"It was cold and there was plenty of waiting, but being a part of Steven Spielberg's latest movie made it all worthwhile for some Hudson Valley residents.

When Mike Rhoades of New Paltz heard about auditions on the radio, he decided to give it a try. The award-winning director was filming a scene from his latest project, War of the Worlds, in Athens, Greene County. The film stars Tom Cruise.

Rhoades, 41, who is the payroll bookkeeper at the Journal, was among 1,000 extras who auditioned Nov. 13 and called to take part in the four-day shoot earlier this month. The Paramount Pictures movie has a scheduled release date of June 2005. It is a remake of the 1953 science-fiction film about a Martian invasion of Earth, adapted from H.G. Wells' classic novel.

What we're doing is running for a ferry because the town we're in is under attack, said Rhoades, who was on the set from 3:30 p.m. Dec. 8 until 5:30 a.m. the next day. There was an actual ferry set on a barge. They built a bridge and a special ramp and brought in this ferry. ... The group I was in never quite makes it to the ferry.

Extras were asked to wear plain clothes bearing no logos. Make-up artists applied scars where needed. Rhoades can be spotted wearing jeans, a green fleece pullover and plain brown cap, toting two suitcases on wheels.

Rhoades said because extras were asked to shoot the same scene over and over, it made for a long day. But $80 a day and an unexpected star sighting made up for some of the waiting.

Tom Cruise actually was there, Rhoades said.

The extras' direction, he said, came from a man with a British accent via a loudspeaker. Rhoades assumed the orders being relayed were from Spielberg. I wasn't sure if he was going to be there. For a while, we weren't sure that he was there.

Location scouts from the Woodstock Film Commission, under the auspices of the Woodstock Film Festival, helped Paramount scouts find sites for the ferry scene.

We haven't really gotten involved in the actual production of it, said Meira Blaustein, co-founder and executive director of the festival with Laurent Rejto, who heads the commission. We got them to come here. That's the main thing. ... We provided a lot of different options and we also provided them with a helicopter pilot. ... Then we just helped them a lot with the casting of the extras.

Blaustein said when major films shoot in the area, it brings an economic benefit. Besides area residents earning money as extras, film crews spend money on everything from gas to lodging to newspapers.

It's exciting, it's inspirational and it's educational, she said.

Source: Pough Keepsie Journal"