'Thank you for filming with us!' - A day as an extra on the set of Nailed - Nicole's story

If ever you wanted proof that Nailed is up and running again and Jake is back at work, this should do the trick. Nicole, our eyes and ears on the ground in Columbia, South Carolina, had the amazing opportunity to not only watch Jake Gyllenhaal at work on Nailed but to be a part of the project, as one of its extras.


Nicole answered an advert calling for locals to turn up on set at the State House yesterday (Saturday) in their Sunday best and she was one of the lucky ones. She got a seat in the State House for a big scene involving most of the major characters and was able to observe Jake and David Russell at work. Jake, it seems, held things up by making people laugh - a story we're well familiar with from most of Jake's movies. cameras were banned from the set but Nicole and all the other extras were given a reward:


Here are excerpts from Nicole's account, for which I am very grateful. We are very lucky to share her glimpse into that extraordinary place otherwise known as The Nailed Set. Not only did Nicole get to see Jake, she also got three meals and $125 for a lot of hours spent hanging around - I do hope the money was paid upfront...

'We got to the statehouse around 9:30 in the morning. It turns out it didn't start until about 11:30 (it was a 100 degrees outside) so we got to the set and we went up to the casting lady. My friend's outfit was approved by wardrobe but mine wasn't (I was wearing black dress pants and a nice blouse but it had a weird pattern to it) so the wardrobe lady told me what kind of outfit they were looking for and so I called my mom and she brought me a couple of outfits. The lady approved the first one I picked out. So then I started getting really excited!'


Setting the scene

'There were so many squaw girls (girl scouts) and congressmen and woman. We ate breakfast - they had all kinds of food - biscuits,eggs, and the traditional stuff like that. So then it was finally time to go inside the statehouse! The statehouse is three floors - the first floor is where the parents and extras stayed when they weren't in the scenes. The second floor was where Jake and Jessica were and the their floor is where I was. But it was a balcony so I could see the filming very close below us as we were supposed to be watching them down there. So I was on the third floor where there were rows of seats to sit in. Luckily I was right behind a guy who had a speaking line so if they show him you will definitely see me!'


The scene

'The whole cast is in the scene and Jessica Biel is speaking to the congress. She starts acting 'erratic'. She just starts going crazy and saying all these crazy things. It's kind of hard to explain but she falls on top of this congresswoman and puts her hand up and we are supposed to clap. Before that happened she said something about Romanians. The guy in front me shouts something in Romanian and then later in the scene walks out. So if you see the Romanian guy, I'm right behind him! Anyways, Jake is below the balcony so we couldn't see him until he walked over to Jessica and kinda hugs her. James Marsden and Tracy Morgan were on the same floor as me so they were really close!'


More details of the scene

'From the balcony 3 squaws, Kurt Fuller, Tracy Morgan, Malinda Williams, James Marsden, followed by a couple of other girl squaws, walk in from the balcony. I'm guessing that, since they are all from Indiana, they came all the way to Washington to see Jessica to support her. Jessica and Jake are at the bottom of the balcony. When Tracy and the whole gang walk in, they start waving to Jessica. They wave and smile and James Marsden does all this funny stuff like he blows her a kiss and draws a heart in the air. Then they start waving at Howard (Jake's character) and saying 'Hi Howard!' (At the this point since we were in the balcony we couldn't see Jake because he was right under us.) So then I am guessing Catherine Keener's role (not sure if that was her or not) was the representative at the microphone. Tracy then says 'You let the other hot girls talk, why not Alice' (there were two other women also next to Jessica, whom Jake had something to do with - they called them 'hussies').'


'Catherine Keener gave Jessica one minute to speak. Jessica starts talking crazily and saying 'Do you think its cool? No, it's not cool!' (that she got a nail in her head) and then James would shout 'Not cool'. Then she would fall on a congresswoman and put her fist in the air and everyone would start clapping. Jake finally runs over to her - and he spoke so softly I didn't really know if he said anything - then he helped Jessica up and he had his arms around her and he kept looking at her. Finally, Catherine Keener would say that the bill for healthcare was lost again (I guess that's what they were there for since I found out that Tracy Morgan's character, Jessica Biel's character, and Kurt Fuller's character all have weird injuries - Jessica has the nail in her head, Tracy has something wrong with his butt, and Kurt has something wrong I'm thinking with his private part). Then, as Jake and Jessica are walking away, Jessica faints.'


Jake on set

'Jake was under the balcony, so it was really hard to see his character most of the time but I did see him during breaks. Jake was texting and he also asked about the horse race yesterday. At the end of the day, Jake was helping Tracy, James, and the gang with their lines and he even made the little girls laugh (as well as me). There's a line in the movie where, I think, some people say 'You monster' to Jake's character and they couldn't get it right and Jake starts yelling 'You monster' in funny ways. The director told him to stop making everyone laugh (at that point it was 12:30 in the morning and i know the girls were tired so I thought it was great how Jake, Tracy, James were interacting with the girls and making them laugh). Jake was wearing the exact same suit he has been wearing and they were all wearing the same outfits.'


David Russell

'David, I thought, was in a good mood in the morning. He was joking around with the cast. I didn't see any problems with him today. At the end of the day, I know he was getting tired - he was cussing a little bit in front of the girls but, overall, I thought it was a good day.'


A long day

'Jake passed by me about five times in the hallway. Once, while I was sitting on the steps and he was coming down. We ate lunch/dinner at 7 pm - the food was fried chicken, mashed potatotes, salad, corn on the cob and cake for dessert (I guess you could say it was the typical southern meal). We were there until 1:30 in the morning! The congressmen and women had to stay longer. Jake was still in his trailer so I don't know if he was done shooting for the day.'


Many congratulations Nicole for your big day (not to mention, sharing the big screen with Jake, however briefly) and a huge thanks for sharing your day with the rest of us!

Includes pictures from Nicole, IHJ, Flickr and FitsNews.