Hundreds of hairy men try out for new movie

Hundreds of Wellingtonians lined up today for the opportunity to be part of New Zealand's latest big budget blockbuster.

Kingdom Come, a movie about Jesus Christ, will begin production next year. But if you want to be an extra, you will have to abide by the eleventh commandment thou shalt not shave. Dark hair, tans and hairy faces, no they are not describing the Warriors, it is the casting call for extras in the movie Kingdom Come which goes into production next year.

The movie will be directed by New Zealander Dean Wright who was the visual effects supervisor on the Chronicles of Narnia, he also worked on visual effects on two of the Lord of the Rings films. Today hundreds lined up in Wellington hoping to make the cut.

Producers want extras who could pass as Middle Eastern, Moroccan, north African and Mediterranean, and the men need to have full beards.

The movie producers here also know what they want their women to look like. “Not beards obviously, they will need to have darker coloured skin and dark eyes we'll see a lot of their eyes because their heads are covered generally,” says extras casting coordinator Victoria Beynon.

The movie will be filmed Wellington, central Otago, Oamaru, Motueka and Hawke’s Bay. And if you didn't make it along today there will be other casting calls, next it will be the South Island's turn.

“We'll be looking for extras constantly for the next four or five months I’d say,” says Beynon. Hundreds of extras will be employed to work on the film, which goes into production next year.

And if you're one of the men who makes the cut, throw away your razor producers say the hairier the better.