Starring Greenville

Ok, one line. But the father of two will recall, until the day he dies, every detail of how he was going to be just another extra, a foreman in a scene in a steel plant that one of the football players returns to after Clooney's team goes belly up. Then Clooney "patted me on the back, 'It is Randy, right? I want you to look at Tim" -- actor Tim Griffin -- "and I want you . . . to say this out loud . . . 'You're back on the football team.' "

It was the moment that legions of wannabes who flock to L.A. dream will happen. They did three takes and that was it. Farmer figured the whole thing took an hour and a quarter, then he went back to the waiting area until someone said, "Everybody's free to go except Randy Farmer . . . Universal Studios is going to have you sign a contract." His pay went from "50-something to 700-something . . . and the guy said. 'Congratulations, you are now an actor.' "

Sure he got "give me your autograph" teases later. But he spoke to actors who told him what it meant to be "SAG-eligible" and how to check the Internet cast list for "Leathernecks" and there it was, "Randy Farmer . . . Foreman."

"I'm sitting here thinking, "What's next?'" said Farmer, who knew one next step -- the premiere being organized by Brookshire and his committee.

My wife arranged for the red carpet. She's an interior designer," Arboscello was saying last week. He and Brookshire were at a school field that is transformed on screen into a '20s stadium. They pointed out where a paparazzo was discovered in camouflage pants under trees and where the mascot for Clooney's team -- a lazy bulldog -- sat. "The dog, I found, got paid $450 a day," Arboscello said. "We got $100."

In January, they and a few others decided to stage the gala -- $50 per couple -- at the 700-seat Camelot theater, where Clooney often viewed rushes. While the carpet is donated, they had to rent the searchlights and 10 limos that will carry attendees from a staging area up the street. A localTV woman agreed to emcee.

They'd hoped the stars would walk the carpet with them, but Clooney et al. already were penciled in for a "whistle-stop tour" of Duluth, Minn., home to the real '20s team that inspired the story; Maysville, Ky., near where Clooney grew up; Salisbury, N.C., where more shooting was done, and finally Greenville, last Thursday.

That morning, Brookshire gathered a group of extras at the remnant of the filming in town, a brick wall made up as an advertisement for a Duluth, Minn., hotel, with $1 rooms, or "With bath $2.50 up."