Shahrzad Arfa, was an extra in the recently released Netflix Original movie 22 July by American director Paul Greengrass. The film has attracted generally positive reviews, but what I wanted Shahrzad to review was the experience of being an extra.
The film is based on the two terror attacks carried out by Anders Breivik in Norway on July 22nd, 2011. The first was a car bomb in the government quarter of Oslo which killed eight, and the second was a mass shooting at a summer camp on the island of Utøya, about 40 km from Oslo. Seventy seven people – mainly teenagers – were were killed.
Shahrzad got the job through the Face modelling agency. Her scenes were all shot on one cold January day in an empty building in Oslo city centre – about ten months before the movie release. “It was was freezing cold and nobody lived there,” she told me.
Shahrzad said that the crew on set “were not very welcoming.” She had to wait a long time to be picked up, and when she finally arrived she felt “lonely and nervous.” On arrival she had to have her make up done professionally, and to have an outfit picked out for her. “They told me I didn’t need much makeup. They were also pleased with the outfits I brought, so they picked one from my own clothes.”
Before shooting began, all the extras were served with chips, nuts, tea and coffee. “When it was finally my turn to shoot, I was really nervous. I had to shoot each scene ten to fifteen times until it was approved by the director.” And all of this, she reminded me, took place in a cold building for long hours, and for low pay.
Shahrzad has not had time to watch the full movie yet, but what she has seen so far looks realistic. “I think a lot of the characters looked very similar to the actual people of the event, especially the actor playing Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian prime minister.”
The movie was made in English, which will help it gain a more global market, but as it is based on a Norwegian tragedy, Shahrzad thought it was “a bad idea” not to make it in Norwegian. “The way they spoke sounded very unnatural,” she said. “When words don’t come from the heart, they sound unauthentic.”
When asked to summarise the experience Shahrzad said: “I now can imagine how difficult it is to work as an actress professionally. I gained much more respect for them – the actors and actresses – after this experience… I imagined life as an actress would be glamorous, but it is actually really exhausting.”
Shahrzad said she probably won’t choose to work as an extra again.
22 July is available on Netflix.
