| Red Carpet Special Feature: Christopher Nolda and Brian Wysocki Working in the film “The Express” | | Print | |
| Written by Laura Vogel |
| Sunday, 16 September 2007 00:00 |
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College graduation brings images of new beginnings and the eager search for that perfect “first” job. For recent college grads Chris Nolda and Brian Wysocki working in a Hollywood movie wasn’t really part of their imagined plan. Both boys were actively interviewing and job hunting when their casting call came. Nolda was called in May shortly after his graduation from Kansas State University. Chicago Background Casting asked if he would round up a couple of his friends to portray fans in the upcoming 1960s football movie “The Express”.
(Caption: Chris Nolda, Omar Benson Miller and Brian Wysocki) Nolda and Wysocki pictured above with co-star Omar Benson Miller #70 while working on the set of “The Express.” Both are Naperville Central 2003 High School graduates who decided to try their luck in the movies. The location for this shoot was the infamous Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field.
“It was so cool to be in Wrigley Field at night and experience the filming of a movie. We all looked sort of like Dick Tracy with our suits, tie shoes and fedora hats. We were recreating a 1961 Bears game,” recalls Nolda. Wysocki a life long Cubs fan couldn’t believe the opportunity he was given to work in Wrigley Field and experience a Hollywood film set. “It was so awesome; they keep telling everybody, don’t touch the ivy!” Brian recalled as he was laughing. Nolda, a former Naperville Central football player was also cast as a football player in a different scene with Rob Brown and Omar Benson Miller. The scene location was in the historic Humboldt Park buildings in Chicago. In contrast to being a fan in the crowd, Chris found himself working side by side with all the major stars and being directed by Gary Felder. Dennis Quaid portrays Davis’s Syracuse College football coach in a very small scene. “It was interesting to be in a smaller scene after working in a crowd scene with over 600 people,” stated Nolda. Chris’s Naperville Central High School football teammate Brady Hester also joined him on the shoot. To read an interview with Omar Benson Miller, click here. Author side note: “The Express” was my first background acting job and I acquired it by answering a flyer that was handed to me at the Cubs opening baseball game in April of 2007. I worked in a crowd scene at Northwestern University Football Stadium. The experience was life changing for me as an avid movie fan, I was able to see first hand how film production worked. I inquired about other roles in the movie for college students. Both Chris Nolda, my son (pictured above) and my daughter Kathrine were called to work. Sarah Adamson© September 16, 2007 |
