Hundreds of residents from the Mid-Western Region have shown their interest in becoming paid, non-speaking extras for 2014 Channel Seven telemovie, The Killing Field.
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The fictional telemovie will be partly filmed in Gulgong during November.
This week, casting crew spent time at the Prince of Wales Opera House taking registrations for background extras.
More than 200 registrations were taken on Tuesday night’s casting and a constant stream of potential extras arrived through the Opera House doors on Wednesday morning.
A cros- section of the community was involved in the casting as school children, parents, farm hands, media and emergency services personnel were all seen registering.
Among the hundreds of casting candidates were Gulgong’s Tanya, Hope, Rebecca and Jamie Seis.
“We were walking in and around town for exercise and thought we would come and see what this was all about,” Rebecca said.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it, right?”
Both Rebecca and Tanya registered their children Jamie and Hope respectively. Both children were cast in their prams.
Gulgong screenwriter Michaeley O’Brien has co-written the telemovie with friend Sarah Smith.
Ms O’Brien was in the Opera House on Wednesday to witness castings.
“The idea for the screenplay was our own. We love police and complex crime dramas,” Ms O’Brien said.
She has worked with Smith on several Australian crime shows including Rescue Special Ops and Blue Heelers but the pair wanted to undertake writing a “big telemovie”.
Earlier this week The Killing Field cast began their first read-through of the script.
“It is amazing to be there at the first read-through and have your 90-minute story being told by a great cast,” Ms O’Brien said.
Packed to the Rafters star Rebecca Gibney will head the cast as leader of a police task force sent to a country town to investigate a shocking crime. She is also co-producing the film.
Ms O’Brien said potentially about one quarter of the film will be shot in Gulgong.
“It is very rare to see the big Australian networks take a cast and crew on the road to regional NSW so we are very lucky to have them coming to Gulgong,” she said.
She said the community’s response to the extras casting call was “incredible” and businesses in town had been “very supportive”.
Filming for the fictional telemovie will take place at Gulgong during November.