Delta residents looking for a chance to appear on the silver screen could get their opportunity soon.
In about two weeks, crews from “The Help,” a Hollywood film set to be shot in Greenwood and surrounding areas this summer, will begin searching for people to be extras or fill minor roles, producer Brunson Green said.
For now, the film crew has only a few specific parts in mind. For example, they are looking for white twins or triplets who could play girls around 3 years old.
Green said the children could be older but should appear to be about 2 or 3. They also don’t necessarily have to be from the Delta.
Anyone interested in a role should e-mail a recent picture and basic information such as height and weight to casthelp@gmail.com. Green recommended waiting until open call auditions are announced in about 2½ weeks.
Director Tate Taylor, who also wrote the script based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel, said they would also be searching for people to fill a few speaking roles toward the end of filming.
“Eventually we are going to be looking for older local African-American women,” Taylor said. “In the story when Skeeter starts writing her book, women start coming forward and telling their story, so we want to get some real locals — older women who wouldn’t be camera shy and (could) learn dialogue and tell some stories on camera.”
Those interested in being extras in “The Help” should e-mail Nina Parikh at nparikh@mississippi.org and Betty Black at bblack@mississippi.org and ask to be added to a “Hotline” e-mail list.
Although those representatives do not do the casting themselves, they can let people know when open calls and related events will be held and tell people what to do at casting calls.
In an e-mail, Lhay Browning Thriffiley, director of the KidsROCK Music Camps at the University of Southern Mississippi, who was an extra in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” encouraged people to participate in the film.
“They will pay you, feed you, and keep you fairly comfortable while you work, or wait to work,” she wrote. “You will meet new friends and have a great story to tell.”
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
