Courier-Journal 9-10-09 “Crowd heeds call to the cast”
Whatever motivation was driving them, more than 2,000 people lined up outside Churchill Downs Thursday afternoon, many waiting for up to two hours, all for the chance of being cast as an extra in the new Walt Disney Pictures’ movie “Secretariat.”
Tona Dahlquist, the extras casting director for the film, said everyone who wants to be in the movie can be.
“For us, it’s the more the merrier,” she said.
About 2,000 people from Louisville and another open casting in Lexington, Ky., will be cast as extras in smaller scenes, playing small roles from jockeys to security guards. The rest of the extras will be used in larger crowd scenes. People could hear from the film company as soon as next week about being placed in the film.
I overlooked this before, but the BloodHorse’s Steve Haskin did an article on the impending movie back in June:
The main question is how they are going to film Secretariat’s races. I guess it’s not too hard to stage a race where the winner wins by 31 lengths. And wait until you see the riders strangling their horses as Secretariat blows by them on the first turn of the Preakness.
Will they gloss over the losses to Onion and Prove Out? Will they be able to find a skinny, lop-eared horse to play the lovable Riva Ridge? Will they dramatize the now infamous mouth abscess before the Wood Memorial that no one knew about at the time?
Will we see Diane Lane get heated after the Wood Memorial loss to stablemate Angle Light? Maybe they need a turf writer (ahem) to ask her before the Kentucky Derby: “So, Penny, do have any concerns about a Bold Ruler getting a mile and a quarter?” I don’t mind looking like an idiot. I’ve asked dumber questions than that.
Jack was a lawyer and partner with the Denver firm of Tweedy and Mosley.
