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'King' of the road

Casey Dexter Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo Courtesy of Fabian Valle Nutritional Science junior Fabian Valle takes a break from working as an extra with George Clooney on the set of "Three Kings."

The new movie "Three Kings" showcases a star-studded cast with leading men like George Clooney, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg, and ... Fabian Valle.

Valle, a University of Arizona nutritional science junior, might not have the big-name recognition yet, but as an extra, he's in the movie just the same. Valle was selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants back in December.

He's the guy in the tattered business suit at the beginning of the movie pushing the yellow barrel. Later on, Valle can be spotted tossing rocks at Iraqi soldiers as the American soldiers are liberating prisoners of war.

Last Wednesday, at the promotional screening in UA Social Sciences 100, Valle pointed himself out to his friends, who watched in awe.

This dream run all started back in December, when Valle was a sophomore at Central Arizona College in Coolidge. Valle and his friends spotted a casting call ad in the Casa Grande Dispatch.

Valle filled out a form with the movie people, then got the call a week later. He found out that he would get paid only minimum wage, but he had nothing better to do that week than be an underpaid actor anyway. Besides, there was a clause in Valle's contract that stated he would get paid extra for scenes involving getting splashed in the face with milk.

From Dec. 15-22, Valle was as much of a big-time movie star as anyone. Not only did he get to act, he got to pal around with the stars.

One time, Valle was walking back to the dressing room after a day of shooting, and Wahlberg happened to be driving by.

"Hey, man, you need a ride?" he said. Valle accepted.

And then there was the time that Ice Cube was tossing the football around with another actor. The actor got the call to start shooting a scene, so Valle stepped in, all cool-like, and put his hands up.

Cube tossed him the ball. But there was more. Wahlberg walked up along side of Ice Cube and Clooney stepped to Valle's side.

Suddenly, Valle was wrapped up in a star-studded game of 'pigskin tossin'.

"That was so cool," said Valle, making a Saudi-Arabia-sized understatement.

Now that Valle has made his debut, he says he has dreams of being a big-time actor. As everyone knows, one road to making the big-time is to star in the big films. Another way is to provide lots of controversial celebrity gossip.

Valle is happy to oblige.

"Ice Cube was kind of a jerk," Valle said. "He was always separated from everyone else, and if he didn't like what was happening in a scene, he would just stop everything. 'Hold on - it's not gonna be this way,' he would say."