When word circulated last fall that Hollywood blockbuster "Gone Girl" would be filmed in Cape Girardeau with the likes of celebrities like Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris and Rosamund Pike, Southeast Missouri State University students flocked to auditions in hopes of a callback as an extra. Shawn Mitchell was one student who got the call everyone was anxiously waiting for. Mitchell ran into that same luck on set during one of the most pivotal scenes of the movie. He and two other extras were selected to make an on-screen debut with Affleck himself.

Q: What's the story behind how you got a part in Gone Girl?

A: I went down to the Rose Theatre and auditioned for it. They had a casting call. It was the third casting call they had. I just went down there after class, and there was some other people in there and just sat down in the theater and they looked at us and they said, "We'll call you if we're interested." They called me a few weeks later.

Q: What was the process of auditioning like?

A: There wasn't really much to that. We just showed up and they just looked at us. There wasn't any speaking; there wasn't any walking around. We just sat down in the theater and the casting director just came up and kind of looked at us casually and that was about it.

Q: That's pretty unconventional for a casting call.

A: It was just for extras, non-speaking extras, so I guess they just had a certain look they were looking for. That was really about it probably.

Q: What was the specific part you got called back for?

A: There was this candlelight vigil scene that a number of local people are in. I think about 200 plus people were in it, maybe 300, and it was a vigil for Ben Affleck's, his character, Nick Dunne, his missing wife, Amy -- they held a vigil for it down at the Common Pleas Courthouse. We all had candles, and we stood there while Ben came up and made a speech to us. Then this woman with some children interrupts him, and we filmed that scene about probably 50 times. Then the next day we had a scene where -- and also, at the end of the candlelight vigil, Ben jumps off the podium and takes off running into a police car across the field, and everybody chased him. The first night, it was a whole crowd chased him, and the second night, they said that for just myself and two other people chased him. We did that scene about four to five times.

Q: So you kind of got to do your own scene with Ben Affleck?

A: Pretty much. The three of us did. What happened was that myself and a friend of mine and this other guy were talking before the filming started of the second night of the vigil, and the director, one of the assistant directors, noticed us talking and she came up to us and said, "OK, you guys, stop talking and come over here." We kind of thought we were in trouble at first, but then she said, "Now you guys just keep talking just like you were but just right over here." What they did is they started filming our reaction to what Ben's speech was about. Then, like I said, when he took off on the deck running, jumped off the podium of the bandstand or whatever it was, we took off after him.

Q: When filming was started, what was it like being on a Hollywood movie set? What was the environment like?

A: Oh, it was awesome. Everybody was really nice. It was very business like. Director David Fincher, he was, you know, he's known to do a lot of takes, and he did. He took a lot of takes of each scene, so it was hard work -- we were on our feet a great deal of the time. But there was a high degree of professionalism there, but yet the people around you were approachable. I was able to talk to the director a couple times and a number of times the assistant directors. It was just, it was a good time.

Q: Is there one specific moment in the filming process that sticks out to you over the others?

A: I think the part that sticks out is when I was like 6 inches from Ben Affleck's face for about maybe 30, 45 minutes just doing that one scene. That definitely sticks out. Then just -- I don't know, that's probably the main thing that sticks out.

Q: For you, who was the coolest person you got to meet on set?

A: Well Mr. Fincher, the director, he was obviously, he was real busy, but he talked to me for just a moment and my friend during one of the lunch times, which is like two o'clock in the morning. So he was nice. But I would say probably this one assistant director, I don't remember her last name, her name was Molly. She went to school actually at Mizzou, and she's worked on a number of other movies and she was really nice to talk to.