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::FILM NEWS::
LE Newsletter - February 2, 2012
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Opportunity: Amelie Director Seeks ‘Magical Kid’ In Toronto
To Play T.S. Spivet
Source:
www.thestar.com - By Linda Barnard
(Feb 01, 2012) Award-winning French filmmaker
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
is looking in Toronto for the same kind of “magical” quality he
found with his Amélie star Audrey Tautou to lead the cast
of his new 3-D adventure movie.
Jeunet is searching for a boy age 10 or 11 to play child
prodigy-adventurer-scientist T.S. Spivet in the Canadian
co-production based on Reif Larsen’s best-selling 2009 novel,
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.
“I don’t care if he is an actor or not, a kid, if he has the
talent, they are all actors. They do it by instinct,” explained
Jeunet from his Paris office.
“This is the best way to see a special kid, the magical kid,” he
said, adding he prefers to cast a Canadian for the movie because
he’ll be shooting on location in Alberta and in a Montreal
studio. To that end, he placed a quarter-page ad in the
Toronto Star Jan. 28 and 29 hoping to find his future lead.
Getting that same special spark he experienced when saw elfin
brunette beauty Tautou, then an unknown, audition for Amélie
Poulain in 2001’s Amélie, is more important than what’s
on a résumé.
“When I saw Audrey the first time, I fell in love in 10
seconds,” Jeunet said.
Unable to find his T.S. Spivet through casting agents, his
production company placed large newspaper ads in Vancouver and
Toronto after smaller classified notices failed to net much
response.
“I saw a few good kids but not T.S.,” Jeunet explained, adding
it’s not unusual to go this route when casting young actors. He
did the same thing for his 1995 film, The City of Lost
Children.
“I don’t want someone cute; he has to have something special.
It’s very difficult to say but when you see the kid, you have to
have goose bumps. You have to fall in love with him.”
T.S. is a 12-year-old cartographer (the book is filled with his
drawings) and scientific genius who lives on a Montana ranch
with his parents. Out of the blue, he gets a call from the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. telling him he’s won
an award for his perpetual motion machine. He decides to hop a
freight train on his own to pick up his prize, starting an
adventure trek across America.
Jeunet was in Alberta in October scouting locations to double
for Montana and hopes to start shooting in July. The movie, an
independent production to be shot entirely in 3-D, is expected
in theatres in 2013.
While Jeunet is coy about the rest of the cast, he did say a
“big English actress, a woman I love” will co-star.
In addition to T.S., Jeunet is looking to cast the supporting
role of Layton (7 to 9 years old).
He’ll look at audition videos of those who make the first cut
and perhaps come to Toronto for further auditions.
Jeunet said computer technology has changed “everything” when it
comes to casting. He was about to start a Skype conversation
with a young actor in Los Angeles who hopes to be T.S. as soon
as he finished talking to the Star.
To submit a child’s name for the project, send a photo and
résumé, along with the child’s height, weight and age
information to the casting agent for Canada, Lucie Robitaille,
at
spivetto@gmail.com. |
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::ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADAN TWIST::
