Brownsville actors and extras sought for feature film

Local residents have a chance to see their faces splashed across the big screen in a new movie slated to shoot in Brownsville this summer.

An open casting call is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, at the Camille Playhouse, 1 Dean Porter Park.

The filmmakers are keeping a tight lid on the project, though downtown Brownsville will be standing in for Mexico, according to Brownsville Film Commission Director Peter Goodman. The casting company, On Location Casting, is looking for paid extras and local actors for a feature film with the working title “Skydance.”

Specifically, the casting crew is seeking Hispanic and Caucasian men, women and children of all ages. The roles include cowboys, police officers, drivers with pickups, burlesque and exotic dancers, Day of the Dead revelers in costume, mariachi musicians, vendors, tourists, military types and various other paid extra and speaking roles. No experience is necessary, though all applicants must be U.S. citizens with valid photo I.D. and Social Security cards.

A casting call for Camille Playhouse actors is scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Later that day, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the general public casting call will take place. The public casting call will continue on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Applicants should be prepared to be photographed. Anyone who wants to apply but isn’t able to make the casting call may visit www.onlocationcasting.net and fill out a free talent application. Include one or two recent photos and a phone number.

Goodman said he’s been pressing the casting agency for more details about the movie itself but to no avail.

“We went through the same thing with the Mel Gibson movie (filmed in 2010),” he said. “It’s a closed set and that’s the way it is. We keep pushing them but they’re not ready yet.”

Goodman said a cast and crew of roughly 75 will eventually descend on Brownsville for the filming. Numerous locations have been scouted in but no final decisions have been made, he said.

“It’s standard on these films that, unless you’re doing location hunting with the cinematographer, it all changes when he gets here,” Goodman said.

It’s not the first time the film has been proposed, he noted. Goodman said he met with location managers on the project in 2004, when the plan then was to shoot almost exclusively in Mexico. That project fell through, however, as did a second attempt a few years later.

“This time they got the money,” Goodman said. “The principals, who I can’t name, have been determined to get this blessed thing made