Although Wellsboro alum Kaylee Doane earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, she took a small detour that ended up putting her in movie theaters across the United States on Jan. 13.
Doane was an extra in “A Man Called Otto” and can be seen near the end of the movie on a bus during a flashback.
The most incredible part? She was cast through a Google Form on Facebook.
“I saw an ad on Facebook that just said ‘Extra casting for a Tom Hanks movie,’” said Doane. “I filled out the Google Form, waited a few months, and then I was on set.”
According to Doane, the other 12 extras that were in the flashback scene had agents who helped them score their roles.
Doane and her boyfriend went to Greensburg to see an early release of the film.
“We sat right in front,” said Doane. “Me and my boyfriend were freaking out, we couldn’t believe it.”
Doane was on set at North Park in Wexford for a little over 12 hours, starting bright and early at 6 a.m. At first, the film crew put only extras on the bus to film aerial and side shots. Then they broke for a large catered lunch.
The following scene was the bus crashing. According to Doane, there was an exact replica of the bus that had already “crashed.” There was luggage scattered everywhere, the extras were placed around the bus and the crew made everyone look disheveled. Doane also got to watch a stunt of younger Otto Anderson jumping off the bus.
“I just couldn’t believe that I was on a movie set,” said Doane. “The people that distributed it, Sony, make Spider-Man movies. And here I am.”
The flashback in “A Man Called Otto” takes place in the 1980s, and according to Doane there was a high level of attention to detail.
Doane had a daith piercing, a piercing on the smallest fold of cartilage inside the ear, a tattoo and bright blonde hair at the time of filming. Costume designers made sure to cover up her piercing, tattoo and unnaturally blonde hair to make the flashback feel truly ‘80s.
“There were lots of ‘80s props,” said Doane. “It’s so cool how they paid attention to these things.”
Doane was able to meet the director, Marc Foster, as well as Tom Hanks’ son Truman Hanks, who played the younger version of Tom Hanks’ character Otto Anderson.
“He was so nice,” Doane said.
Doane filled out another Facebook ad to be an extra on the second season of “Mayor of Kingstown,” which she filmed a scene for in October 2022. The second season came out on Jan. 15, and Doane said that it was very different from being an extra on “A Man Called Otto.”
Doane was asked to bring her own clothes for “Mayor of Kingstown” instead of being fitted by the costume department. While Doane was on set in downtown Pittsburgh for about five hours, shooting the scene she was in only lasted about an hour. Her role was to sit on a couch underneath a sign as Jeremy Renner walked into the room from the elevator.
“It was all just so cool,” said Doane. “I’d totally do it again.”
