remember you–hey, where did you get those donuts? Do you know where we can get some more like that again? Everyone really liked those…”
Eventually—on his own merit or because he came bearing braids is, I suppose, up for debate—Jim got himself a job. He’s going to be a lawyer. (Interestingly, his “role” in the Reese movie was that of a senator.) He’s been told to wear khakis and polo shirts.
He also may be providing his 1995 purple Camaro (which, my friend reported with a roll of her eyes, her dad showed to the head honchos by providing pictures he had taken in that year. Pictures in which my friend, in what was our senior year of high school, has “my bangs all, you know [waves hand above forehead]. Great.”
Unfortunately, I cannot offer visual proof of said bangs.
BUT, thankfully, this week brought written proof of my dad’s friends story, thanks this article from The Rushville Times:
Rushville Man Bidding for Role in Matt Damon Film
By ALAN ICENOGLE [who btw I think is my own relative!]He wants to be in pictures and he’s done it twice now.
Rushville resident Jim Farrar, who many will remember for his role of sitting in the legislature in the 2003 film “Legally Blonde 2, Red White and Blonde,” starring Reese Witherspoon, probably will be showing up alongside (or well in back of) Matt Damon when the movie “The Informant” is released in 2009.
The film is based on the book by the same name by Kurt Eichenwald, chronicling the Archer Daniels Midland price fixing scandal in the early 1990s.
Damon plays the role of Mark Whitacre, a rising star in the ADM corporation, who blew the whistle to the FBI on a price fixing scheme by the corporation.
Filming for the movie is being done in Decatur, Springfield, Chicago and other areas in Central Illinois. [Come west! come west! You know there's got to be a scene in this movie written for Colchester or Tennessee! Please, pretty please?]
Farrar and his Camaro recently responded [um, sic] to calls for extras and travelled to Decatur where he was hired to appear as an extra in a scene. Farrar said he and one other man are in the background of the scene shot at a Decatur motel swimming pool with Damon and co-star Scott Bakula.[the dude from "Quantum Leap"!! Yess!]
Farrar’s Camaro also may make an appearance since the producers also needed vehicles from the early 1990s for the movie.
“I really like doing this and getting into these movies,” said Farrar, who is retired from the City of Rushville. “It’s the best work I’ve ever done – a lot better than mowing yards.”
When first visiting with the casting agency for the job, Farrar said he took a box of doughnuts from Rogers Bakery in Rushville as a gift.
“They loved them,” he said. “They called me the doughnut guy.”
Farrar knows better than to get his hopes too high about the movie business, however. “It’s a cruel business,” he said.
“I think that since there are just the two extras in the scene I could get mentioned in the credits, but it could end up on the cutting room floor with the other broken dreams.”
Tags: movies
Another true story: Sean and I were at Union Station when they were filming some scenes for that Dillinger movie! Didn’t see Johnny Depp though…
This is TOO funny!! I love the picture too HAHAHA
Yeah, he’s definitely one of a kind……
He should consider a publicist, that way during interviews he could say “I’ll have my people call your people” rather than “They call me the doughnut guy”
[...] (Well, wouldn’t your interest have been piqued if your friend’s dad had plied his way on to the movie set with a box of donuts? [...]