UWG
News Item
Contact: University Communications & Marketing
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
"Cheer the Brave" auditions
April 30, 2004
CARROLLTON,
GA - CHEER THE BRAVE producer and veteran casting agent Shay Bentley-Griffin
announced today that the first round of auditions for the film will be
held on Thursday, May 20, at the University of West Georgia Food
Services Building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Local talent who have previously submitted headshots and resumes will be contacted prior to the scheduled date for audition times and with additional information.
Specific roles that will be auditioned include males and females between the ages of 18 and 22 to play college cheerleaders (cheerleading experience is preferred but not required) and other college students, females age 30-50 to play a secretary, males age 35-50 to play a truck driver, and males age 30 and up to play Army sergeants.
Carrollton Film Partners will produce the feature film documenting the “tragedy to triumph” journey of the University of West Georgia cheerleading squad that battled back from a 1997 van accident that killed two cheerleaders and the coach to win the national championship for the past three years. The film has the working title CHEER THE BRAVE.
Griffin stated that this is the first in a number of local auditions that will be held in west Georgia. “We want to cast many of the supporting roles with people from right here in the community,” she noted. “So, in addition to auditions being held in Atlanta and Los Angeles, we will continue to look in Carroll County.”
Under the banner of The Chez Agency, Griffin began as a talent agent, launching the careers of many recognized actors from the southeast onto national screens in soaps, television series and feature films. She went on to become the region’s preeminent casting director, persistently encouraging producers to consider filming in the southeast region and to use regional talent for supporting roles.
“We are pleased to have such a prominent casting director as Shay involved with this project,” stated Richard Mix, CHEER THE BRAVE executive producer. “I am especially pleased that Shay is also from West Georgia.”
In her long and distinguished career, Griffin has cast over 200 television and feature film projects, including eight seasons of In the Heat of the Night and the Peabody Award-winning I'll Fly Away. She has worked with such directors as Robert Altman (The Gingerbread Man), Clint Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), Robert Redford (The Legend of Bagger Vance), Sam Raimi (The Gift), Wes Craven (Scream 2), Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Edward Zwick (Glory).
Bentley-Griffin also cast the feature films Remember the Titans (Bruckheimer Films/ Disney) Road Trip (Dreamworks SKG), as well as HBO’s Boycott and the television series Semper Fi (Dreamworks). Her most recent projects include the television pilot In my Life (Turner Television) as well as the made for television movie Miss Lettie and Me (Viacom). Her most recent feature films include Sweet Home Alabama (Disney), Drum Line (20th Century Fox), The Fighting Temptations (Paramount), Unchain my Heart (Crusader Entertainment) and Radio (Revolution Studios).
She was also the first regional casting director working outside of New York or Los Angeles ever to receive an Emmy nomination for her work on the HBO Original Miss Evers' Boys and received another Emmy nomination in 1999 for her work on the HBO original A Lesson Before Dying.
Those interested in auditioning for the aforementioned roles or others should submit their headshots and resumes (3 x 6 photo and bio) to: CHEER THE BRAVE, P.O. Box 425, Carrollton, GA 30112. Emails can also be sent to: casting@cheerthebrave.com but hardcopy headshots and resumes are encouraged.
There is still plenty of time to be involved and Mix encourages all interested parties to contact him. “This is a community project and we will do our best to involve the community,” he said.
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