Want to be in movies? Films looking for extras

CALLS are going out for extras in two distinct movie projects now shooting in Manitoba.

In Winnipeg, local casting agency Kari Casting is looking for as many as 1,000 paid extras for the film Beethoven Saves Christmas, the seventh in the series of films about a mischievous St. Bernard.

The production is looking for male and female extras of all ages: "families, moms, dads, kids, grandmas, grandpas" to play in several exterior scenes in the movie, including attendees at a Santa Claus parade, ice skaters and Christmas shoppers. Extras are expected to commit to only one or two days throughout the filming dates, and get paid $10.75 per hour when hired.

Actor Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) is among the stars shooting the film, along with Kim Rhodes (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and Kyle Massey (Cory in the House).

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 16, 2011 D3

Corydon Avenue resident Vienna Badiuk ran into two giant St. Bernards, starring in Beethoven's Christmas Adventure being filmed on her street Friday night. She patted one of the dogs on his big furry head and a few minutes later, felt him back, nuzzling up under her hand for more -- not an uppity Hollywood dog at all.

But when she tried to get to her nearby apartment, one of the filmmaking hotdogs told her she couldn't get past, that they "owned" the area for the shoot. In feisty Winnipeg style, Badiuk retorted: "Does that means you'll be paying my rent?" That got her past and she hustled in the back entrance of her block, which was already festooned with a giant lit-up Christmas wreath.

A parade of small floats covered in Christmas lights was getting ready to pass by. Lights! Camera! Action! Despite the blizzard, there were 300 extras with warm-up buses, and 200 citizens without, who stayed on set anyway, because they are rough and tough. "They cleaned up the whole space overnight and left two boxes behind -- one with Christmas lights, and one with a 10-foot green garland, so I picked it up," confesses Badiuk, of The Buzz Communications. "Now I've got a bit of Hollywood in my Christmas box for next year."