A movie from renowned director Paul Thomas Anderson is set to begin filming in Humboldt around mid-January. It will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, and Sean Penn. Variety magazine reported “insiders” claiming the budget for the film could reach up to $100 million.
Casting Directors Kelly Hunt and Tracy Dixon are currently seeking paid extras of all backgrounds across Humboldt County. In addition, the Humboldt Film Commission is looking for a white pickup truck of any model and either a green Suzuki Geo Tracker or Suzuki Samurai.
The project has been publicly referred to as “BC” since production began, with few other details currently available surrounding the content of the movie.
Redwood News reported of a Warner Bros bus spotted in Arcata next to Dominos last week. Other sightings have been reported “on the 101” and “in various places around Eureka” according to multiple Arcata High students who responded to an anonymous Pepperbox poll.
Casting calls began early December for adults and minors aged 12 and older. Residents are instructed to email [email protected] with their two best photos, height, weight, clothing sizes, city and state, and phone number, adding either “Eureka Local” or “Eureka Minor” in the subject line.
Hayden Ewing is a senior at Eureka High School. His theater teacher, Nanette Voss, was emailed early on by one of the casting directors who sought auditions for both main cast roles and extras.
“I’m an extra, which means all I’m gonna be doing is very briefly [appearing] in a dance scene with all the other extras,” Ewing said. “We are in, like, a high school dance setting and our costumes are pretty much guidelines of 50s to 80s. Then, we were also told to wear white.”
He speculated that the movie could be “in the 90s” because of the costumes and callouts they’ve made requesting specific cars. He was not sure whether the whole movie is in a high school setting or if it’s just one scene.
It’s also not the first time a big movie has been filmed in our area.
“Return of the Jedi,” the final movie in the Star Wars originals, was partially filmed in Humboldt back in 1982. Since, “A Wrinkle in Time” was shot at Sequoia Park and Sue-meg back in 2016. “The Sky is Everywhere,” an Apple original, was also filmed here in October, 2020 at Arcata High School.
