Kelly Myers

Title: Leatherheads, feature film
Cast: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger
Extra: Kelly Myers
Producers: Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Casey Silver
Director: George Clooney
Script: George Clooney, Stephen Schiff, Duncan Brantley, Rick Reilly

About Kelly
Personal: Mother of three sons, Austin 8, Adam 11, Matthew 15. Laura, 18, a cousin, also lives with family.
Lifesaver: Kelly is a paramedic in Anderson, South Carolina.
Military career: Served in the U.S. Navy (HM3) for a total of 8 years, also during Dessert Shield and Dessert Storm.
Theater: Played in The Laramie Project which requiring acting six different roles, in Oct. 06,during her 3-years of study toward a nursing degree at Lander University.
Here’s the deal: Kelly designed a contract with her family where they would put half of what they earned at “Leatherheads” toward vacation in California and the other half they could spend any way they wanted. It was notarized and signed by each family member. Kelly said the children handled their end of the contract magnificently.
Weight watcher: Kelly said she was surprised to observe George Clooney close up after seeing him in the movie Syriana – he appeared 40 pounds lighter for “Leatherheads”.
Ever ready Clooney: With Clooney directing and acting in “Leatherheads” Kelly said he captured her allegiance with his positive attitude. “I never saw him not going, he was always on the go. He was always upbeat. I am a huge George Clooney fan because he was so nice to my kids and he had so much other things going on around him. When Austin was doing a scene with George he noticed Adam among the fans, appearing a little dejected he didn’t get the part. But George saw him and said ‘Let’s go Adam! You’re the instigator so yell it up!”

Clooney thanks Kelly for saving the day
Kelly Myers of Ware Shoals proved to be a life saver on the first day of “Leatherheads” shooting at Travelers Rest, S.C.

On an unusually hot, humid day with the sun beaming down on the set from a cloudless sky a group of extras clothed in heavy winter overcoats, hats, scarves and gloves were being set up for a scene at the stadium. She saw a gentleman in the crowd of extras start to have a seizure and fall to the ground. The crowd thought he was having a heart attack or something. Kelly, a paramedic experienced in trauma scenarios, wandered over to observe.

"Being a paramedic I wanted to make sure he was getting help. I didn't want to interfere, with the set Medic, but he was not around yet. So, when my son Adam yelled with his arms flapping over his head, 'Mom, help him, you're a paramedic,' I went into action to help stabilize him, together with the set Medic who arrived moments after me, for when the paramedics arrived." Kelly got the hot clothing off him and took all his vital signs and wrote them on his white T-shirt. "You're taught to do that so there's no doubt and the paramedics can monitor them en route to the hospital," said Kelly. "We learned that the man was OK and he actually came out to the set later in the week, and got to film for two days."

During the frantic time Kelly was helping stabilize the man, a person next to her was watching her intently. As she was on her knees administering aid, the man standing next to her had on white tennis shoes and was wearing blue shorts. She was too busy gaining control of the situation to make small talk.

Only after things had settled down did she realize it was George Clooney. “He grabbed my arm and said ‘thanks,’” said Kelly.

The lure of the silver screen fascinated Kelly
Kelly had become part of the extras cast because of her desire to be in a major motion picture that just happened to have Clooney starring and directing! Adam and Austin were first picked as extras, but the call went out for more in Charlotte the rest of the family, Matthew and Laura, and Kelly's two aunts, Jo and Shirley, got in on the action. Stories on Adam, Austin, Matthew and Laura are also featured.

“We’re a family and I believe we should do everything together,” said Kelly. “It was a once in a life time experience, it was so amazing,” said Kelly. “When somebody sits down in the movie theater you just don’t think what all goes into making the movie. And you don’t think how many takes is needed to capture a scene.

“My acting bug really kicked in. I’ll probably have to get the DVD and watch it several times to see if I am in it. I will save it and show it to my friends and say, ‘see, that’s me. I really wanted to be part of this and worked my schedule around it. That was difficult because I work 24 hours on and 24 off. My co-worker, James, helped out taking a shift when I needed help and traded shifts with me. I still took one vacation day and a day without pay. I figured by coming here it wasn’t as much as I get paid but at least I got paid something.

“I was most surprised how the filming was done out of sequence. When we were in Charlotte they were filming the very first Princeton game after the big win. Everyone gathers around Carter (John Krasinski) and someone picks him up during the celebration. In another scene, they made it so muddy the players’ numbers and jerseys were completely covered on the last play of the game. They had to wash off the players to find out who had the ball at the end of the game.

“I was so impressed how nice everyone was in the holding area. And the crew served good food every day. We had fish or chicken every day. They had vegetable lasagna that I really liked. For a big production they ran everything from wardrobe and makeup to the end of the day very professionally.”