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We've
been getting some great anecdotes from fans who have been fortunate enough to
have been involved in the filming of Home of the Giants in some way or other.
This work in progress article will feature their stories and anecdotes, and will
be updated as and when we hear from those fans. If YOU have a story to tell or
a picture to share, contact
us ! |
Lynn Murray and her daughter had something really interesting
to say about the Home of the Giants shoot at the Winston Salem Coliseum, in
this email sent in on the 18th of March 2007 ... My
daughter and I were extras in the Winston Salem coliseum. It was so much
fun cheering when they said to cheer and being disappointed when they said be
disappointed. The dummies really surprised me. Lots and lots of dummies,
and I'm not talking about the actors or the production crew. We were around
for one of the later scenes where the bad guy came, he was taken away and
everyone rushed the court. Thanks for the opportunity. Let me know
if you need extras in the area for another movie.
~
~ ~ Lori Long sent in this short but sweet
email in on the 6th of March 2007 ... Unfortunately
I don't have any pictures, but I was able to be an extra in the crowd for a
few scenes. They were shot after a Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem.
It was fun to be a part of it all.
~
~ ~ Bailey Jennings from Greensboro sent in
this email in on the 13th of November 2006 ... Hi, I'm
Bailey. I live in Greensboro right down the street from where the movie was filmed.
One of my friends from school was in the movie as one of the basketball players
and another as a cheerleader. My brother was an extra and so were a couple other
friends from school. I'm not sure but I think part of the movie was filmed at
my school and I know that part of the cast practiced basketball there too. Part
of the movie was also filmed at one of my friend's houses. Yeah , so I was just
giving a little feed back. Hope it turns out to be a great movie. Sincerely,
Bailey ~ ~ ~ Carol
and Art Hermann were extras in Winston-Salem, N. Carolina at the Lawrence Joel
Memorial Coliseum during filming of the game, on September 25, 2006. Carol writes
... We have been waiting for the release of Home
of The Giants. We like Haley's work and were impressed with his demeanor during
the filming. Everyone was very patient, as I imagine you must be in filming. I
was in colors for each team at some point in the filming. Several takes were done
on the court with all of us surrounding Haley and Ryan (I was wearing Giants colors
then). Haley exited the circle under my arm as I was cheering. I do not know if
the camera caught my face because I was in about the second or third row of people.
Many pictures were taken with us in position and during filming. With all the
cameras I would not know if any were taken when I was closer. I
somehow managed to fall almost flat on my face during the rush to the floor in
the last scene. I was lucky to be near a very kind woman who helped me get up
so I could continue to cheer on the team. Earlier, the director's little 3 year
old son was in the scene where I fell so, I think they cut or at least edited
me out, unless they panned wider and got me cheering after I got up. My apologies
to the director and his family. I would represent a parent, not a student.
It was my first experience as an extra, a lot of fun cheering and one I will always
remember. It was interesting to observe the various aspects of filming, from preparing
the scene to reviewing the takes and planning the sequences. Managing extras is
a feat as well. We are looking forward to the release, here in a major basketball
region. ~ ~ ~ Chris
Arnett was fortunate enough to work on Home of the Giants, and he even acted as
Haley's stand-in on two of his filming days ! Chris sent us this anecdote on 26th
August 2006 My
name is Christopher Arnett. I worked on the set of this movie for about 5 days.
I was asked to be Haley's stand-in for two of those days where I met him and was
quite pleased to see how cool a guy he actually was. I was also a featured extra
in the basketball scene where the Giants win the basketball game. It was a lot
of fun working with all of you and I have to say that it was a great experience
because I haven't done anything really like that before. I have quite a few experiences
with the movie including one when we were playing as the dummies and scaring other
extras when they were looking into the audience. Thank you for this experience
and I am glad to have worked with all of you. ~
~ ~ Over
at IMDB , a
member of the film crew who goes by the nick DaveMband43_07 has posted the following
comment (minimally
edited for language)
about the rough cut trailer (shown theatrically in Greensboro in February 2006)
at the HotG
IMDB message boards : I
worked on crew of HOTG in the camera Dept, and the Trailer I must say is looking
pretty good. When I first started working on the movie a week into production
I thought I was some "Disney" cliche movie about a basketball team, but I was
wrong when we starting shooting some intense thriller scenes, theres definitely
more that meets the eye. The trailer again is awesome and I cant wait till it's
available to watch again. I've seen it about 3 or so times. Looks awesome. ~
~ ~ Sandra Lenz, all the way from Germany, sent
us this note, AND picture on 15th June 2006
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Here are some pictures
from the great day I had with my friends as we were extras at the Home of the
Giants movie. I will send more pictures as soon as I have them on the computer.
