Queues formed through out the day at the Open Casting Day for the film ‘Brooklyn’ in the Riverside Park Hotel. Pic: John Walsh

CLOSE TO 3,000 people turned out to the Riverside Park Hotel on Friday as excited film-fans applied as extras for Brooklyn, which will be shot in Enniscorthy next week.

The open casting day, to find 300 extras for local writer Colm Tóibín’s novel’s movie adaptation starring Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, attracted people from far and wide, from the young to the old, who filled out forms and posed for headshots.

There was a palpable buzz in the room, as groups of people animatedly chatted, wrestled with measuring tape and patiently waited in the never-ending queue.

By lunchtime, over 1,500 people had swarmed the hotel function room, but this figure almost doubled when the final school bell rang, and a sea of uniforms made their way in.

Extras co-ordinator Stephen Kirk said the level of interest was unprecedented, and that he was expecting 1,000 participants at most.

“It was very surprising, I wasn’t expecting that turn out, nowhere near it,” he told The Echo. “You could really sense everyone’s excitement. It was a busy, but great, experience for us!”

Among those carefully filling out their forms and crossing their fingers was 8-year-old Zoe Sludds from Clonard.

“I want to be a big movie star, because celebrities get lots of presents,” she beamed. Zoe confidently added that she was a little girl of many talents, and loved to sing and get involved with drama shows.

Her proud mother, Mandy, who also applied as an extra, chipped in: “It’s a brilliant opportunity for this film to come to Enniscorthy; you’d rather see it coming to a small town like this.

“The last time something similar like this came to the county was Saving Private Ryan. It gives everyone a bit of hope.”

Full story in this week’s Echo.