DECATUR - Life travels at a faster pace on the West Coast than it does in the Midwest.

Central Illinois residents had their glimpse of life in the fast lane Saturday morning. Hundreds quickly were herded through a line as the extras casting for the Steven Soderbergh-Matt Damon film "The Informant" began in full force.

The film documents the early-1990s lysine price-fixing scandal at Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. The film, based on Kurt Eichenwald's book, begins a three- to four-week stint of filming early next month, largely in Decatur.

First in line - and alone downtown for a long time, he said - was Decatur's Jarrod Bean, who lined up outside the Millikin Bank building at midnight. The next people in line arrived about five hours later.

"The way I looked at it," Bean said, "this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. How many movies are going to be filmed in Decatur? After seeing the lines for the 'Deal Or No Deal' tryouts and knowing that they weren't promising to see everybody for this, I wanted to make sure I got in."

The "Deal Or No Deal" auditions earlier this month drew at least 4,000 hopefuls, some of whom waited in line for more than 30 hours.

Bean's moment of glory was relatively brief. Workers from the extras casting unit handed out cards on which potential background performers would place their contact information, and photos of them were taken when they reached the front of the line, inside the bank building lobby.

Extras casting director Rich King decided to start early because of the number of people in line and the ongoing threat of rain. By 11 a.m., the originally scheduled start time for the extras casting, King said he'd run through close to 200 individuals.

King walked the line, giving information to hopefuls and including a little teasing.

"It's a film by Steven Soderbergh," he said at one point, "and the star is Matt Damon, and we're here today looking for his sidekick."

As the crowd appeared to briefly stop breathing all at the same time, King laughed and continued, "I knew that would get you guys excited."

On Friday night, individuals at a gathering for vintage car owners hoping to have their vehicles selected for the film also were given a chance to submit their names for potential extras casting.

King said that by Friday, he'd already received 175 e-mails with photos, "and I've downloaded about half of them." Photos and contact information can be e-mailed to theinformantcasting@gmail.com or sent via regular mail to Rich King Casting, 6671 W. Sunset Blvd., Suite 1597, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Tim Cain can be reached at timcain@herald-review.com or 421-6908.