Funny movie shoot "memories" from 10-8-09, Morehead, KY, USA, from old Facebook posts.
I was living near Morehead, KY. at the time, and my (then spouse), DuBois and I got jobs as extras in the Secretariat movie, being filmed in Louisville.

We were at Churchill Downs today, dressed in retro Derby duds, ready for our scenes, but heavy rain canceled the shoot. So, we sat around the new VIP clubhouse, chatting with the other extras and eating a delicious catered dinner.

With our six-hour daily commute, being movie extras isn't practical work, but we got to work a few feet away from Diane Lane and John Malkovich, so we saw it as an adventure.

The young movie director was apparently not familiar with horses.
The horse playing "Secretariat" was young, chosen mostly for resembling the original Secretariat, yet the director asked movie extras to shake posters at him as he passed the railing.

At this alarming sight, the high-strung thoroughbred colt left the ground in one bound, whirling until his jockey ditched.

But did the director learn?

Nope, he had the movie extras repeat the scene the same way, with the same disastrous results.

Finally, the director asked us to hold our posters behind the railing, but by now all the racehorses were suspicious of us, and three of them spooked violently anyway!

But it was worse yesterday.
While we were playing the part of the racing crowd yelling as Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, our cheering spooked the horse playing "Secretariat"-who ditched his jockey, and bolted into the loading tunnel.

Soon one of the other thoroughbreds decided to lie down and roll, then one reared straight up until his jockey ditched, a "pony" horse (well-broke, calm quarter horses used for leading nervous race colts) tried to throw its rider twice.

When "Secretariat" was finally brought back, and the scene re-shot, the horse spooked and bolted the next the time the crowd cheered, but this time the "pony" rider was ready for him, managed to grab Secretariat's halter.

Yesterday I walked down the grandstand steps just as the movie stars of the cast walked up. Only a couple of feet away, our director discussed upcoming scenes with them.

Diane Lane looked up, noticed an inactive camera overhead, began waving, yelling, "Hi, MOM!" then resumed her conversation as though nothing had happened.
Accustomed to movie star high jinks, nobody else took notice.

Most new movie extras quit after one day, once they realized they had to work outside in the cold and wind, and weren't going to be "discovered' and become big stars.

So, we saw new "movie extra" faces every day!