Thanks largely to state film production incentives passed in 2008, the fabled 15 minutes of fame are well within reach in Michigan. It’s now quite possible to experience some watered-down Hollywood glamour in the state as an extra in a big-name movie.

The industry has been increasingly active on the University of Michigan campus and around Ann Arbor. Many students have seen the likes of Clive Owen or Pierce Brosnan striding across the Diag from a distance, and actually working with them (well, standing behind them) on film isn’t nearly as difficult as one might expect.

“Really, it’s not that hard to become an extra at all,” said Michelle Begnoche, communications adviser for the Michigan Film Office. “It’s really just a matter of showing up. Productions post casting calls everywhere — on Craigslist, industry websites. The Michigan Film Office’s website puts them up as well. There’s no real science to it.”

Some in the area have been surprised at the ease with which they made it onto the screen.

“I heard about being an extra from some friends in Grosse Point," said LSA junior Chrissie Costakis. "It was during the time they were filming (Drew Barrymore's roller derby movie) ‘Whip It.’ So I just signed up with a registry online, with my picture and my information. That was like two years ago. Then finally, this summer, they contacted me about being an extra in (the latest Miley Cyrus movie) ‘LOL: (Laughing out Loud).’ ”

Alex Fishman, a Michigan resident and student at the University of Pennsylvania, stumbled into being an extra in “Scream 4” in a similar fashion.

“I’m a huge fan of Wes Craven movies and I found a link on a website I’d heard about and just registered. The movie people e-mailed me and I showed up at six in the morning. Mostly, I wanted to meet celebrities, though. It wasn’t about a big acting break,” Fishman said.

Others take their roles more seriously. LSA senior Jesse Belanger, who’s been an extra twice now, has been agent shopping and got headshots in the hopes of pursing acting beyond extras parts, while LSA sophomore Cynthia Zhang has been modeling since she was 16. Zhang has been an extra in three films. She gets notifications about casting calls through her modeling agency.

“I’m not expecting to get exposure or anything by being an extra. I just like to see how movies are made, and that’s kind of why I do it. There are a lot of things that you would just never really think about,” Zhang said.

Zhang was an extra in “This Must Be the Place” with Sean Penn. But apart from a brief exchange with Penn, Zhang recalls, bizarrely enough, a glass of orange soda most vividly. She played a waitress.

“I watched a woman pour orange soda into a glass over and over and over, trying to get the right volume and the right color,” Zhang said.

A huge fuss was made over the orange soda, but nobody seemed to notice that Zhang, who had been outfitted in a traditional Chinese dress, was supposed to be Japanese, she said.

“It’s always the really small stuff that you wouldn’t think would matter that actually does. I mean, I really don’t think I would notice if a glass of orange soda wasn’t the right shade,” Zhang said.

Fishman, Belanger, Costakis and Zhang all had preconceived notions of what it would be like to be an extra. They felt they could probably look at a movie scene and tell you how it was made and whether it would have been painful to film as an extra. Basically, it’s not glamorous work.

Costakis’s role was in a club scene in “LOL.” She faked cheering all day.

“We had to pantomime because they didn’t want any noise so I was just kind of jumping around with my mouth open and a silly expression on my face,” Costakis said. "It was exhausting.”

Although she stood ten feet away from Miley Cyrus, Costakis didn’t consider the proximity to be one of the perks of the job.

Technically, extras aren’t supposed to talk to the stars. You speak only when spoken to.