Email this page to friends RSS feed About the Author Lt. Commander Bill Goss, USN (Ret) is an internationally known speaker and author. Enlisting in 1974, Bill worked on underwater weapons in Europe for the U.S. Navy until he was discharged as a Mineman Second Class in 1977. A former New Jersey Golden Glove boxer, Bill was also the light-heavy weight boxing champion at the U.S. Naval Air Stations in Pensacola, Corpus Christi, and Jacksonville. After his enlisted tour of duty, Bill attended Rutgers University on the GI Bill and earned an MBA from the Southern New Hampshire University. Bill graduated Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, and earned his Navy Wings of Gold the following year in Corpus Christi, Texas. As a P-3 Orion pilot, Bill flew missions against Soviet submarines in the North and South Atlantic and Mediterranean and deployed to a very wide variety of sites around the world. He became an instructor pilot in the T-44 Pegasus and then the Assistant Navigator of the nuclear aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, deploying throughout the Pacific from the Vinson's homeport in the San Francisco Bay area. Bill and his family returned to the east coast where he flew P-3 Orions and a variety of other aircraft while working for the admiral at NAS Jacksonville. While there, Bill was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called amelanotic malignant melanoma, had surgery, and retired from the Navy. Bill is the author of The Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive: A Wild Ride Overcoming Life's Greatest Challenges -- And How You Can Too. His second book, published by Simon and Schuster's newest hardcover imprint, Atria Books, is titled There's a Flying Squirrel in My Coffee: Overcoming Cancer With the Help of My Pet. Bill is a contributing writer to many other books including the New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. Bill's life story has been featured on national and international radio shows, and in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, New Jersey Star Ledger, The Dallas Morning News, The St. Petersburg Times, and Maxim Magazine. A motivational and inspirational speaker, Bill is featured every month on the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet. Bill's mailing address is: Bill Goss International P.O. Box 7060 Orange Park, FL 32073 Email Bill Goss at billgoss@billgoss.com The Luckiest Unlucky Man Alive -- Bill Goss' bestselling book. There's a Flying Squirrel in My Coffee -- Bill Goss' latest book, chronicling his inspirational battle against cancer. Related Links Bill Goss' Website: www.BillGoss.com Bill Goss Column Archive Military Opinions Index Bill Goss Presents: Captain Mark Fox Reports from the Front Military Movie Center

Fellow Military.com readers, you might not know it, but over the last ten years I've been lucky enough to be an extra in four movies. And let me tell you this right off -- if you ever get a chance to be an extra in a movie, jump at it. It's a very interesting experience, and you get to learn a huge amount of information very quickly -- especially about the truly fascinating film industry.

The four movies were:

1. G.I. Jane starring Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen (he played Aragorn Strider in Lord of the Rings) and Jim Caviezel (he played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ)
2. Alexander starring Colin Farrell, Val Kilmer, Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto and Anthony Hopkins
3. Their Eyes Were Watching God starring Halle Berry
4. Lonely Hearts starring John Travolta, Salma Hayek, and James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano in the "Sopranos")

Because G.I. Jane and Alexander involved military themes, it was recently suggested I write something about my experiences. But since I was in G.I. Jane over eight years ago (and also because the premise of Demi Moore's character becoming the first female Navy SEAL seemed rather implausible), I'll just continue on to the other military movie I was in -- Oliver Stone's Alexander, which became available for rent yesterday.

The new version of Alexander, the “Director's Cut,” is quite different from the movie as it was initially released. The historically accurate portrayal by Colin Farrell of Alexander the Great as a ferocious warrior who happened to be interested in both women and men did not go over too well at the box office, especially with the world's Muslim community. So some of this material was deleted from the new DVD. Regardless, if you like seeing historically accurate ancient warfighting at its best then Alexander is a movie well worth seeing. The war scenes were choreographed in a grand manner by Captain Dale Dye, USMC (Ret), considered by many to be the world's leading expert in bringing realism to modern movies about war (Saving Private Ryan, Platoon).

