NATCHEZ &045;&045; As measurements were taken to fit her for the costume she will wear in &uot;The Ladykillers,&uot; film extra Minnie Cockerham stood with a smile of excitement on her face.

&uot;A friend and I came down (to Friday’s casting call) to set up, and I’m excited. I told all my family they’ve got to see this,&uot; Cockerham said after her fitting. For her role as a passerby in the upcoming film, she ended up dressed in a pink print pants set and straw hat.

&uot;Not something I’d wear to the mall, but …&uot; Cockerham said, a smile lighting her face again as she checked her profile.

One fitting down, 89 left to go. Welcome to the world of costume design &045;&045; in this case, fitting extras for &uot;The Ladykillers,&uot; a Coen brothers film that will shoot outdoor scenes in Natchez Sept. 2-6.

In all, costume designer Mary Zophres and her six crew members started Sunday and will continue through Thursday at the city auditorium fitting 90 extras for costumes, mostly Sunday dresses reminiscent of the 1940s.

Resting in a room just off the main hall &045;&045; a long stretch lined with pastel, tea-length dresses and flower-adorned hats &045;&045; Zophres explained that the choice of costumes is an important process, one that can actually start months before production begins.

Zophres should know. She estimates she’s worked on about 22 movies ranging from crime caper &uot;Catch Me If You Can&uot; and Ray Charles biography &uot;Unchain My Heart&uot; to Coen brothers films like &uot;Fargo&uot; and &uot;O Brother, Where Art Thou?&uot;

&uot;We read the script, and it was evident that it had a storybook quality to it,&uot; Zophres said. &uot;Things seem perfect, but you get a sense that something may not be right.&uot;

(In the case of the &uot;The Ladykillers,&uot; the &uot;something not right&uot; is an ambitious crime. In the film, con artists attempt to rob a riverboat casino, only to have their plan foiled by their elderly landlady.)

To give the movie a proper feel, the costuming crew sewed a variety of dresses &uot;in a classic style &045;&045; things that were soft to the eye and pretty&uot; in pastel colors, Zophres said.

The styles of costumes tailored for the outdoor scenes to be filmed here complemented those worn in indoor scenes already shot at the Los Angeles studio &045;&045; a church scene and a ladies’ tea scene.

Although just a few extras had come in to be fitted as of midafternoon Sunday, veteran film seamstresses from New Orleans were actually down the hall, sewing rips and fixing hems.

Ask Mae Easterling, a 17-year veteran of the industry, and Gisele Spence, with six years’ experience, about the most unusual order they’ve had, and they stop sewing to share giggles and knowing smiles.

&uot;One movie had a scene where a man dressed up in his wife’s underwear,&uot; Spence said, pausing in her work repairing a ripped glove.

&uot;But I don’t want to reveal who (the actor) is. The movie’s still in production.&uot;

Compared to such, uh, revealing scenes, &uot;The Ladykillers&uot; would seem to be less of a costuming challenge &045;&045; and costumer Renee Dodson confirmed this, saying she’s had to meet unbelievable deadlines.

&uot;For ‘Unchain My Heart,’ we had to (fit) 4,000 people in three months,&uot; Dodson said.

However, don’t think the crew’s work is done just yet. Zophres will take off for her hometown, Los Angeles, in a few days to start work on another film, Steven Spielberg’s &uot;The Terminal.&uot;

But her crew will stay behind to take care of any costuming emergencies that happen during filming, from rips and tears to fitting additional extras.

The latter challenge isn’t uncommon. For example, while filming &uot;O Brother&uot; near Jackson, problems with music for the climactic concert scene resulted in filming being moved to another day.

That meant that about half of the local extras could show up on the new filming day, while others had to go to work or had other plans.

That, in turn, forced casting representatives to call more extras on the spur of the moment &045;&045; and forced the costuming crew to fit dozens of new people in just hours.

Compared to that &045;&045; at least, so far &045;&045; Zophres said work on &uot;The Ladykillers&uot; has been pretty easy and relaxed.

But crew members aren’t holding their breath. With shooting films on location, Dodson said, &uot;it’s always something.&uot;