Quecreek Mine: The Movie
SOMERSET, PA (Pocono Record/AP) — There were teachers, truck drivers, bikers, bricklayers, blondes, moms, men dressed as miners, real miners and miners' moms.
More than 700 people waited in line at a Somerset outlet mall on Saturday for the chance to be a coal miner, rescuer, reporter or rubbernecker as an extra in a television movie about the rescue of nine Pennsylvania coal workers.
The miners were working in the Quecreek Mine when it flooded during an accident July 24. They huddled together 240 feet underground, subsisting on a corned beef sandwich split nine ways, as their rescue effort transfixed the nation.
Some 77 hours later, all nine were pulled up alive.
Producers hope to find as many as 300 people willing to work 12-hour shifts for minimum wage, said Annie Fort, a spokeswoman for ABC, which is planning the movie.
That was no problem for Edward Sacks, who said he'd been stuck in Somerset since a car accident last month. Sacks said he had been driving from New York to Colorado, when he rolled his Jeep, spilling his possessions on the road and knocking himself out.
"I figure I might as well try this," Sacks said. "I could use the money and I know I'd be good at it."
Maybe not as good as James McDonald, who said that, as a kid, he was an extra in a "King Kong" movie and did it again recently in a film titled "15 Minutes."
McDonald, 36, said he'd been told by fortune tellers in New York he was destined to be an actor, but he was doubtful.
"I don't know if I believe in that stuff, but it sounds good," McDonald said.
Then there was George Russian, who figured he was a lock for a part after working in mines for 21 years and witnessing the rescue firsthand.
"I'll make sure when I'm in there my head's sticking out," said Russian, who was wearing a "Miracle 9" T-shirt. "That way all the guys down at the bar would see it was me."
Others were more somber and said they wanted to be extras out of a sense of duty.
Dressed in a neckerchief, faded jeans and carrying a lantern, Ronald Pollock, a miner for 17 years, said he wanted to represent his "brothers and sisters in the mines."
Filming for the untitled movie is scheduled to begin Sept. 21 and last for 11 days in Somerset County, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The miners' lawyer has said The Walt Disney Co. agreed to pay the nine men $150,000 each for their story. The deal includes the movie and a book to be published by the company's Hyperion Publishing division.
SOMERSET, PA (Pocono Record/AP) — There were teachers, truck drivers, bikers, bricklayers, blondes, moms, men dressed as miners, real miners and miners' moms.
More than 700 people waited in line at a Somerset outlet mall on Saturday for the chance to be a coal miner, rescuer, reporter or rubbernecker as an extra in a television movie about the rescue of nine Pennsylvania coal workers.
The miners were working in the Quecreek Mine when it flooded during an accident July 24. They huddled together 240 feet underground, subsisting on a corned beef sandwich split nine ways, as their rescue effort transfixed the nation.
Some 77 hours later, all nine were pulled up alive.
Producers hope to find as many as 300 people willing to work 12-hour shifts for minimum wage, said Annie Fort, a spokeswoman for ABC, which is planning the movie.
That was no problem for Edward Sacks, who said he'd been stuck in Somerset since a car accident last month. Sacks said he had been driving from New York to Colorado, when he rolled his Jeep, spilling his possessions on the road and knocking himself out.
"I figure I might as well try this," Sacks said. "I could use the money and I know I'd be good at it."
Maybe not as good as James McDonald, who said that, as a kid, he was an extra in a "King Kong" movie and did it again recently in a film titled "15 Minutes."
McDonald, 36, said he'd been told by fortune tellers in New York he was destined to be an actor, but he was doubtful.
"I don't know if I believe in that stuff, but it sounds good," McDonald said.
Then there was George Russian, who figured he was a lock for a part after working in mines for 21 years and witnessing the rescue firsthand.
"I'll make sure when I'm in there my head's sticking out," said Russian, who was wearing a "Miracle 9" T-shirt. "That way all the guys down at the bar would see it was me."
Others were more somber and said they wanted to be extras out of a sense of duty.
Dressed in a neckerchief, faded jeans and carrying a lantern, Ronald Pollock, a miner for 17 years, said he wanted to represent his "brothers and sisters in the mines."
Filming for the untitled movie is scheduled to begin Sept. 21 and last for 11 days in Somerset County, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The miners' lawyer has said The Walt Disney Co. agreed to pay the nine men $150,000 each for their story. The deal includes the movie and a book to be published by the company's Hyperion Publishing division.