It was just a tiny part in a big movie, but being an extra in a box-office topping movie is opening new roads for Gloucester resident Ashley Hurst Hollins.
Hollins, a teacher at Bethel Elementary, said she has no training or experience in acting but an online ad saying “be part of something big” caught her eye. “It talked about costumes and all of that and it sounded like that would be fun,” she said.
Hollins applied as an extra for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,” which was being filmed in Georgia, in February of last year. “I got a call that said they wanted me,” she said, but she delayed the commitment. “My husband was the one who really encouraged me to do it. He’s been a big supporter.”
Hollins arranged for some time off from work and traveled to Atlanta with her sister, who had a good friend who lived near the filming site and offered the sisters a place to stay. They arrived in early spring and were there about a week.
Hollins had read “The Hunger Games” trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, but was not familiar with filmmaking. “I just had no idea how many people and how long it takes,” she said. “I was just kind of a filler of space, but it was busy, really busy.”
Hollins said she had to be on location between 4 and 4:30 a.m. to get her hair and makeup done and get into costume. When filming got started for the day, it stretched to 6 and sometimes 7:30 p.m.
“I was part of action scenes so there was a lot of running, then a call for a retake, then running again. I was part of a small group of about 20, so we got to work with the director and to be really close to Jennifer (Lawrence) and Liam (Hemsworth).”
Hollins never got to meet or speak to the movie’s stars. Although it was not forbidden, she said the extras knew their place and gave the stars space out of respect. “She (Lawrence) seemed very nice, everyone was very nice. There was nothing negative about it.”
After her work was done, Hollins said she was called back for more filming but she could not take additional time from work. Her fifth grade students knew she had gone to work in a movie, but did not know which one.
After the movie came out last month, another Bethel teacher told the fifth graders that Hollins was in “Mockingjay Part 2.” “Most of them had read the books, and that’s all they wanted to talk about. They were really excited,” said Hollins.
When the movie was available at the local YRC Cinemas, she and several of her colleagues saw it for the first time together. “It’s so fun now that I can see how they put it together,” said Hollins, who was so busy recounting her filming remembrances to her fellow teachers that she missed most of her parts.
She was able to see the film again a couple of days later. “I knew what Jennifer was wearing when we were filming, and based on the book, when and where to look. I was too busy talking the first time but the second time there were about three times when I could clearly see myself,” Hollins said.
“In the film, I was wearing all black, with makeup and my hair all frizzed out, and I was wearing a hat. There were no shots that were really face on, so other people probably wouldn’t recognize me.”
After Hollins returned home, she was surprised at the number of calls she received for more work. “There’s always someone looking for extras, and some of them I’ve applied for.” In September of last year, Hollins traveled to North Carolina to appear as an extra in a Nicholas Sparks film called “The Choice,” which is set for release in 2016.
Hollins also did an overnight shoot as an extra for the Vampire Diaries television show, did a TV show pilot filmed in Virginia Beach, and had a speaking part in a short film shot in North Carolina. Persons casting for commercials have also contacted her, and she has even had a couple of agencies call to see if they can represent her.
“It’s just so crazy how it’s all come from that one thing. It’s opened a lot of doors that I never thought it would. I’d love to do some more stuff and meet some more new friends. Even as an extra, it’s a dream job,” said Hollins, who hopes to pick up more parts over the Christmas break.
But for now, it’s back to the classroom. “I love working with the kids and I think it’s such a great experience to watch how much they grow in just one year. My mom was also a teacher. It’s a lot of fun and it’s something new every day,” Hollins said. “I think teaching has helped a lot with working in films. I’m sort of acting every day for the kids.”
Hollins said it has been a wild ride from reading the “Hunger Games” books to the craziness of all the calls she still gets, but it’s something for which she has a passion.
“I think it would be good to do something like a book franchise, to help make that book come alive, make that character come alive,” Hollins said. “That would be a lot of fun.”