Surreal Sites at EIFF today...

In a busy film day your mind can start to wander as your brain is still stuck in the plots from half the movies so you can start to wonder if you're going a little crazy...

This morning saw a 9am start with the excellent Weirdsville (a bizarrely successful and funny Canadian hybrid of Ferris Beullers Day Off, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Spun) which was so full of the lead characters drug-fuelled dreams and hallucinations that at first the green carpet being laid at the entrance to the Cameo had me wondering if I'd left the Cameo yet. I had and the weird astroturf jigsaw puzzle was, apparently, part of a promotional stunt for Cobra beer and their film sponsership.

Deciding a croissant would clear the mind and wake me up a little I trotted to the nearest Tesco only to see the queue entirely consisting of Film Festival delegates except for the one lad in front of me with an Outlaw tattoo. Nothing too odd there until I noticed his shopping consisted only of 6 red onions and 21 packets of lard. Yes 21 packets. And, no, I didn't like to ask...

Rolling on to pick up a coffee (before my screening of George Cukor's fabulous The Women) I now saw another odd sight, albeit expected: the MySpace audition tent is in town for one day only. Here's what they say they are up to:

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THINK YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A MOVIE STAR?


MySpace, Vertigo Films and Film4 offer budding actors in Edinburgh the chance to act in the world’s first user-generated feature film

Wednesday, 22nd August. Edinburgh, UK – MySpace, the UK’s biggest social network, is coming to Edinburgh to begin its nationwide talent search for stars for its first movie, ‘Faintheart’.

As the next stage in the £1million MyMovie MashUp project – the world’s first fully user-generated feature film, being made in partnership with Film4 and Vertigo Films – MySpace is hoping to uncover new acting talent in the way new artists and musicians have been discovered on the site.

Aspiring actors can audition for eight different roles in ‘Faintheart’ by visiting the official casting bus at Festival Square on from 22nd August.

Alternatively, entries can be submitted via MySpace at www.myspace.com/mymoviemashup. All people have to do is upload a video of themselves acting out one of the available roles in the film, from big kid and movie lead Richard to comic fanatic Daredevil. Each part is outlined on the film’s MySpace profile.

The film’s casting director, Gary Davy, comments: “MySpace has provided an entirely new method of casting that will give professional and amateur actors an unprecedented level of access to the industry. We’ll be watching the MashUp profile with great interest as we are all excited at the possibility of discovering new talent”.

Video auditions must be uploaded to the site by September 10th and the best entries for leading or speaking roles, will be shortlisted and called back for an in-person casting session from September 17th-21st. Those selected for the roles will be announced at the end of September. The film will begin principal photography in early October and the film is currently scheduled for release in October 2008.

Over the next few weeks, the casting bus will continue its tour to nine other major cities in the UK, offering people the opportunity to come on board and audition via video cameras and laptops on the bus.

The lucky winners will begin work with director Vito Rocco (himself selected by the MySpace community) and writer David Lemon on Faintheart, a hilarious romantic comedy about the lives of a group of people who re-enact Viking battles as a hobby.

The casting of MyMovie MashUp is the last stage of the project before Faintheart begins shooting. So far, users have already been instrumental in selecting the film’s director and are currently able to contribute dialogue to the script again via the film’s MySpace profile.

The MySpace Film Channel (film.myspace.com) offers users forums, information, networking tools and access to a whole community of like-minded film enthusiasts and professionals.

Jamie Kantrowitz, SVP Marketing and Content, MySpace Europe, said: “The MySpace community is expressive, creative and often keen to be discovered. With online casting we’re confident we will uncover major new talent for MySpace’s first feature film.”

Peter Carlton, Senior Commissioning Executive for Film4, said: "By its very existence, the MySpace community allows the producers and director to preview a much larger amount of potential candidates for the roles that we are attempting to cast. As a result, this there is a great opportunity to discover new talent. The community has already been integral in helping to find our director (Vito Rocco), and Film4 believes that MySpace could definitely be a new professional resource for recruitment in film.”

James Richardson Producer Vertigo Films, said: “Using the community to cast MashUp offers users accessibility to what is normally a notoriously difficult industry to penetrate. After successfully using the mechanic of mass participation in music and theatre with “X-Factor” and “Any Dream Will Do,” the film business can now join other performing arts industries in creating product in conjunction with its audience.”
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Thank goodness for the relative sanity of the Anita Loos retrospective (although the Jean Harlow stand-in with the big hat in the last 20 minutes (shot after Harlow's death) of yesterday's Saratoga, was a little weird). On the way in I did see Mark Cousins in one of his favourite pairs of outrageous sunglasses (huge white frames mark them out as extreme designed wear or very very market stall cheap but chic either way) and bekilted which is a tad odd but nothing compared to the lard.

Here's hoping for the next 4 films of my day being as good as the first one albeit with hopefully less surreal excitement!