Behind the Scenes of Zac Efron's Heartland

This summer, Heather Scoville (About.com's Guide to Evolution) got to be an extra on the set of Heartland, a dramatic film starring Dennis Quaid as a farmer trying to expand his business and Zac Efron as his rebellious son who wants to be a race car driver. Scoville saw a notice on her Facebook newsfeed announcing something big was going on at the Iowa Speedway, followed by the official press release revealing Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid would be filming at the Speedway on July 16th. As a race fan, Scoville immediately jumped at the opportunity to be a part of Heartland's crew of extras.

Here's the lowdown from Scoville's day on the set:

"They were getting footage of the ARCA race as well as Dennis Quaid cheering from the stands. They also had $25 tickets available and 100 lucky people would be chosen to stand down on the track for the part of the movie when Zac's character is introduced before the race.

My family and I already have season tickets to the races, so I knew we'd get to be there. I quickly messaged my friend Rachel who is the biggest Zac Efron fan I know and she rearranged her work schedule and bought a ticket. A few days later she got a call saying she was one of the lucky chosen ones to be on the track and could bring a friend, which is how I got to go.

We had to meet at the gates to the Newton Club (the swanky indoor seats for people with a lot of money) at 3:00, so we showed up at 2:40 and got checked in. They gave us stickers to put on and moved us inside the gates. We stood around with other lucky fans (mostly young girls who had no interest in racing at all). There were only about 50 of us in all.

We saw Zac near some golf carts to the left of the driver introduction stage talking to someone in the crew. He had on a driver's firesuit, but had the top pulled down and had a black t-shirt on underneath. There were some insane young teen girls in the stands screaming and crying and yelling obscenities at us, which was lovely. As they led us down on to the track, those girls screamed at us that it was canceled and if we touched him they'd kill us. Talk about obsessed!

They didn't have to worry about us touching him, though. When they got us down to the track (which, by the way, was measured to be 115 degrees), we were behind a rope with flags on it nowhere close to Zac. The director (Ramin Bahrani) came up and thanked us all for being there and told us we couldn't scream 'Zac Efron' because his character is named Dean Whipple and it would ruin the take. He also said we weren't supposed to scream at all because at this point in the movie, he's relatively unknown and a pretty bad driver. We were to politely clap and give little a 'woooo!' as we would for any of the other drivers we didn't know.

At this point, the track officials were trying to hurry along the process because they had an ARCA race to get started that was going to be broadcast on TV, so they had to start on time. The director went and gave some last minute instructions to the crew and then they called action.

For the first take, Zac walked up on stage and those crazy teen girls from the stands screeched out his name while the rest of us were trying to hold it in since those were the instructions. Zac came up, waved, did a hair flip, and then shook hands with the track officials up on stage. He walked to the other corner, waved again, and then walked down the stairs. There, he met the track minister and they kneeled down together and prayed. That was the whole scene.

The second take, the track announcer introduced him like any other driver (he was starting 24th in car #11, he's from Iowa, and his name was Dean Whipple). We did our clapping and 'wooo' again and he did the hair flip and shaking hands. The third take was the same as the first, but the camera crew followed him (so the cameras were right on me and my friend as they came up the stairs).

That was it! We didn't get to hear him talk or anything like that. They filmed a little behind the driver introduction stage that we couldn't see and then they went over to pit road and did some filming with Zac in a car. We got to stay on the track for the ARCA drivers introductions and then we were ushered back up into the stands. We never did see Dennis Quaid..."

Thanks to Heather for sharing her day on the set. It sounds like a lot of standing around with not much action going on, but at least it's a unique Heartland experience few can claim to have been a part of. But no Dennis Quaid? Bummer.

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_{(Photos by Heather Scoville - Used with Permission)}