Fall River private detective scares up some screen time on Hulu's 'Boston Strangler' movie

Hulu will be taking viewers back to the bad old days of the early 1960s later this month with “Boston Strangler,” a retelling of the manhunt for one of America’s most notorious serial killers — and a former Fall River police officer has already had a front-row seat.

“I was only a kid when it happened — but I remember reading about it, growing up," said Billy Silvia Jr., a private investigator, former police officer and frequent bit-part actor and background performer in films. He has a small role as a police detective in the movie, which premieres March 17 on Hulu.

The movie stars Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon as reporters at the Boston Record-American newspaper covering the story and Alessandro Nivola as Detective Conley, chasing down the monster responsible for murdering 13 women.

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Silvia, a Screen Actors Guild member with experience going back nearly two decades, spent four days filming multiple scenes on the set of “Boston Strangler,” which was shot in and around the Boston area. He’s in a few scenes “dressed like Eliot Ness” with other actors portraying detectives, and had some camera time close to the lead actors in one scene set in the detectives’ squad room, on a stage built in an old armory in Lynn, set-dressed to look like an office from the 1960s.

“They had all old furniture, the old phones, lamps, old pictures on the wall," Silvia said. “It was right out of a time capsule."

In one scene, he pretends to smoke at his desk — it was the ‘60s, folks — sitting right across from Nivola. Knightley and Nivola share a scene together right near him.

“I thought, ‘Man, did I get a good spot here — this is beautiful,’” Silvia said. “When you’re near a principal, any principal actor, you know you’re going to be on camera. … Everybody wants to be seen on camera in some capacity. Even if you don’t have a line, at least somebody sees your mug.”

How Billy Silvia got his break in movies

"I was always kind of a movie buff,” Silvia said.

A lifelong Fall River guy, in the early 1980s Silvia hit the road to California and hooked up with an acting coach there. “We did a couple of theater things. I didn’t get on stage," he said, "but that’s when I got the bug.”

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His career ended up taking a very different path — he wound up in the Fall River Police Department for a few years, and he's been a private eye for 30 years on and off. But in 2004, Silvia heard about a casting call for a movie being filmed in Rhode Island starring Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick and Ray Liotta called “The Last Shot,” and took his first shot. It paid off, and he ended up with an uncredited part as a driver in the film.

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“Every time there was another movie in the area, I would submit my headshot or I’d reach out to the casting company,” he said. “I’d get cast a lot for being a cop, a PI. I kind of fit that profile.”

Film directors think so too. Out of 21 credits listed on Silvia’s IMDb page, 14 of them are for playing police officers, agents, firemen or security guards. Look carefully and you’ll see him in “Spenser Confidential” with Mark Wahlberg, “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Purge: Election Year,” “The Departed,” “Shutter Island,” “The Heat” with Sandra Bullock, and arresting Charlie Hunnam in “Jungleland,” filmed all over the Fall River area. He's most prominent in the film "Patriots Day," as a bodyguard for John Goodman.

Getting camera time on 'Boston Strangler'

Silvia has been in the background-actor game long enough to know the big dos and don’ts of being on a movie set — like, don’t approach the lead actors unless they approach you first. And yet being an outgoing guy and knowing when to bend that rule has paid off for him.

Silvia said that during some down time on one shooting day on “Boston Strangler,” he struck up a conversation with Nivola. Silvia told the actor he’d met with John DiNatale, a private detective whose father, Philip, was the lead investigator in the Boston Strangler case. DiNatale had given Silvia access to research material in the case — and Nivola was immediately interested.

“He says, ‘You've got to contact me, we've got to talk,’” Silvia said. “People are looking at us, like, ‘Look at this guy — the lead actor’s giving him his email.’”

Later that day, with the camera on Nivola and a team of background actors playing detectives at a crime scene, the actor asked director Matt Ruskin to move Silvia closer to him in the shot.

“A guy comes running in the room, puts a little piece of tape on the floor,” Silvia said, laughing. “I’m on camera now. This is the first time they’ve put a piece of tape on the ground. I’ve got my mark. You don’t have to give me a line — I'll take a mark on the rug for now.”

Silvia isn’t sure how clearly he’ll be visible in the final product, but he said he knows that’s just how it goes in show business, and it won’t stop him from seeking out more extra jobs in the future.

“Before you know it, you’ve got 20-something movies under your belt,” he said, “but I don’t see my house in Beverly Hills anytime soon."

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How can I watch 'Boston Strangler'?

The film is premiering on March 17 on the Hulu streaming service. The film is rated R.

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River private detective lands role in Hulu's 'Boston Strangler'