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URBAN EYE
Doppelgängers and bad hairdos: Casting extras for Fever Pitch
BY CAMILLE DODERO

THE FARRELLY BROTHERS weren’t there. Drew Barrymore was absent. Jimmy Fallon didn’t make it, either. But guess who did come to the open casting call held Saturday at the Rack for Fever Pitch, the film shooting at Fenway Park this week? Vinnie Padalino. That’s right, Vinnie Padalino. You know, Vinnie Padalino? Full beard and long dark hair? Hairier than Jesus?

Actually, most people don’t recognize Vinnie Padalino by name. They recognize him by his appearance, which bears an uncanny resemblance to that of a certain hirsute center fielder. "All summer long I got called Johnny Damon," said Padalino, a 30-year-old Martha’s Vineyard resident, standing among about 100 Red Sox fans lined up outside the Rack, in Faneuil Hall. Costumed in a Sox cap and gray team jersey, Padalino explained that he’d heard about the recruitment round-up for "Red Sox fans, semi-pro baseball players, umpires, and Johnny Damon look-alikes" from a buddy who’d grown up with the Farrelly brothers. Before Padalino arrived, the closest thing to a Damon double had been Jerry Dwyer, a 16-year-old Newton kid with a sandy mullet modeled after Damon’s. ("I can’t grow a beard, but I can grow my hair," grinned Dwyer, standing beside his mom.) And so, thus far, Padalino was the big winner of the Johnny Damon–doppelgänger contest. Even his fellow candidates were impressed.

"If I saw you at a bar, I’d probably think you were Johnny Damon," said Katelyn Dondero, a coquettish woman from Stoneham standing in line behind him. "Of course, then I’d be drunk, so you could tell me you were anybody."

Padalino was one of approximately 1000 hopefuls who auditioned to be an extra in Fever Pitch, the boy-meets-girl story of a Red Sox obsessive starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. But actually, the casting call wasn’t much of an audition. Extras had to submit a current photo and fill out paperwork, providing their wardrobe measurements (no secrets here), agent’s name (if applicable), and availability (three shoots were overnighters, starting at five in the evening). They were also instructed to read "Extra Dos and Don’ts," a sheet of paper reminding them that this wasn’t the Today show ("Never look into the camera") and informing them they’d be herded around on the set like cattle ("Please stay in designated areas [‘Extras Holding’] as a group").

Then, after waiting in line for an hour or two, the wanna-be extras filed into the pool hall, in groups of 12, and stood before a woman named Mary. "Being an extra is not glamorous," she told them. "There’s a lot of waiting around. So bring something to read that’s small enough to fit under your chair." The pay rate would be $75 for a 12-hour day. If Mary spotted diamonds in the rough, she pulled them out and scheduled them for a wardrobe fitting. People who weren’t instantly chosen, Boston Casting owner and founder Angela Peri promised, still had a 75 percent chance of being selected. But for now, after dropping off their paperwork, that was it.

In addition to baseball types, Boston Casting was also seeking "people with late-’70s to early-’80s haircuts" for a flashback scene. Peri scoped the line for males with "Afros, mustaches, beards, and long hair" and females with "long straight hair." She even pulled people off the street. Like A.C. Doyle, a curly-haired man wearing a guitar-patterned shirt, who unsuspectingly walked his two dogs past the casting call. Peri spotted his outmoded fashion sense through the window and sent an assistant to snag him: "He’s perfect."

Mike Gibbons was also perfect. A 24-year-old from Orleans, Gibbons dragged out an AC/DC concert shirt from an ’86 tour for the occasion, accessorizing it with green wristbands and wrap-around sunglasses. His haircut, which he’d gotten specially sculpted at a "fancy salon" for today’s tryout, was "a businessman’s mullet — business in the front, party in the back." Gibbons was very proud of his mullet. "The owner of the NHL has a mullet like this," he explained. "It’s a French mullet. Or a Canuck mullet. Or an unkempt fisherman’s mullet."

Gibbons’s friend Justin Rikers, a 25-year-old from Eastham who’d also been chosen for the flashback scenes, wanted to talk about his sideburns. "My girlfriend hates them," Rikers said, pointing to one of the narrow hair strips creeping along his cheeks. "She calls them ‘head pubes.’ I can’t wait to call her and tell her my head pubes paid off."

As for Vinnie Padalino, well, he was given a Monday-morning fitting appointment and told he was "the best Johnny Damon look-alike we’ve seen so far." Despite the distinction, Padalino wasn’t willing to credit Number 18 for his style. "He stole my look," he joked. "I don’t look like Johnny Damon. Johnny Damon looks like Vinnie Padalino."


Issue Date: September 17 - 23, 2004
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