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Spielberg seeking English-speaking boy in Italy (Venice)

Hello all,

I am an American casting director, living in Alto Adige for about ten years.
(casting office website: Protected content

I got a request from a fellow casting director to pass this information out to the English-speaking community throughout Italy.

They are searching for the lead boy (age 6 to 8) for Steven Spielberg's new film. The character is ITALIAN/JEWISH, and the boy must speak ENGLISH as a NATIVE SPEAKER. No acting experience required.

Please see all the details below.

If you want to submit a tape, please contact me at Protected content and I will forward it to the casting director.

TITLE: The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
PRODUCTION: DreamWorks SKG
CASTING DIRECTOR (Italy): Beatrice Kruger
ROLE: Edgardo Mortara
SHOOTING LOCATION: Italy

PLEASE PASS ALONG TO NEIGHBORS, FAMILY FRIENDS -- ANYONE WHO MAY HAVE APPROPRIATE AGED, OUTGOING CHILDREN.

Steven Spielberg is making a film about the true story of Edgard Mortara - a 6 year old Jewish boy from Bologna who was reported to have been secretly baptised by a maid, and was deemed by the Catholic Church therefore to be Christian. Pope Pius IX (to be played by Mark Rylance) decreed that the boy could not remain with his Jewish family. He was seized by the Papal State and taken to the Vatican where his indoctrination into catholicism began. This was a cause celebre of mid-nineteenth century European politics and the domestic and international outrage against the pontifical state's actions may have contributed to its downfall amid the unification of Italy.

We are urgently looking for EDGARDO: male, Protected content old. This is a unique and very challenging part for a truly special boy. The story deals with the complexity of an extremely intelligent and gifted child's desire to return to his family and his faith against his ability to learn the catechism and engage with the Pope on a level far beyond his years. He should appear to be a Jewish Italian boy.

Please submit any boy who fits the description with a video as soon as possible:

For filming this video, please begin with a few seconds of a total body shot while the boy walks from one end of the room to the other, comes to a stop and turns 360° on himself; then ask the boy to slowly come towards you while you focus on the boy until you have him in a close up.

At this point ask the boy to talk to you, in English, about something he sincerely loves, that he’s very interested in, fascinated by or that he is incredibly curious about. The more he describes in detail, the better!

All in all this video should not be longer than 1.5 or 2 minutes.

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