Don't worry, Mr. Spielberg, nobody squealed.

It's been nearly a year since filming wrapped on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," but the Hawai'i actors who worked on it were still able to keep its plot twists a secret.

Not that questions weren't asked, especially in Patti Hastie's Hawai'i Kai home.

Hastie was the stand-in for Cate Blanchett on the "Indiana Jones" set — code name "Mean Girl 2" on the daily shooting schedule.

Despite ongoing pressure from her three sons — 16, 18 and 22 — Mom kept mum.

"They would always rib me, 'Come on, Mom, you can tell us, we won't tell anybody,' " Hastie said. "They were always trying to use an angle on Mom. Then I would tease them back. After a while they knew I wasn't going to say anything, and they gave up."

Working on the movie was a tremendous break for Hastie, who has been acting for only five years, as well as a pair of young local actors she met during filming — Molly McGivern and Rolf Burton.

The trio met recently at their acting school — the Academy of Film & Television in Honolulu — to share their experience. None of them had ever worked on a project as large as the Indiana Jones sequel and definitely not with the likes of Hollywood giants Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford.

For the month they spent filming on the Big Island — hidden from public view on private land along the Hamakua Coast — the actors got advice from director Spielberg, birthday cake from Ford when he turned 65 and did their best to think of it as just another job if they found themselves sitting near stars in the cafeteria or facing the Oscar-winning director whenever he stared at them through hands shaped like a miniature movie screen.

"You have to just stand there and look straight ahead and pretend he was not there," said Hastie, who has had roles in ABC TV's "Lost," and movies that included "What Happens in Las Vegas" and "You, Me and Dupree."

Since each was a fan of the stars or their films, feigning apathy might have been some of the best acting they've ever done.

"When you are working on a set, you can't be a fan," Burton said. "It's really unprofessional to go up to stars and say, 'Wow, you're so great.' Everybody on the set notices that."

IN THE MOMENT

In this sequel, set in 1957, Cold War-era Russians have replaced World War II Germans as the new bad guys, and whip-cracking archaeologist Jones is pitted against a Russian agent played by Blanchett. Each is on a globetrotting trek to find a crystal skull rumored to have unlimited powers.

Somewhere in the background of all this, literally, was Burton, who was an extra playing the part of a Russian soldier. The Nu'uanu resident had to run around in a longsleeved wool jacket with an AK-47 assault rifle, trying not sweat too much beneath the jungle canopy.

Doing that well, even for a guy whose only assignment is to hold his weapon convincingly as he moves from one spot to another, requires a good imagination, Burton said. Every time he looked in the camera's direction, he saw directors, lights, crew, makeup artists and equipment. In his mind, he had to turn it into an exotic location.

"You have to really be in your moment," he said. "As an extra, you want to be living in the moment. You should be doing what you would normally be doing."

Burton, whose favorite movies as a young boy in California were the "Star Wars" and Indiana Jones sagas, was a chemist analyzing soil samples in Honolulu until 2005, when he applied to be an extra on "Lost." Although he hadn't acted since the eighth grade, he wound up with enough steady work as a stand-in on the show that he made it a full-time job. It's hard work, but he loves it, he said.

"I get the feeling a lot of people get into acting because they think it is easy, but it is the hardest thing there is," he said. "Nothing on film is like real life."

TRUTH REVEALED ... LATER

The Indiana Jones sequel was cloaked in secrecy from the start.

None of the extras or stand-ins knew they were working on the sequel until they arrived on the Big Island. They all thought it was a film called "Genre Project," the same title that wound up on their ID badges and the paychecks they got long after they knew the truth, Burton said.

"The first day all the soldiers showed up, we had to get haircuts and fitted for our uniforms, and at that point they said, 'In case you didn't know, this is an Indiana Jones movie and here's 10 pages of stuff about how we've sued everybody who has ever leaked anything,' " Burton said. "And we had to sign a confidentiality agreement."

The job of stand-in may be one of the least-glamorous tasks in moviemaking. It's a fill-in position that allows actors to get their makeup re-done or into costume while the rest of the crew works to arrange equipment and camera angles around the substitute.

McGivern, who was the stand-in for Karen Allen, said the job is more technical than emotional. A stand-in touches what the actor touches, moves the way the actor moves, smiles and interacts the way the actor does, but isn't asked to act, she said. In fact, that's frowned upon.

"You're kind of on your toes the whole time," said McGivern, who lived on the Big Island when the movie was filmed, but recently moved to Waikiki. "You're waiting. Do they need me now? Oh, she stepped out of the light. Do I run in there now? It's a little harder than you would think. It is not just sitting around waiting and picking your nose."

The experience was "educational" for the 26-year-old McGivern, who has been acting since age 4. But she had to wrestle her awe when she first saw Ford with his whip and rumpled fedora. "I admit, I was star-struck," she said.

Working with the stars for a month in the jungle cured her of that. The heat was the same for everyone.

"It was eye-opening," she said. "It was interesting to see how Harrison Ford worked, to shake Karen Allen's hand, to see how well-focused these actors were and how they worked behind the scenes. It is inspiring to see someone that focused and professional."