An open casting call for extras, ages 18 and older, needed for Season 4 of the Netflix hit political drama series "House of Cards" will be held in Bel Air the afternoon of Friday, May 15, and the casting agency and town officials are expecting a big turnout.
"We're excited to be doing this," Bill Marinella, a partner in Marinella Hume Casting, said in a phone interview Thursday.
He said he has worked with the co-producers of "House of Cards" many times and hopes to have other calls in the region, possibility at one of the universities like Towson University, or even at a shopping mall.
As with previous casting calls for the show's earlier seasons in 2012 and 2013, interviews will be held at the Bel Air Reckord Armory at 37 N. Main St., starting at 3 p.m.
"House of Cards" has called Harford County home since its first season. The show's production company has a studio in the Edgewood area, and many Harford places have been used for on-location shooting, including in Havre de Grace, Bel Air, Edgewood and Aberdeen.
Casting calls in previous years have brought thousands of people to Bel Air hoping to land bit parts in the show, which stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, now as America's First Couple as the storyline has progressed from season to season.
"Please dress in you best upscale attire and come 'camera ready,'" an announcement Marinella Hume Casting posted on the Internet states. "Men use hair product; women please have your hairstyle and makeup applied as we will be taking your photos for you."
The announcement also advises interested people to "think black tie affair, government official types, men in black, cocktail party dresses, business casual, art gallery types, working class. Come any time between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., we won't turn anyone away."
Marinella said the casting call in Bel Air will help him build the agency's database for this and other shows it works with, and he would like to get some everyday people into the mix, like real firefighters, police officers or waiters, who might find their way to the screen some day.
"I'll have staff with me; I like to try to personally meet everyone and explain everything to them," he said. "I know this is something a lot of people can't do for five days a week, but maybe for one day it's a great experience for your bucket list – you know it's not the $10 an hour pay."
Marinella said he's dealt with lines of 3,000 people or more and stressed he will stay until the last person has been interviewed.
"We take our photos with professional lighting and we'll have multiple photo stations which should move things along," Marinella said.
To expedite the process, he urges anyone considering coming to Bel Air for the casting call to create a personal profile in the agency's database at http://www.marinellahumecasting.com.
As with past years, there will be a special line for current Screen Actors Guild members. Anyone who is booked will need to present two forms of valid, legal identification, such as a driver's license, birth certificate, passport or social security card.
What's different this year is the call will be on a Friday, while the previous calls were on Saturdays.
"The armory wasn't available for a Saturday date; there were already signed contracts for other events," Trish Heidenreich, economic development director for the Town of Bel Air, said Thursday. "We offered some other Saturdays, but the casting people said they really needed to get started now."
Last June, an estimated 1,500 people stood in line four hours waiting to be interviewed for small parts on the show. At its longest, the line snaked from the front of the armory down to the corner of Main and Lee streets and then along Lee Street to Hickory Avenue.
Because it was a Saturday morning, there were very few logistical problems. Many of the visitors parked their vehicles at the nearby parking lot of Bel Air Elementary School, others along Hickory Avenue near Bel Air Town Hall.
They won't be able to park at the Elementary School on May 15, because classes don't dismiss for the day until 4 p.m., and Lee Street traffic will be heavy with school buses and school personnel leaving. In addition, last year's line formed in front of a handful of businesses that aren't open on Saturday.
Heidenreich said there will be a plan to direct the visitors to the town parking garage at Pennsylvania and Hickory avenues. She said she is working with Town Administrator Jesse Bane to prepare for the expected crush of people.
She said they have discussed having a police officer assigned to help with crowd control and to direct people to available parking, as well as having extra water available at the armory in case it's a hot day, as was the case last year.
"This has been a good draw for the town, and we're really hoping it's successful," she said. "We will be prepared; last year we didn't realize the magnitude."
Heidenreich said she isn't worried about the town being overwhelmed and said having so many visitors at one time "should be good for the merchants."
"It would be kinda sad if we don't get a big turnout," she said.