Extra in The Devil Wears Prada 2 Received $28.50 After Suit Purchase

First-time actor Matthew Ables received a check for $238.50 after working as an extra in two scenes of "The Devil Wears Prada 2," which required 15 hours of filming last summer. After subtracting the cost of a suit he purchased for the role, Ables took home $28.50. He said the suit came out to about $210, so he did not lose money in the end.

He spotted a posting for the production company and contacted its background casting department with his headshot and availability. Two weeks later, he received an email directing him to report to the set the next day for two roles.

The production required multiple wardrobe options for each role. For one scene set at the Met Gala, a suit was specified. Ables purchased clothing at several stores and reported to a holding area at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on West 83rd Street along with hundreds of other extras.

After changing into the new suit, a member of the wardrobe team asked if anyone was wearing a designer suit. Ables said he thought his suit was designer and answered yes. The wardrobe team member checked the label and determined it was not.

She became angry, believing he had tried to mislead her for better placement in the scene. Ables was told the suit would work for both scenes, allowing him to return the other clothing he had bought. He walked 10 blocks to Central Park to film a pedestrian scene that took one hour because real pedestrians kept entering the shot.

The Met Gala scene was filmed starting at 9 p.m. on the steps outside the American Museum of Natural History. The sequence, which lasts two minutes in the finished film, was shot approximately 25 times until 3 a.m.

Extras broke for a meal at 7:30 p.m. inside the museum lobby. Ables said the food included spaghetti and butter chicken. He noted one crew member spent the meal break collecting and sorting trash from all the extras for recycling.

Ables' video about the experience accumulated 18 million combined views. The film had its premiere on May 1.