Rik van Dyke wants to bring Red Deer’s Uptown Theatre back to life — at least for a day.
The filmmaker is seeking 20 to 30 volunteer extras, age 13 and up, to provide background bustle for his short movie, Restricted Adult.
The low-budget film will be shot in front of the shut-down theatre in downtown Red Deer, as well as inside its lobby and screening room on Saturday.
His five-to-eight-minute flick will take place in 1986 and is about two people — one of them underaged — who are trying to sneak into the restricted David Cronenberg movie, The Fly.
It’s based on a true story, admitted van Dyke. “It’s about what happened to me and a friend of mine.”
The time period allows extras, who will pose as theatre patrons, to dress in ’80s garb if they wish.
But the director is mostly concerned about people showing up in attire that’s too current.
“We don’t want anything contemporary, like Jonas Brothers T-shirts or anything.
“But if people want to treat it as an ’80s party and go all out, then that would be awesome.”
This film is his third project and will be shot on a $500 budget, with a borrowed professional high-definition camera.
The local print shop worker said he intends to enter Restricted Adult in the Ming Short Film Festival in Calgary next spring.
He previously made the 2007 movie Crash Corben, Last of the Rocket Men, which can be seen on YouTube, and collaborated with a friend on a 1994 film, called Past Tense, which was televised on Shaw Cable.
The goal is to wrack up enough experience so van Dyke can apply for a government grant to make a feature-length romantic comedy he’s had in mind for a while.
“I need to create a portfolio full of work that will justify (the grant) and give me credibility,” he said.
Volunteer extras need to meet at noon at the Uptown Theatre near 49th Street and 50th Avenue on Saturday.
The director said he received permission to use the space from theatre owner Landmark Cinemas, which closed the Uptown after the Galaxy Theatre was built on Gasoline Alley.
Extras will be needed for three to four hours of filming, said van Dyke, who is asking anyone interested to call him at 403-307-2779 or e-mail him at vandykeh@shaw.ca
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com