Screen Actors Guild Nomination for Nick Nolte for Warrior

Every once in a while, a movie shot in the Pittsburgh area is nominated for an award. Granted, it doesn't seem to happen that often. So, it was nice to see Nick Nolte, who played the father in Warrior, be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. Good luck to Nick! Full SAG Nominee List

One Shot (in Production)

One Shot continues to shoot around Pittsburgh. They've been shooting in two units all over - the first unit (actors' scenes) and the second unit (driving scenes). Nancy Mosser Casting is still doing periodic extra calls, so, if you think you'd like to be an extra, it never hurts to sign up.

Steeltown Event Wednesday Night

For the last two years, Steeltown has sponsored a short script contest.  The kickoff event for the upcoming competition is Wednesday, November 9 at Regent Sq. Theater.

I thought this was a great idea, and attended three script competition events in early 2010.  My favorite script was a small bit of magical realism called Lightweight.  While Lightweight was not one of the two winners, it basically placed third, and the filmmakers made their film, which will be shown Wednesday night.  In addition, the 2011 winner will be shown (due to a very busy volunteer project, I didn't attend any of the 2011 events, so I'm not sure what the winner is like).

There are still tickets available - go to Steeltown Film Factory Website for more event inforation and to buy tickets.

2011 - Busy Moviemaking Year and More to Come!

I haven't posted here much this year, due more to having a very busy volunteer project.  Did a little extra work on Steel Town (later renamed Still I Rise), and was one of about 10,000 free extras who sat in Heinz Field for a Saturday for stadium crowd scenes for The Dark Knight Rises.  It looked like Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt briefly visited the set, but Tom Hardy was there long enough for a general introduction.  Sadly, I was out of my seat and looking for some water at that point, so I missed Hardy completely.

The next Tom Cruise movie, One Shot, will be filmed here this fall.  Rosamund Pike (An Education) and David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will co-star.

Last year, I complained a little that while I'm glad more movies are being shot in the Pittsburgh area, I wished a better quality of movie was filmed here.  That just might have happened.  While Warrior, shot here in 2009, has been a slow-starter at the box office, it's a very good movie, a darker version of last year's The Fighter.  Excellent performances by Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte.  If you haven't seen Warrior, go see it even if you don't care for fight movies.

And, Abduction, shot here in the summer of 2010 with some reshoots in May 2011, has been getting lots of TV commercials and trailers.  The trailer makes it look quite compelling.

Busy Moviemaking Season Returns to Pittsburgh

For the last few years, spring and summer have been the busy times for movie shoots in the Pittsburgh region. This year has been no exception.

The big local movies here this spring include:

• Abduction - the Taylor Lautner movie, mostly shot here last summer, but returned for several days of reshoots in early May.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower - the Emma Watson movie, written and directed by a Pittsburgh native, has been here for about a month and will continue to shoot in June
• Steel Town (formerly Still I Rise) - the Viola Davis/Maggie Gyllenhaal movie about educational controversies, will be shooting throughout June.

Steel Town is actively recruiting extras, especially kids. There are many classroom scenes, and many scenes of parents/community rallying to help support change coming to the school.

Much of a shooting day involves waiting around, so kids must be able to quietly amuse themselves, and must be able to take direction while on set. I'm honestly not sure what the pay rate is for kids, but they cannot
work as many hours as adults. Tips for Surviving as an Extra (applies to kids as well as to adults!).

To apply, E-mail name, phone number, photo and age to fourthrivercasting@yahoo.com

But, what many of us are particularly looking forward to is The Dark Knight Rises, AKA Batman. Directed by Christopher Nolan, it'll be one of the biggest movies ever shot in Pittsburgh. The 'burgh is only one stop on its international shooting tour, but I think it's going to be in Pittsburgh longer than anywhere else.

Joe Hill's Locke and Key Being Filmed Locally

Since the release of a number of Pittsburgh-shot movies last fall (Unstoppable, Love and Other Drugs and The Next Three Days), it's been a quiet time, TV/movie production-wise, in the Pittsburgh area.