Good luck for the start of the movie! I will go and see it as soon as it is coming
out here in Germany ...
Sandra
Lenz | ~ ~ ~ Gini
Benson has this additional anecdote to relate on 13th March 2006 I
was an extra for Home of the Giants while they filmed at The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. I remember when they were filming it was still very warm
outside, but we had to show up for the filming in winter clothing. I think what
was most frustrating about the whole process was sitting for hours and not getting
to meet the stars, but everything else was great. The director was patient and
the crew were awesome. By the end of the shoot a few days later, we were calling
them by name (though I would be hard pressed to remember them now). I don't think
I'll end up in any of the shots, but I was there for all but a few hours of the
basketball shoots so there's hope. It's been so long since the movie was mentioned
I actually forgot that I was being filmed in a real life movie!
I do have one really interesting story about
the filming. There was this girl sitting a few rows in front of us who obviously
had a thing for Haley. When he joined us in the bleachers she nonchalantly made
her way down the stairs and just happened to slip right next to the row he was
sitting in. She made like she was really hurt and he leaned over to make sure
she was okay. They carried her off the bleachers to make sure she was okay and
when she came back she limped all the way up the stairs. She said, "ow", a couple
of times loudly enough for Haley to hear but he took no notice. The people who
were around me and I all rolled our eyes at the pitifulness of her effort to get
his attention. The only thing that worried me about her was that when he got up
to go to the restroom she waited a few moments before getting up to follow him,
which accidently showed everyone in the gym that she wasn't hurt at all! Some
fans are nuts. If only I could
have met Haley . . . Just kidding. I'm really excited about seeing the movie.
Gini Benson ~
~ ~ Mshollywood166 checks in with this
story on 3rd March 2006 I live in the
same city where the movie was filmed. I was an extra and I had a very exciting
day on set. I met Danielle Panabaker, Ryan Merriman, and Haley Joel Osment. The
whole cast are great people. From what I could tell, this is going to be a great
movie. Danielle was a very nice person and gave me her autograph. I was a basketball
crowd member and Danielle and Haley walked right by me! I also sat one row behind
Ryan on the bleachers. Home Of The Giants is going to be a wonderful movie! ~
~ ~ Amy R. Holbrook on the additional shoot
on 22nd February 2006 Hi,
I was an extra. The crew came to the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
in Winston-Salem, NC to shoot the scenes for the state championship game between
the Devils and the Giants. I was a member of the crowd rooting for the giants.
I am a senior at Wake Forest and our basketball team plays at "the Joel," and
we had just won a game before filming took place. It was an emotional game for
me because it was the last home game I would attend in my Wake Forest career.
To go from that win straight to filming was awesome. The experience was great,
and role playing was so much fun. The crew and cast were easy to work with and
really patient with getting the crowd to do what it wanted. Holistically, the
experience was one to remember!
Amy
R. Holbrook
senior
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC
~
~ ~ Meg Summer was an extra on Home of
the Giants Hi Dan! My
name is Meg Sumner. I cheer at Greensboro All-Stars and I was a Giants cheerleader.
I just wanted to say I had sooo much fun working on this movie! You guys were
awesome and I definitely had a great time! I can't wait for the film to be released
! Meg Sumner ~
~ ~ An early email from Raelyn
Lomison, who wrote on 26th December 2006 Hello,
I noticed that you were looking for people that were part of the production of
Home of the Giants. On the set I was totally star struck because I got to meet
both my favorite actor (Haley), and actress (Kay Panabaker). I think my favorite
part was getting to hang out with everyone on set cast and crew. As my mom would
say " I was bitten by the bug" because after that I decided I wanted to make movies
the rest of my life! Sincerely,
Raelyn Lomison ~
~ ~ More
stories as soon as we receive them ! | 
