War Machine casting call: my battle for a chance to meet Brad Pitt

The chance to meet Brad Pitt was too good an opportunity to miss — and so Jessica Hill found herself at a casting session at twofour54 this week for War Machine, the satirical action drama that will be filmed in Abu Dhabi this month and next.

Brad Pitt is due to arrive in Abu Dhabi this month for filming on War Machine. Chris Jackson / Getty Images for Sony
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The chance to meet Brad Pitt was too good an opportunity to miss — and so I found myself at a casting session at twofour54 this week for War Machine, the satirical action drama that will be filmed in Abu Dhabi this month and next.

The capital will stand in for the Afghan desert in the film, which is based on the book The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America's War In Afghanistan, by the late Michael Hastings.

Pitt is due to arrive in Abu Dhabi in the last week of this month to begin filming. His wife, Angelina Jolie, and their children are expected to join him here for at least part of his stay.

The National broke news about the War Machine filming schedule in August, when Soldier In Blue, a US casting agency formerly working with the film's producers put out a call for ex-servicemen and women on its Facebook page and website.

Dubai casting company Miranda Davidson Studios has since taken over the casting of extras, and conducted three days of auditions at twofour54 this week, at which staff admitted they had been looking for extras within UAE-based military units.

When my friend and I arrived at twofour54, we were surprised that there was no long queue.

"We had 2,000 people in three days who came for the casting of Star Trek, they stood in line for four hours," one of the agents explained. "There are so many people who would love to be a part of these films."

But attendance at the Abu Dhabi sessions was minimal, possibly because the announcement was only made on the studio’s official website.

The agents also revealed what we could look forward to if chosen.

“It’s a film set, there are probably going to be 10 cameras, there will be about 100 people around, and the crew,” we were told. “There’s a lot of stuff that you’re going to have to go through. Its going to be a 12-hour working day.”

After filling in a form in which we were asked about our acting and military experience, we were asked to dress in a khaki shirt and trousers, utility jacket and heavy boots, and had our photos taken (front and side).

The fact I hadn’t had time to put on make-up or wash my hair that morning probably helped me with the rugged look they were going for.

Standing around in the costume was hot work, even though we were indoors with the air conditioning on. While I wouldn’t mind putting up with the heat to rub shoulders with the likes of Pitt and his co-stars Will Poulter and Topher Grace, wearing the uniform for 12 hours a day in the desert must get a little sweaty.

“It’s pretty hot out there in the desert right now, it only cools down at night,” said one of agents. “We’re filming right now in Dubai in uniforms and they have to be out in the sun the whole day. There are people with umbrellas there. It’s not as glamorous as people think it is.”

After we were painstakingly measured from top to bottom for size, we were told that chosen applicants would be sent to a boot camp lasting for two to three hours.

The agents also revealed that male extras were still needed.

“We’re going to need a lot of people — we’re going more towards the kinds of ethnicities that would be in the American, Italian or Macedonian military,” they said. “We can do Eastern Europeans, we can also do British and Irish.”

artslife@thenational.ae