[Capdist-auditions] Movie Auditions for Extras for "Taking Woodstock"

[lwandruski at aol.com]

Do not hit your reply button to respond to this posting.? This is a reprint of a news article from the Times Union.? There is no contact number provided in the article.? You just show up at the auditions.? If you go, tell them you found out about the auditions through the Capital Dsitrict Audition Listserv.? -- Moderator


Missed Woodstock? Get a spot in movie instead
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By DANIELLE FURFARO, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, June 26, 2008

For anyone who ever wished they could have been at Woodstock, here's the chance. Sure, you won't actually see Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin or the Grateful Dead, but you can pretend.

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Three casting calls will be held this weekend for extras for "Taking Woodstock," a fact-based drama about the struggles to make the legendary 1969 music festival happen. The film will be directed by Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind "Brokeback Mountain," "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and "Hulk."

The movie is based on the best-selling memoirs of Elliot Tiber, a self-described working-class gay hippie and revolutionary who took part in the Stonewall riots before playing a key role in the rock festival that turned the Borscht Belt into a seeding ground for the Love Generation.

"I'm the man who saved Woodstock," Tiber said in a phone interview Wednesday from his home in New York City.

Tiber helped Woodstock organizers secure a permit for the music festival after they had been rebuffed by the town of Walkill. According to the author, the film will also delve into his earlier struggles growing up gay in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.

"I call it 'Taking Woodstock' because I've been taking it with me ever since Richie Havens sang 'Freedom,' " said the author and playwright.

Tiber pitched the idea to Lee last year when the two were guests on the same San Francisco morning show. A month later, Lee called Tiber back and told him he was interested in making the film.

"Taking Woodstock" will star Demetri Martin, the Gen X stand-up comedian who's a regular on "The Daily Show."

"He looks like I did at 34, only he's much more slender and he's got his own teeth and hair," said Tiber.

The film will be produced by Focus Films, which is headed by Lee's longtime collaborator James Schamus, who lives in Chatham and is a regular participant in the FilmColumbia festival.

"We spent three or four weeks talking to people, scouting locations and getting people hired," said Laurent Rejto, commissioner of the Woodstock-based Hudson Valley Film Commission. "We were just trying to keep the filming in the Hudson Valley."

The film's producers settled on several spots in northern Columbia County. Tiber named Leeds and New Lebanon; Rejto declined to give specific locations.

There are three casting calls in the region:

*In Hudson from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Smith Middle School, 215 Harry Howard Ave.

*In Albany from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at The College of Saint Rose Event & Athletic Center, 420 Western Ave.

*In New Lebanon from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at 732 Route 20.

Applicants should bring nonreturnable photos and must be legal U.S. residents.

The production is also looking for vintage vehicles from the era; if you have one, bring a nonreturnable photo and a description of the vehicle's make, model and condition.


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