Extra-Specialists: Meet the veterans who train aspiring movie stars
A group made up of war veterans, medics and police are training aspiring actors for “realistic” scenes and have starred on many major Gold Coast films. Here’s their story about how they fight PTSD.
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AN armless body is lying on the floor.
Medics swarm in to help the barely breathing figure. Blood pours from a wound.
Nearby, people are running through hallways in riot squad gear, firing bullets.
This is not Iraq, Afghanistan or even a hostage scene. It is the film set of a stunt company where ex-service people learn how to perform war, medic and crime scenes for movies.
Vietnam War veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are brought in to help aspiring actors perfect the hell they went through many decades ago. The motivation is twofold — a stepping stone for students to the big time and a valve for frontline heroes to forget, albeit briefly, past nightmares.
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“A lot of guys haven’t touched their equipment since they left the war,” says Extra-Specialists managing director Shaun Barry.
“You have soldiers who have probably never spoken to a drama student before but now are (being asked) ‘show me how to use a weapon’.
“Young soldiers (aged 25 to 35) are coming through. They come out and we give back to them by letting them know there is a life out there and it can be fun.
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“Now what we have is a great mixture of actors and soldiers on set both admiring each other’s abilities.”
Extra-Specialists was created shortly before 60 Vietnam veterans were cast on the Gold Coast-shot war thriller Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.
“(Since then) we’ve been in every major production on the Gold Coast with Screen Queensland,” says Mr Barry, a combat engineer soldier and infantry officer with the Australian Army for 15 years himself.
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“From (TV series) Harrow and Reef Break, to Dora and the Lost City of Gold. I got into a couple of movies like Thor: Ragnarok and a few other ones before getting on to Aquaman.
“That’s when I decided a heap of military guys should be doing this — it’s great for mental health reasons.”
The Extra-Specialists headquarters at Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane looks like an unfinished maze with each room and hallway being used for training. There are closets of riot gear, a police car and dozens of guns and ammunition.
Today is Vietnam Veterans’ Day and during the weekend dozens of elderly vets visited Extra-Specialists for a commemoration.
“It’s essentially known as the world’s greatest man cave,” Mr Barry says.
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Sean O’Loughlin, 34, founded training company Emergency Australia in 2013 and is inside one of the rooms with a tradie-dressed mannequin.
There’s a small screen he operates on the side which can make the body blink, breathe — even scream.
“We teach students basic acronyms for high-fidelity simulation training,” he says as the body’s arm pours with blood.
“(The training) is only usually available to doctors and paramedics but we’re giving it to actors. We throw them into experiences to what a paramedic would be experiencing.”
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Screen Queensland’s head of studios Derek Hall, who also comes from a military background, says the training is a “form of therapy”.
“A lot (of people) come back with PTSD and it’s a way of refocusing that energy that destroys them. It’s helping to use their skills and knowledge to upskill others.”
Asked if the training would bring out issues for PTSD, Mr Barry said “that’s now how post traumatic stress works with soldiers”.
“You’re in that environment, that’s your home, that’s where you want to be.
“When you put the equipment on — game on. It’s when you take it off and you’re walking down the street is when you get anxiety.”
The Film Combat Safety Course was monumental to adding credibility and authenticity of “real” scenes and completed by Gold Coast-based star Lincoln Lewis, 32, who used the skills on the set of Danger Close.
Robina’s Christina Fern, 25, started her career at age 17 when as a personal assistant to a producer before going on to be an associate producer at 19.
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She’s gone on to star in San Andreas, partly shot on the Gold Coast.
Now she’s hoping to take her skills the extra mile, spending the past week training for riots, arrests, using guns and medical assistance.
“It’s hard. I’ve done bootcamps but these guys push you to your limits and then they raise it,” she says.
“I don’t want to be famous — I just love the work.”
Asked if she is intimidated by the shredded-up former veterans who shout commands at her, she says: “They are the biggest teddy bears and just want to help us learn.”
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