Extras Flock to Arena for ‘Ducks’ Sequel : Movies: Thousands of people come to Anaheim for a chance to appear in the film, playing the part of raucous crowd members at a hockey game.

That was not just a crowd lined up outside the Anaheim Arena for a quarter of a mile early Saturday morning.

No, as the public address announcer told more than 12,000 people who moved inside and packed the arena later: “You’re not just a crowd today, you’re actors!”--an acknowledgment that drew a rousing roar of approval.

The new arena was filled most of the day for the filming of “Mighty Ducks 2,” the sequel to the popular movie “The Mighty Ducks,” which has become the namesake of Anaheim’s new National Hockey League franchise. The fans in the seats were standing in as willing but non-paid extras acting on cue as a raucous crowd.

People said it was the lure of being in even a small part of a movie, or of seeing the new arena for free, or of catching a glimpse of the film’s star, Emilio Estevez, that brought them to Anaheim on Saturday.

While some pre-event tickets were given out, officials from Bombay Films, producers of “Mighty Ducks 2,” said that it was first-come, first-allowed into the arena, luring some people as early as 5 a.m.

That’s the time the first group in line arrived, the Estrada family, all 26 of them.

The various Estrada brothers, sisters and cousins left their homes in Tustin, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana and Westminster and met at the home of Deborah Estrada at a still-dark 4:30 a.m. With the fictional Ducks in town, it was not hard to get the kids up early, said Cindy Estrada of Tustin.

“My kids slept in their clothes,” Cindy Estrada, the mother of three, said with a smile.

A little farther back in line, Kelsey Grogan, 12, of La Habra knew exactly why she arrived at 6:30 a.m.

“I wanted to see Emilio Estevez,” Kelsey said.

Estevez was there, as he was for four days last week. The film shoot will continue today, Wednesday and Thursday, but only on Saturday was a full crowd needed, said Lisa Beasley of North Hollywood, who coordinated the event for Bombay Films.

To alleviate the congestion outside the arena, the doors were opened early and people were allowed inside beginning about 7:30 a.m. Once inside, the fans rushed to choose a seat and, by 10 a.m., the arena was filled to near capacity, giving the place the feel of a genuine hockey crowd just as the movie’s producers had intended.

On the ice, the setting for the action was the championship of the Junior Goodwill Games, pitting the much bigger Icelandic Vikings against the gutsy Team USA, coached by Estevez and made up of most of the Mighty Ducks.

The crowd, many of whom had seen the first movie, needed little prompting to start the “U.S.A., U.S.A.” chant.

Alexandra Qussiny of Moreno Valley, who works for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim, said her 10-year-old son has become a recent hockey fan because of the movie.

“He didn’t even know about hockey until he saw the movie,” she said. “It was a great movie, our whole family saw it. My son said he wanted to come today to make history by being in the movie.”

Outside, there were few major glitches, except for a line of traffic on Katella Avenue that stretched to about one mile west of the arena. Some unhappy fans arrived too late to get inside.

One was Deborah Easley, 10, of Whittier, who went with her father, Gary.

“I felt like crying,” Deborah Easley said.

“I think they should have told people not to bring their whole families,” Gary Easley said. “We only brought people who we had tickets for. There were people who were split up from the group, half who got in and half who didn’t.”