I heard about the movie filming of Sudden Death at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Many of the Industrial Design students were focused on special effects in movies, and the Music Video production students shared the other half of the basement with us, who were also into movies. There was an advertisement for filming with Jean-Claude Van Damme at the Civic Arena, seeking extras. It wasn’t a paid job, but you could get free food. As a student with a low budget, it seemed like something to check out.

I’d never been to the civic arena before, but I had a large spiral-bound map book of the city that I used to plan a route to walk to the event from the campus. Upon arrival, I received a ticket and turned it in for two hot dogs and a soda. The place was crowded. I was about midway up into the stands, and there were many cardboard cutouts of people from that point going up. Many of them appeared to be cutouts of the same person, but someone had spray-painted random lines across them. It was interesting to consider it.

People down at the corner of the hockey field were sometimes encouraged to bang on the plexiglass or cheer. We saw Jean-Claude Van Damme himself make an appearance, but I wasn’t close enough to really make him out, and in was in full hockey gear.

I was a bit far up in the stands and wasn’t fully living in the moment with the crowd’s energy, as the crew filmed. I had dinner, and I was happy. I could now boast that I was in a movie.

This quarter-page notice is how I learned about the opportunity while attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. They ran a few of these ads for different nights. I responded to the call and attended the filming as an unpaid extra. The ad is included for historical context; individuals are not named.

The image shows cardboard cutouts used to simulate a larger crowd during filming of Sudden Death. I was seated among real spectators below the cutouts. I am not identified in the article or photo; it is included to document the setting described in my account.