You wanna be in pictures?
Luxembourg filmmakers make casting call for extras
By David Josar,
Stuttgart bureau
Filmmakers in Luxembourg are looking for extras to work weekends
through June in a movie about an Army battalion that got cut off from their allies by the
Germans during World War I.
“There were four Medal of Honor winners in this battle. This was
really something,” said Avi Levy, producer of “The Lost Battalion.”
The extras will be needed to play some of the 800 soldiers who were
part of the important battle that occurred in northeastern France. The film is being shot
in Luxembourg because France was too expensive.
Extras will work roughly 12 hours a day, receive a catered lunch and
be paid $60. Filming begins around 7 a.m. each day with about an hour off for lunch.
The picture is being made for 20th Century Fox and will be shown on
the cable channel, A&E, either in November or February 2002. Levy said the film may
also be shown as a feature film in Europe.
“The Lost Battalion” is about the 77th Infantry Division,
formed mostly of men from New York City and other parts of New York state, during one
infamous battle against the Germans during World War I.
“It was really a cross-section of America at the time —
Italians, Jews, Germans,” said retired Col. Peter Herrley, a former West Point
professor who is the historical and military consultant to the film.
During World War I, the Germans had been dug in around northeastern
France for years, which enabled them to supply and feed their men throughout the country.
The 77th Infantry Division, which had about 800 soldiers, was able to
break through the German lines, but once they did they were cut off from their allies and
trapped.
Their numbers were significantly smaller when they got out a week
later.
“They were extremely, extremely heroic,” Herrley said.
“This movie will recreate something America has forgotten. World War I isn’t on
anyone’s radar screen.”
The movie will show how the men held out without food and medicine,
Herrley said. The Germans would “shoot them up” when the Americans went to get
water, and trapped soldiers had to communicate with carrier pigeons, he said.
Levy said he especially would like American military personnel as
extras.
“Our extras right now are supermarket clerks and people like
that. We need extras who are actually soldiers. That would make it look that much
better,” he said.
To inquire about becoming an extra, contact the film’s casting
department at: 00-352-2642-4384. Although most extras are needed weekends, some are also
needed during the week.
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