Movie producers look for extras as shooting gets underway on Providence's East Side

PROVIDENCE — As filming for the James Brooks movie "Ella McCay" got underway in an East Side neighborhood Monday, one of the producers said the movie company is still looking for extras to be in the movie about an idealistic lieutenant governor looking to advance to the governor's office.

Executive producer Seth William Meier said that Angela Peri of Boston Casting is handling the search for extras for the movie.

Meier spoke on Lorraine Avenue outside a house in which Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson were filming scenes for the movie.

More: Is Hollywood descending on quiet neighborhood off Providence's Blackstone Boulevard?

"It's been amazing," Meier said of the reception cast and crew have received in Rhode Island, noting that, although the film is being shot here, it's not set in Rhode Island, or in any specific state, for that matter. "We're trying to find just a little piece of Americana, something that says something about the whole United States."

Meier said producers settled on Rhode Island because of the efforts of the administration of Gov. Dan McKee. "It was one of the few states that really helped us," he said.

And, he noted, while cast and crew won't mingle while they're shooting, people might run into them having fun on their time off, particularly in downtown Providence, as well as other locations, such as Lang's Bowlarama, where Harrelson was spotted this weekend.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Hollywood sets up shop on Providence's East Side