Auditions for "The Burning Plain"

Auditions
What: Open call for supporting roles in “The Burning Plain”
Needed: Hispanic men, ages 18 to 22; Hispanic girls, ages 11-13 (must speak fluent Spanish and English); white girls and boys, ages 8 to 15
When: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: 304 Washington St. S.E,, Nob Hill Center in Albuquerque, between Zuni Road and Central Avenue.
Note: All participants must be available to read on Saturday afternoon and must be available to shoot in the Las Cruces area Nov. 4 through Dec. 18.

Las Cruces casting calls
Open casting calls for both adult and children will be scheduled in Las Cruces soon, probably in late September. Casting directors will announce dates and places when arrangements are finalized.

Closer look
• About “The Burning Plain”
• Plot: “The Burning Plain” explores the mysterious connection between several characters separated by time and space: Mariana, a 16-year-old girl trying to put together the shattered lives of her parents in a Mexican border town; Sylvia, a woman in Portland who must undertake an emotional odyssey to make up for a sin from her past; Gina and Nick, a couple who must deal with an intense and clandestine love; and Maria, a young girl who helps her parents find redemption, forgiveness and love.
• Director: Guillermo Arriaga
• Star: Academy Award winner Charlize Theron
• Producers: Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald
• Executive producers: Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban, Charlize Theron, Alisa Tager, Ray Angelic and Marc Butan
Source: Producers of “The Burning Plain.”

By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — The first New Mexico casting call will be held Saturday in Albuquerque for “The Burning Plain,” a new feature film written and directed by “Babel” screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and starring Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron.
But Las Cruces hopefuls won’t have to travel north.
“We plan to have a bigger casting call in Las Cruces since it’s our principal location. It will probably be the weekend of Sept. 28 and 29, and we’ll be announcing times and places soon. We’ll be casting at least a dozen other roles and will be concentrating more on Spanish speakers in the Southern part of the state. Tell people they can wait until we come down there,” Kathyn Brink, the production’s New Mexico casting director, said Wednesday.
Brink said casting will also take place in Los Angeles for the film, which will be shot in and around Las Cruces from Nov. 5 through Dec. 21.
The production’s first New Mexico open audition call will be from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at 304 Washington St. S.E. in Nob Hill Center in Albuquerque for the following:
• Hispanic men, ages 18 to 22
• Hispanic girls, ages 11 to 13, who must speak fluent Spanish and English
• White boys and girls, ages 8 to 15
Participants must be available to read on Saturday afternoon and must be available to shoot in the Las Cruces area Nov. 4 through Dec. 18.
About 75 New Mexico crew members and 800 local principal actors and background talent will be hired for the film, according to the New Mexico Film Office.
Producers plan to spend about $7 million in Las Cruces, the primary location for the film, said Jonathan Benson, director of the Creative Media Institute (CMI) at New Mexico State University.
Mark Medoff, artistic director of CMI, said the institute is looking forward to working with the film’s production company.

S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com