Wanted - short people for a new Australian film about hobbits.
According to Indian casting director Sameer Bhardwaj, an Australian company is interested in making a film about hobbits, the mythical creatures who play a central role in JRR Tolkien's book The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
An advertisement posted on Internet websites, looking for people of short stature, has created a buzz among the Indian film community.
"Hi! We are seeking short people for a documentary shoot (low budget)," says the advertisement on websites including Yahoo's moviezone forum.
"They need to be 3.8 feet (1.1m) to 4.4 feet (1.4m) high. Any gender/any ethnic (group)/any country. They should have (a)
proportionate body, a valid passport and (be) ready to travel for four months."
Bombay-based Bhardwaj told AFP: "We've already found 10 people in Bombay and four in Madras but sometimes people have a tough time believing that we're above board, so we have to practically pick them off the street."
He said he had recently recruited a vegetable vendor he had found in a marketplace for an audition.
"We have received pictures from across the world, notably from Ghana and Macedonia," he said.
Bhardwaj, who also helped cast for New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, says he is now something of an expert on the topic of short people.
"There's an entire village in Macedonia where no one is over 120 centimetre tall. And Nepal has the world's largest number of short people," he said.
Shooting of the mystery film begins in August at locations in Australia and parts of Asia, said Bhardwaj.
Actors will be paid $US120 ($A174) a week. Cost of travel, accommodation and food will be met by the company.
Although the short people will only have bit parts, all actors will be expected to be available for four months, Bhardwaj said.
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