A second call for movie extras!

I posted an appeal for movie extras several days ago, in connection with the filming of the dramatic portions of our Witnesses project.  I now have more specific information for the Canadian filming that I can share, and that might make it easier for anybody who is interested in participating as an extra.  See below.

Our filming begins in just a few days.

We’re pretty much covered for extras in Utah, I believe, but we’re still looking for movie extras — probably about a hundred of them, altogether — in two distant locations:

Upper Canada Village (Ontario, very close to the U.S./Canada border at New York state)

5-11 September 2019

We’re particularly “needy” for this area, which is somewhat remote — near Cornwall, Ontario.  It’s about eighty minutes from Ottawa, or slightly more than two hours from Montreal.

We don’t need extras for all of the days stated. Those interested should just let Rosalind Hawk know (at [email protected], as soon as possible) which days are best for them.  We can then make accommodations.

Old Sturbridge Village (Massachusetts)

16-18 September 2019

Old Sturbridge Village is roughly 1.5 hours to the west southwest of Boston.

Here, too, I’m guessing that we won’t need extras for all of the days stated. Those interested should let Rosalind Hawk know (at [email protected], as soon as possible) which days are best for them.  We can then make accommodations.

Extras at either location will be paid $100 USD per day.

We are seeking men and women between the ages of 18 and 99.  Honestly, though, if you’re 112 and capable of doing the job — which won’t include either speaking or stunt work! — I doubt very much that we’ll turn you away.

If you’re interested, please send your photograph, along with your name, telephone number, and email address, to [email protected] as soon as possible.

If you know of any others who might be interested, please call this to their attention and encourage them to send a photograph, along with name, telephone number, and email address, to [email protected] ASAP.

***

In connection with this project and at my request, Professors Thomas G. Alexander, James B. Allen, and Richard L. Bushman, along with the late Professor Richard Lloyd Anderson, provided the following endorsements of the importance of the Book of Mormon witnesses:

Imagine the publication and distribution of the Book of Mormon without the testimony of the witnesses.  If there were none, Joseph Smith would have had to reply on his own word that he translated the plates.  Many, perhaps most, people would probably have rejected the word of an uneducated farm boy.  Joseph had enough difficulty even with the witnesses convincing others of the truthfulness of his story.  Other people including the eight witnesses saw the plates, but only the three witnesses saw them in the possession of the heavenly messenger who delivered them to Joseph.   The Lord asked them to testify to the truthfulness of Joseph’s ministry, which they did.  Most important, during their lifetimes all three witnesses left the church.  Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris returned to the fold, but David Whitmer remained in Richmond, Missouri, estranged from Mormonism throughout the remainder of his life.  Nevertheless, in spite of rumors to the contrary, all three continued to insist on the truth of their witness.

Thomas G. Alexander, Ph.D., Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former president of the Mormon History Association

The testimonies of the three witnesses is the closest we come to rational evidence for Mormon belief.  Three men attest to a sensory encounter with the gold plates and a divine being.  In an age of skepticism, when all religious belief is under attack, their statement becomes more relevant every day.

Richard L. Bushman, Ph.D., Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus at Columbia University; former Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University; former president of the Mormon History Association

The testimonies of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon make Joseph Smith’s account much harder to dismiss than it would otherwise be.  Plainly, since others announced that they, too, had seen and “hefted” and heard, this means that, whatever else it was, Joseph’s account must reflect more than merely private imagination or simple personal dishonesty.  If the witnesses are judged to be reliable men of good character, their declarations pose a serious challenge to anyone who considers the claims of the Restoration.

James B. Allen, Ph.D., Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former Assistant Church Historian, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; former president of the Mormon History Association

Thousands of authorized copies  of the Book of Mormon have reprinted the signed experience of the eleven Book or Mormon witnesses, Three who described that an angel held and turned the individual plates of an ancient New World Bible and Eight who narrated how they were given an ordinary experience of “hefting” the record and examining the carefully crafted characters on it. About 200 reported interviews with  these eleven are collected, which report the constant affirmation of these witnesses of seeing and lifting this historic, prophetic record, with its independent account of Christ visiting America.

Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018), J.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University