Casting call for newborn babies and extras in Murcia for €18m period piece film

Infants in Murcia will get their chance to kickstart their acting careers: the Region of Murcia Film Commission has begun a casting call for newborn babies for a new film that will be shot on location in the region from July 13 to 17, in the coastal city of Cartagena. The agency that has distributed the casting call, Modfie Agency, has also opened a search for men and women of any age range to be participants as extras in the filming of the movie.

Newborn casting call and extra requirements for local filming

The film in question is called The People of the Book, and it is a period piece, so classic hairstyles or beards will be especially valued for men. For women, highlights, bright dyes, and modern haircuts will not be accepted, and nor will painted nails, gel nails, or acrylic nails.

High-budget period drama secures regional funding and star power

The film, produced by Good Films Studios Spain, will be filmed in Cartagena and in various locations across the Alicante province. With a budget of €18 million and produced by Miriam Segal, a British professional who founded Good Films Collective in the UK in 2007, it has received funding from both the Community of Valencia and the Region of Murcia.

The People of the Book, based on a critically acclaimed and bestselling novel, centres around a family and their journey while fleeing from Iraq to Bosnia after the ISIS conflict, while safeguarding the Sarajevo Haggadah, an invaluable 600-year-old Jewish illustrated manuscript.

The story is unique in that it follows two parallel timelines; another central part of the film takes place in 1996, when Dr Hanna Heath, an Australian conservator of rare books, is hired to analyse and restore the manuscript in question. Each new detail discovered about the book by the conservator will reveal another facet of the story.

Murcia, the region in the sights for many film producers and streaming services

This film represents just one of the many projects taking place in the Region of Murcia, including another based on the story of infamous American criminal D.B. Cooper, for which famed Spanish actress Penélope Cruz is being eyed for the lead role.

The Region of Murcia is increasingly the destination of choice for many filmmakers, and large-scale streaming services like Netflix or Movistar Plus+ have also chosen it as a setting for their series and miniseries. Another Netflix miniseries, this time filmed on the idyllic coastline of Mazarron, is also due to be released, and is expected to be a major critical success.