My Acting Career's Culmination

A year ago ( a YEAR!), I drove to Lexington to be an extra in the movie Secretariat. For those of you who didn't see the original post, you can read it here. I loved the horse, was thrilled to be able to be in the movie, and was on tenterhooks for the 12 months until I would be able to see the final result.

The long awaited day arrived. While I was in New York, the local area did a sneak preview on the Saturday before I was to leave. A bunch of my family got together and we headed to the theater for my (not really) red carpet premier. I remember how wound up we all were. Me because there was a chance I would see myself on the big screen and them because, well, of the same reason.

The theater was fairly crowded. The movie began and I near about vibrated with excitement. I teared up when Lucien and Ron Turcotte entered the story. They were such a part of Big Red's life.

Then it was time for Secretariat to run the Derby. Which was shown upside down and backward (it started at the finish line). Apparently no one had bothered to screen the film beforehand (way to go Elmira!). The theater employees came in and announced to us that they would not be able to fix it that evening but if we wanted to come back sometime the next week, they would give us free passes.

Since I was leaving the following Monday, the passes did me no good (I gave mine to my relatives). I planned on seeing the rest of it sometime when I was back in Kentucky.

And that is what I did today. I went to an afternoon matinee. The place was almost empty (when I arrived, there were 2 other people sitting in the last row) so I chose a spot about in the middle. Apparently it was a great spot because the only other person to come in sat in the same row.



A little over an hour into it, the guy at the end of my row received a phone call. Which he answered! I was beginning to believe I would never get to see the movie but fate was on my side since his phone wouldn't work and he had to leave the room. Hooray!

He left, the movie continued, and I sniffled my way through it. The ONLY thing that kept me from dissolving into sobs was trying to find myself on the screen (I didn't but my neighbor told me she thought she might have). Even so, I still put the tissue I was wise enough to take with me to good use.

If you have a chance, see the film. It's family friendly with a great story. And I think it's safe to say that unless you were a superfan of the big red colt, you won't even need the tissue.

But if you were, you might want to think about giving this a try;


It sure would have come in handy for me!