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Transformed from a fan to a student in the film
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Maria Gatto watched the "Transformers" movie about a million times on DVD after it premiered July 2007 in theaters.
"I saw it in the movie theater on opening weekend. I own it on DVD. I'm obsessed with it. I can quote it," said Gatto, who admitted having young acting heartthrob Shia LaBeouf as one of its stars helped her infatuation. "It's a really good action movie. ... It was funny too. I liked it a lot. It's really, really good."
Gatto, now 20, didn't know it at the time, but she would spend three days working as an extra when the sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," filmed scenes last June at the Princeton University campus, and is likely to appear in one of the biggest blockbusters of this summer's movie season.
A student at Camden County College, Gatto found out about the casting of extras for the movie based on a Google search. She heard some of the movie would be filmed in Philadelphia. By the time she looked online, the Philadelphia scenes were already shot, but the casting agency Web site said it needed extras for scenes filming at Princeton. She filled out her information online on a Tuesday and received a call the next day for a fitting on Thursday.
Gatto, who lives in Hammonton, served as an extra in scenes where LaBeouf's character, Sam Witwicky, moves into college.
"All the extras received props - suitcases, baskets. I had a basket. In one scene, he opened a door into a building for me," said Gatto, who didn't talk to LaBeouf for fear of being thrown off the set on her first day.
The second day of filming tested Gatto's acting skills. She pretended to be scared while running from an imaginary Transformer.
"I was screaming, running and acting scared. I had on jeans and a buttoned-up shirt with rolled-up sleeves," said Gatto, who ran around for take after take with temperatures in the 90s. "I felt gross when I got home. I said, 'This is ridiculous.'"
On the third and final day, Gatto received a break from the heat as she sat in a classroom with about 100 people in a big lecture hall.
"Rainn Wilson (of the TV show 'The Office') was the professor. Shia and Ramon Rodriguez, his college roommate, they are sitting a couple of rows down from me. Shia runs up to where Rainn Wilson is. Shia is freakin' out, and we don't know why, while he's up there with Rainn Wilson," said Gatto, who added LaBeouf made jokes while the classroom scene was filmed for nine hours.
Gatto didn't talk to LaBeouf, but there were a couple hundred spectators all over the campus, including Gatto's mother, Angela Gatto, who drove her daughter on Monday and Tuesday from Hammonton to Princeton.
Angelo Gatto was the one who shook LaBeouf's hand and received an autograph from him.
After Gatto's first time as an extra, it has developed into a little bit of a side hobby for her. She made friends during her three days of filming and served as an extra on the TV shows "Law & Order," "Gossip Girl" and "Life On Mars" in New York.
"It was a fun experience," said Gatto, who was still figuring out last month where she would watch the new "Transformers" movie when it opens June 24.
E-mail Vincent Jackson:
Posted in Life on Sunday, June 14, 2009 6:15 am Updated: 6:44 am.
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