Rhodes on the Pawtuxet overrun with extras for Jack Black movie

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The parking lot at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet last week was filled with cars carrying people of all ages, dressed in ’90s attire and hoping for their 15 seconds of fame as extras in Jack Black’s upcoming movie, “The Polka King.”

Trucks, trailers, movie projectors, equipment and a staff of young people, all with earphones and carrying clipboards and cell phones, milled among the huge crowd waiting to fill out forms and waivers.

Once inside the bar area, they formed another line to either be given a costume or sent to the “holding area” on the second level, where a continental breakfast awaited them.

The ballroom was set with tables and chairs, and the stage was ready for the “6th Annual Golden Daze of Polka.”

Marcia Layden, a familiar face at Warwick and Barker Players, was in line with a friend.

“I love doing this,” the veteran of other movies shot in Rhode Island said. “Sure it’s ‘hurry up and wait,’ but it’s exciting and you meet so many nice people.”

Michelle Sinowski of Cranston was there with her neighbor, listening to instructions from a young man trying to be heard over the noise of the crowd.

“I come for the food,” one man jokingly told me as workers were readying the luncheon buffet.

Every nook and cranny of the huge old dance hall was being utilized for storage, food, equipment, dressing rooms, and waiting areas.

After a couple of hours of organized chaos, I grew restless and guessed that I wouldn’t catch up with Jack Black.

While the food is a come on for reporters, the hurry up and wait part of movie making doesn’t fit with our methods of operation.

I left the hundreds of hopefuls who were hoping for a fleeting moment of fame, and praying not to be left on the cutting room floor.

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