Aaron Goldhammer
Movie crews hung curtains over the walls, blacked out the windows and covered up the branding throughout ESPN Cleveland's East Ninth Street studios. "They turned our radio station into a movie set in 40 minutes," says 31-year-old Aaron Goldhammer, co-host of The Really Big Show, who played, essentially, himself in Draft Day. When it came time to shoot their scene, Goldhammer and his co-host Tony Rizzo struggled with their prewritten lines. "We're not used to reading off a script," Goldhammer explains. So director Ivan Reitman gave them permission to ad-lib, allowing the pair to get comfortable during 15 takes over 45 minutes. In the end, Goldhammer and Rizzo's scene was cut — but they'll still be heard in the movie. "It will be as if Kevin Costner is listening to us on the radio," Goldhammer says.
Priscilla Kaczuk
There's a skit from Will & Grace in which Jack, portrayed by Sean Hayes, swipes a credit card through Megan Mullally's breasts. It's Solon resident Priscilla Kaczuk's favorite sitcom scene. When she found herself seated beside Mullally as makeup artists caked their faces with foundation on the set of The Kings of Summer, the 66-year-old couldn't help but tell her. "I said, 'When I swipe my credit card, I think about you,' " Kaczuk recalls. "She enjoyed hearing that." Kaczuk portrayed Mullally's mother in the indie about three teenage boys living in the woods. "I came home and told my husband, 'No offense, but I have never had so much fun in my entire life,' " she says.
Brent Reichert
"Action!" shouted the director. Dressed in black-tie attire, 440 men and women — one of them Tallmadge resident Brent Reichert — went running for their lives in Public Square as villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston) fired at them during The Avengers. The scene took seven nights to film, Reichert recalls, with the crowd whittling after each shot. The 42-year-old actor made it through to the final cut, but had no clue if he would be recognizable on film. When The Avengers hit theaters, Reichert took his family to a showing. During the scene, as the crowd fled in terror, his 3-year-old son yelled, "Daddy! There's daddy! Loki is going to get daddy!" But no one minded. "To have your son yell, 'There's daddy,' that won me over," says Reichert. "I was part of something bigger."
Aubree Stone
Eight-year-old Aubree Stone marched from her white trailer to a nearby one on the set of Miss Meadows and rapped on the door. When a 6-year-old blonde girl answered, the Avon resident announced with childlike confidence, "My name is Aubree. Do you want to be friends?" For two days, Stone and Ava Kolker, a Los Angeles actress of American Horror Story and Scary Movie 5 fame, were close, sharing lunches and playing cards in between scenes portraying students inside a classroom with Katie Holmes as their teacher. "We were friends, but I haven't talked to her since because I didn't get her cell number," Stone sighs.
