In general, foreigners were treated better than the Chinese extras for sure, but for the first two movies we were treated quite badly, like cattle herded to the set. It was entirely due to what you said though, lack of care to cut costs. We weren't there to be movie stars. On Wandering Earth 2 though we were treated like royalty as I was hired to be a featured extra. There were some times when it felt like discrimination but in reality it was more to do with not being able to communicate with people because I don't speak any Chinese.

Were you always a sinophile or what led you to move to China?

I never knew being a movie extra would be so much like being in the military, and I'm not saying this due to the training you underwent.

Overall sounds like a great experience and the money's decent enough. It's also nice to know that not all productions treat staff so horribly.

Very likely you'll be called again sooner or later, will you answer the call?

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Very interesting read. Were you subject to discrimination at all as it sounds like for the most part yall were not treated well? Or is it more just a lack of care to cut costs?

Thanks for reading, I'm glad you got something out of it.

Sorry yeah my mistake I thought I was more common. I will edit for clarity, thanks for pointing that out.

Yeah they really do because they need to attract people for even the most basic role, there are a very limited supply of foreigners in China right now. I know people who started their careers with me and are now making a very good living from TV/movies and commercials. I have gone back to my original career in Fintech though. For a start I probably always was, but after a year of playing the gig life, always looking for work, never being certain of it, and the "agents" here stealing most of your money, I was glad for normal work again.

I had to Google "Fintech" to learn it was Financial Technology.

Seems like they pay really well for your amateur roles? I mean a few of those per year and you are good, considering the low living costs in china? And it seems like you already slowly getting better paid roles as well? So maybe a carreer is possible there? :-D

Interesting, howdy from Belfast, read your entire post it was good reading I don't really have a specific question but I found the entire thing very interesting thank you

I used to be on the worktop, but I moved onto in the cupboard because living in China now my kitchen is much smaller.

The guys who got the featured extra bits and repeated roles were mostly native English speakers (Western European, North American, South Africa etc) or if there was no speaking involved then Russian/Eastern European. Every single scene was shot like we were going to use the original audio and then they dubbed absolutely everything, even the actual Americans.

They tried some weird stuff with makeup and hair dye before the movie started to make the Central Asian guys look more Western but it was an atrocity. Giving them blonde hair and white-face.

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Some of the biggest scenes had everybody on set and Chinese people looking the other way wearing US uniforms. A good chunk of guys probably never even went to set once.

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We were at one of the studios at Hengdian all night a couple of nights but never shot just sat in our chairs all night upstairs, I don't remember the number but there weren't many anyway so it was < 10. We also did the "training" for the second movie in the free space between the studios in Hengdian with mattresses to fall on etc. But the majority of it, such as the video I attached, were all shot outside at a huge couple of scenes they created from scratch with blue screen all around and the artillery and US base built and covered in the fake plastic snow.

Amazing. There were so many Russian and central Asian names in the credits, were they the repeat extras with roles or just the background guys in the General MacArthur ship scenes.

Funny when you say all the eager guys appear several times in different roles, and why.

Which set at Hengdian studios was used in the battle against lake changjin?

Are you a toaster on the worktop or in a cupboard kind of guy ?

I did it for money, they paid well at a time I didn't have any work, I did a lot of television and internet commercials in the same year. At the same time it's going to be really nice to show my grandkids I was in a couple of movies. I started working again in Fintech (Financial Technology) a few months ago. I have read about other people who had much larger roles than me in Chinese movies who are unable to use that experience as a foothold into Western TV so I am glad I didn't intend on it being my career.

Do you plan to continue with Chinese films or focus on Western films now? Would you be open to a part in a TV show or Netflix series? Also, were you able to meet any of the primary actors in the films?

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Really, really good! Things have rarely been better than right this very moment thank you :)

A general question to begin with.

How’s life mate ?

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Omg that song is hilarious

This is plenty legible, you’re just dodging OPs questions.

Awww. Thank you for shating your story! That's fantastic. I thin most of us talk to our cats sometimes... when we have a bad day. lol. They may not understand the words, but quite often, their reaction seemed appropriate. lol

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