BY BELINDA BREMNER
It’s a fresh, new year, and yet there are still no surprises and little stirring in the local film industry. Surviving Christmas will be shooting at the end of the month. Bad Meat has come and gone. There is some scouting for the months ahead and Barbershop II looks good to go, but nothing has been green-lighted as of yet. Also, there is small talk on some possible television pilots shooting in the summer, but the only small screen action that is guaranteed is a house call from "ER." Films representing our fair city at Sundance this year are Normal and the documentaries Stevie and Weather Underground.
Of course, Jane Alderman Casting will be doing the local casting for "ER." She also cast the aforementioned Normal and just before the holidays she cast JoBe Cerny in the Legally Blonde sequel Red, White and Blonde which shot in Springfield.
The team over at Claire Simon Casting is starting off the year in high gear. They are casting for the features Ugly Americans, Anger Management, Cheaper by The Dozen, A Home at the End of the World (which Tom Hulce will produce), Belzer’s Science (which will shoot in Indiana) and Superman. They’re also working on a new reality show "Married By America." In the commercial department, they booked Tiffany Livaris, Jamie Newell, Kevin Head and Bridget Duffy for Rainbow Rentals, and Kelsey Collins, John Conrad, the redoubtable Aaron Christianson and Nikkeli Demone for Fifth Third Bank. Theatre casting includes Indian Ink for Missouri Rep, The Game of Love and Chance for Madison Rep and Wintertime at The Guthrie (for which they cast Josette DeCarlo). Add HGTV’s "New Spaces" to the small screen casting.
Tenner Paskal & Rudnicke Casting has been working on commercials for Propel, Advocate Hospital, Sears, Bud Light, St Joseph’s Hospital, ESPN, Kelloggs Frosted Flakes, GMAC Real Estate, and Colgate Simply White. They also cast for the reality show, "Around the World in 80 Dates" and will be working on the new NBC pilot season, which includes "The Monkees" and "Mr. Ambassador."
Speaking of pilots, don’t forget to check out the new mid season replacement programs, even if they’re hybrids of old shows or remakes of even older shows. You need to know all the references.
Lily’s commercial bookings include Juanita Wilson, Sheridyn Somers, Dave Roberts, Heidi Drennan, Spencer Michelson, Anne Gallagher, Tara Jordan, Audrey Allen, Glenn Fahstrom, Sean Ross Johnson, Melissa Riemer, Lucy Bianchi, Peter Nicholas and Liz Wharton. Industrials went to David Johnson, Carlos Bendfeldt, Katie Nahnsen, Lupe Rodriguez, Issac Mendoza, Les Fuller, Mark Forrest, Donna Williams, Bamali Das, Cooper Denault, Rachel Dunn, Kate McDermott, Nicholas Martinez, Rie Sato, Richard Sullivan, Maria Akl, Audrey Allen, Elizabeth Arceneaux, Cardi Fleck, Betsy Blake, Austin Escobedo, Erik Westegaard, Houston Hunter, Eliza Shin, Abby Straus, Barbar Sultan, Patrick O’Brien, and Corey Blount. Voice-overs went to Teresa Cesariot, Corey Gutwilling, Cheryl Hamada, Talon Beeson, Andrea Giles, Lindsay Foreman, Jose Solis, Anne Gallagher, and Jim Goss.
Congratulations and best wishes to the lovely Janelle Snow and husband Thomas Jones, who recently returned from their Hawaiian wedding idyll.
And it’s babies, babies and more babies! Congratulations to our own publisher extraordinaire Carrie Kaufman and her partner Connie Dix on the birth of twin daughters Delaney and Dixon. What lucky, lucky little girls! And more congrats to Susan Messing and Joe Canale on the birth of Sofia Mia on Jan. 20 and Joe and Tracy Kaplan on the birth of Lily Caitlin on Jan. 21. The female population just shot up.
Peace!