That's changed now that Locke and Key, based on a comic book by Joe Hill, has come to town. Its director, Mark Romanek, has a history of making solid but under-appreciated movies (Never Let Me Go, One Hour Photo and Bee Season). Its lead, Miranda Otto, is sometimes in big projects (Lord of the Rings, War of the Worlds) but often doesn't get her due. Her co-star, Nick Stahl (In the Bedroom, Carnivale), also does terrfic work.

In this movie, the Pittsburgh area (Hartwood Acres in particular) is playing rural Massachusetts. While Massachusetts has more rolling hills and isn't as "ridgey" as Western Pennsylvania, it's a good fit.

My Top Ten Movies of 2010

1. The King's Speech
2. The Social Network
3. Winter's Bone
4. Inception
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. Fair Game
7. Easy A
8. The Ghost Writer
9. Love and Other Drugs
10. The Town


I would like to have been able to add more Pittsburgh-produced movies on this list. If I'd gone to "15 Top Movies," I probably would have added The Next Three Days as it was very good. She's Out of My League was fun, but not exactly best-of-the-year material. Unstoppable...eh.

Here's to some better movies made in Pittsburgh in 2011!

Unstoppable Review

This is the month when three movies shot in the Pittsburgh area last year are being released almost simultaneously. I try to go see most locally-made movies, unless they're just gorefests. I like to find locations I'm familiar with, and the work of people I know slightly who work in the industry.

The first of the three came out this weekend - Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine and directed by Tony Scott.

I'm not much for action adventure type movies, because they are mostly a mess of illogic. Unstoppable is no exception. I'm surprised that the reviews have been as positive as they have been. I'll admit it's a little exciting in places, but it really didn't hold my interest very much. The script has almost every action movie cliche and stock character you can imagine. Tiresome.

I'd like to say it was well-made, but the photography swings so much that it gets a little dizzying. I suppose that's part of the point - keep the audience off-balance so they can't think very much during the movie.

There are also stupid continuity problems. For whatever reason, while the movie is clearly set in Western Pennsylvania and a few scenes are actually set in Pittsburgh, the production decided to put in fake town names. I'm pretty sure the ending sequences were shot in Wheeling, West Virginia. So why not say the train was going to wind up in Wheeling? Why make up the name of another city that's larger than Pittsburgh but roughly in the Pittsburgh area?

Much of the movie was shot in small towns outside of Altoona, where train tracks parallel small country roads for a long time. One thing that was too bad is one of the most striking train vistas in the region is the Horseshoe Curve, which runs along a hill overlooking a valley. For whatever reason, they didn't/couldn't shoot from there.

At one point early in the movie, you see Channel 11 weather on in the background. It shows the highs in the 90s in southwestern Pennsylvania the day of the "train incident." At the end of the movie (which is either late in the day of train incident or maybe the next day), people are wearing mittens and scarves.

The acting was just tiresome. I've been a big fan of Denzel Washington, but he's done this upright/blue collar guy a lot over the last few years, and I know he can do better than this. Chris Pine is still so-so. The only performance that was at all interesting was Rosario Dawson who is stuck in a train control center for the entire movie. But she was the only person in this movie with any spark.

What made the movie kind of tolerable in places was comparing/contrasting corporate/government reaction in Unstoppable (which was shot in the fall 2009) and the BP oil disaster (which happened in mid-2010). You can almost see top-level corporate reaction in both being the same; that some of the people on the ground might have had a few clues but were generally ignored. The one "fed" in the flick initially seemed like he'd be part of the problem, but he wound up being useful.

So if you like a movie that basically screams "I'm a big video game," you might like Unstoppable. I saw this movie at noon in a suburban Pittsburgh theater that was about 2/3rds full (usually the first Saturday showing doesn't fill up like that, so that showed a fair amount local interest in the film).

Still looking very much to seeing Love and Other Drugs (every time I see the commercial, it makes me laugh) and The Next Three Days (which looks like it has striking Pittsburgh photography...and, heck, I might be in it as I was an extra in some of the airport scenes).

Abduction Extras Needed for 8/26 and 8/27

Abduction has been shooting in the area for about two months.
Their casting crew is looking for extras for late August, especially Thursday, August 26 and Friday, August 27.

To be considered for extra work, E-mail your photo to: abductionstadium@gmail.com,
along with your name, date of birth (need to be 18 to be considered) and your phone number.

