For extras, Mission Possible

Throngs of thespians are pouncing on a chance to stand in Tom Cruise's shadow when Mission: Impossible IV shoots in Dubai.

DUBAI // Throngs of people are pouncing on a chance to stand in Tom Cruise's shadow when Mission: Impossible IV shoots in Dubai.

Fully 1,000 extras will be needed, but the real plums are the three speaking parts that are up for grabs.

The website for applications was bombarded with thousands of hits yesterday, immediately after the parts were publicised, said Adam-John Ridgway, the managing director of Mediacubed, the online portal overseeing the registrations.

"We are inundated," he said.  "I started to try to apply around 9.30am - every 15 minutes, I tried," said Nassim Nasr, 35, an account director at an ad agency from Lebanon.

"You'd submit an application, and it wouldn't go through. And you'd submit it again, and again, and each time you'd have to fill it out again.

"Only at 2pm did it actually go through," he said. Online registration at www.mediacubed.com/casting continues until Sunday, after which, successful applicants will be invited for a casting session and selected by October 15.

The number of parts could change by the time filming begins in November.  But for now, the desired extras include "glamorous" Indian women and men in traditional kurta, pyjamas and saris, 25- to 50-year-olds of all nationalities in evening attire, and 30- to 40-year-old businesspeople.

The three speaking roles will be filled by an Arab man aged 25 to 35, a European man, also aged 25 to 35, and a European woman aged 35 to 50 - all with acting experience.

Rachel Pitney, a 35-year-old American who said she once acted for a few months in a TV sitcom called Common Ave, applied as soon as she heard.

"I'd love to be in a room with one of the leads - with Tom Cruise would be exceptional, but obviously that is everyone's goal."  Still, Ms Pitney is not polishing her Oscar speech just yet.

"Just to see myself on the big screen would be really fun - and of course to tell my friends back home."

Several applicants said they performed in plays in university. Others said they had modelled or appeared in TV commercials. Talents ranged from martial arts to ice skating to "none".

The non-acting roles for the film - more than 400 crew members and several interns - have largely been filled.

"We are basically crewed up," said Tim Smythe, the chief executive of Filmworks, the local company overseeing production in Dubai.

About a dozen members of the local film industry have been selected for two programmes organised by Paramount Pictures to transfer knowledge to the UAE industry.

Emirati staff members of Dubai Media Inc will observe the process for a training programme, while up-and-coming local and foreign filmmakers will work as interns.

Scenes for Mission: Impossible IV will be filmed over three weeks across Dubai, with car scenes on major roads and possible shoots at the Burj Khalifa and Meydan racecourse.

The first three Mission: Impossible movies, in which Cruise plays the secret agent Ethan Hunt, took about US$1.4 billion at box offices worldwide.

The films are based on a US television series that ran from 1966 to 1973.