Thankfully, I wasn't edited out of my three quick shots in the original movie, all of them close ups. Look for me near the end of the movie, in scene 29, titled "Rebellion in the Ranks," where Alexander's men threaten to mutiny against him. Like all the other extras, I was hoping to get a short speaking part, but although I was lucky enough to be in Thailand on the banks of the Mekong River overlooking Cambodia with Colin Farrell, Val Kilmer, Rosario Dawson and Oliver Stone, I was not lucky enough to get a speaking part -- extras rarely do. But I can tell you this: if I was given a shot, “I tink I coulda been a contender.”

Path to Stardom

Now you might ask how I ended up being an extra in Alexander. I'll have to abbreviate the colorful but unfortunately lengthy details. When two buddies from my old high school days in New Jersey -- one being the award-winning film producer Jon Kilik (for Dead Man Walking, Pleasantville and many more) and the other being Dick “Wildman” Crowley -- heard I was heading to China on a combined business and adventure trip with my brother Larry and another great buddy of mine, Jeff Marcketta, they suggested that we all meet up in Bangkok. From there, the plan would be to go deep into Thailand so that we could see how a 150 million dollar mega-movie is made.

It sounded like a great adventure to me. And, because I was lucky enough to arrive in Bangkok a few days before my brother and Jeff, I ended up being introduced to Oliver Stone by Jon. Mr. Stone was nice enough to invite me to be an extra in the movie. Evidently I had “a fresh Anglo face,” and towards the end of six-month movie shot, movie extras with fresh Anglo faces were in short supply.

Next thing I knew, I was pushed into a gigantic tent full of hair and make-up people. They then shaved my legs (I still don't know why) painted me brown, put me in a loincloth with a leather skirt and a bronze armored breastplate. Finally, the make-up ladies covered me with pretend but very realistic looking scars all over my arms and face (remember, this scene was towards the end of the movie, so all of us Macedonian warriors had to have scars after all the battles we'd been through). Then they pushed me out of the tent.

Next thing I know, I'm having a great lunch, talking with Val Kilmer, and just minutes later I'm getting pushed around by Colin Farrell in a cliff-side mutiny scene overlooking the Mekong River across to Cambodia with the sun setting behind us -- a stunningly beautiful setting. But, don't take my word for it. You'll just have to get the DVD and start clicking the slow motion button, because, remember, the most important rule about being an extra is this: only the real actors are supposed to be seen, not the extras.

But if I'm lucky -- and you're lucky too -- you'll see me in my bronze armored breast plate ready for battle, mutinying and cheering and generally carrying on like a wild man, who is trying hard, (really, oh so very hard) not to crack a smile. Another cardinal rule of being an extra is never, ever, smile, or look into the camera, unless you are specifically instructed to do so.

Hey, Who the Hell Are You?

Six months later, Jon invited Dick Crowley (who was in the entire movie from start to finish) and me to join him in Los Angeles to attend the world premier of Alexander at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Then (I swear I'm not making this up) Jon had us walk down the red carpet with cameras flashing and paparazzi embarrassing Dick and me by yelling out things like: “Hey, you guys -- who the hell are you?” From the red carpet, I was escorted by an usher to my seat, only to discover I was being seated in front of the actress who plays Alexander's mother in the movie, the very beautiful Angelina Jolie. It was all wildly entertaining for me and my friends, especially the private parties that began immediately following the premier and which went on until four in the morning.

I woke up the next morning wondering if it had all been a dream, but then I realized I would never dream up anything as crazy as this -- a ex-Navy pilot from New Jersey walking the red carpet and then watching the world premier of an Oliver Stone movie with Angelina Jolie, Colin Farrell, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins and Rosario Dawson.

Nope, I wouldn't have dreamed that one up in a thousand years.

The thing that surprised me the most about this experience was this: that these big time actors and actresses, despite what you might read about them in the tabloids, well, they were warm and extremely hard-working people at the pinnacle of their careers -- and in many ways, just normal human beings like you and me. Especially the Irish actor Colin Farrell, who was a really good guy to everyone, especially the extras.

Are these people luckier than us regular folk? Well, that's for you to decide.

But I don't think so -- they're probably just better looking.

And remember what I said at the start of this column -- if you are interested in military history and you like watching huge, historically accurate battles (watch for the elephants in full battle dress towards the end of the movie -- it's incredible!) then you are going to want to rent or own Alexander, because it will just blow you away.