Christ, there's been a few times.
I'm a Roman reenactor, so we get a fair bit of work on TV and sometimes on film, too. As such, I've been in shows with Jon Culshaw, Bob Holness, Richard Harris and a few archeological TV-types.
Not as neat as the old man's resume - he's been in Gladiator, that god-awful abomination that was Gladiatress (with those Channel 4 comedy show bints), and a film that's coming out soon and looks like being quite big: www.imdb.com/title/tt1020558/
There's also been any number of celebrity-free history shows and generally speaking, the food is good and the hours are long. The longest was when we were running up a hill in soaking wet Viking gear in the rain at five in the morning. The phrase was uttered that any extra hates to hear: "Thats perfect - one more time!"
For some reason, all directors for these type of shows seem to think that the late Roman period was very smoky and foggy. The amount of 'atmosphere' (fake smoke) they get through is staggering. It also takes some time to get its way out of your hair.
I guess one of the best bits was a scene we filmed where I had to shoot an arrow to somewhere off-set and then turn to face a very large and hairy Saxon-type. I fumble to get an arrow on the string and as the guy comes closer, I stab the end of it into his face. He stops, midstride, with a puzzled look on his face and then spits a massive mouthful of fake blood all over me. I pull the arrow out of his face and then shoot it into someone else. Nice scene, but got cut in the end as it was apparently a bit blood-thirsty...
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Thu 11 Jun 2009, 22:32, Reply)