Keep an eye on their Facebook page. Go to www.facebook.com and search on "Abduction Extras" to find their extra casting calls.

If you've never been an extra before, while there's a lot of "hurry-up and wait," it's a fascinating experience if you want to watch the craft of movie-making. And, you get paid!

Surviving Your Days as an Extra

This is based on being an extra for 14 different films in the Pittsburgh market since 2008.  The bottom line is always pay attention to what the casting agent who contacts you to work and what the production assistants tell you on set, because some extra work requirements vary from place to place.  YMMV.


So you've just gotten a gig as an extra? Congrats! If you've never done it before, here are some things to remember.

• Be on time.  If your call time is for 9am, get there a little before 9am. Call the casting office if you will be late or if something happened and you can't show up at all.  Follow the signs that say "Extra Parking" and "Extra Check-in" so you'll wind up in the right spot at the right time.  If the casting office tells you to call someone once you reach the extra holding area, don't forget to make that call when you arrive.
• Bring a pen (or two), photo ID, something with your Social Security number and a government issued photo ID (driver's license/passport).   You will need to fill out paperwork once you get there.  If you have a small clipboard or even a piece of cardboard, that can help you do your paperwork since table space can be at a premium.
• Part of the paperwork you will complete is a time sheet, which is typically a half-page 3-part form.  You will need to hold onto that form until you sign out at the end of the day, unless you are given a costume, and then the costume folks usually hold it for you.  You will not be paid unless you turn in a completed form at the end of the day, so always know where your time sheet is.
• Wear comfortable shoes. You may be standing around more than you realize. You may be walking much more than you anticipate.  However, if you have to wear uncomfortable shoes on set, be sure to have comfortable ones to wear once you leave the set.
• Bring snacks. Yes, they will feed you, but sometimes having some fruit, hard candy and maybe even a sandwich can be very helpful. Also, a small bottle of water is a huge help because you can sneak that in a bag or a pocket and keep it with you.
• If you may be outside, bring sunglasses, a cap and sunscreen. Sunglasses are a good idea in general as set lights can be murder.  Note that you may be told to remove the sunglasses and cap depending on what the director wants.
• You will often be asked to bring extra clothes so the costumers can make decisions about what you will wear. Don't bring white or red, and don't bring items with logos.
• Bring diversionary materials - books, eBooks, gaming devices, iPod, anything small. In most cases, a laptop or an iPad is too big. Another reason for bringing things like eBooks or small crafts - you might be asked to do something on set other than just sit. You might be asked to read or knit or play with a GameBoy, so it's handy if you have something like that on you that you can use.
• A deck of cards can be a good way to make friends.
• Listen to your production assistants (PA). Follow their instructions carefully. Don't lose track of them! PAs take a lot of flack, as they're wedged between the higher-level people making the movie and the extras, many of whom have never been on a set before. While some PAs could use a term in charm school, most of them are worth their weight in gold.
• Don't bring a camera. Seriously. Almost nothing will get you thrown off a set faster than trying to take pictures.
• Turn off your cell phone when you're called to a set.  Almost nothing is more embarrassing than a cell phone going off in a shot.  That, too, can get you booted off some sets.
• Don't bring attitude. If you're a diva or a stalker, stay home. Remember, an extra is just a cooperative, mobile prop. Extras are often insurance so a director can use you in a scene when they're unsure whether to use extras or not.  You can wind up coming to set for days and never getting near a camera, but, remember, you're still being paid.  If you take yourself too seriously than that, you're going to have a rotten time. You have to look at extra work as if you're just being paid to read or chat with other people in extra holding, and if you do get to be on set, it's a bonus.
• If you have screwed up and are told to leave the set, leave immediately.  Don't whine about it.  The more you whine, the more people will remember that you whined.
• If they let you watch filming when you're not actually filming, stand out of the way and be very quiet.
• Be polite to everyone.
• Network - If you know about other extra jobs, share that information with extras who seem interested in other jobs.

Frankly, I could never be a "full-time" extra, but, a few days a year or a month, it's a ball!

Here's a similar survival guide more aimed at actors with lines than extras.