Pittsburgh Movie Casting Director Fired After Seeking Extras Who Looked InbredPOSTED: 1:35 pm EST February 26,
2008 PITTSBURGH -- The producers of the horror thriller "Shelter," starring Julianne Moore, have fired a Pittsburgh casting director.Donna Belajac Casting put out what the producers said was an insensitive casting call for extras to appear in a scene set in West Virginia.The casting call said the film is looking for extras who are extraordinarily tall or short, those with unusual body shapes and unusual facial features, and even people with physical abnormalities.Casting agency director Donna Belajac told WTAE Channel 4's news exchange partners at the Tribune-Review that the casting call wasn't meant to stereotype people from West Virginia.The announcement, as was posted on Donna Belajac Casting's Web site, read: "In addition to regular folks for scenes in and around Pittsburgh, we are looking for people to populate a West Virginia 'Holler.' People who have any of the following attributes should attend:Extraordinarily tall or short. Unusual body shapes, even physical abnormalities as long as there is normal mobility. Unusual facial features, especially eyes.We are also looking for a 9-12 year old Caucasian girl with an other-worldly look to her. Could be an albino or something along those lines -- she's someone who is visually different and therefore has a closer contact to the gods and to magic. 'Regular-looking' children should not attend this open call." Belajac told WTAE Channel 4's news exchange partner, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, that the description is not intended as a generalization of West Virginia residents."Some of these 'holler' people -- because they are insular and clannish, and they don't leave their area -- there is literally inbreeding, and the people there often have a different kind of look. That's what we're trying to get," she told the Trib.Critics said the casting call stereotypes West Virginians as inbred carnival sideshows."Shelter" producers Emilio Diez Barroso and Darlene Caamano Loquet said the movie isn't set in West Virginia and the state won't even be mentioned.Barroso and Loquet said the casting call was put out without their knowledge.An open casting call is scheduled for March 2, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Holiday Inn North Hills, 4859 McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15237. Related Links: More Allegheny County NewsRSS Headlines | E-Mail Headlines | Desktop Alert Copyright 2008 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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