"Crazy For The Storm" begins shooting in January, 2014.
AB Media Publishing, LLC
Gerber Pictures is now in pre-production on the Warner Bros. Pictures true-story action survival feature film "Crazy For The Storm" based on the bestselling novel "Crazy For The Storm: A Memoir Of Survival" by Norman Ollestad. A massive talent search has been taking place since February, 2013 for a boy who can play 11 year-old Norman Ollestad. The talent search included online video submissions accepted through Cast It Talent. However, the right boy was not discovered and new casting director information is now available.
"Crazy For The Storm" tells the story of Norman Ollestad, who at eleven years old was riding in a Cessna in a blizzard through California's San Gabriel Mountains in 1979, on his way to pick up a trophy he won in a skiing competition. The plane crash that followed killed his father and the pilot, also badly wounding his father's girlfriend Sandra, who with young Norman was savagely thrown onto the top of an 8,600-foot mountain in the freezing, February chill. After Sandra dies, Norman endures a grueling nine-hour life-or-death journey down the mountain during a blizzard. On the descent, Norman recounts in flashbacks how his father infused his love for extreme sports in him as a boy, pressing him to become a competitive surfer and skier, experience that allowed him to survive the ordeal.
Starring in "Crazy For The Storm" is Academy Award nominee Josh Brolin playing the role of young Norman's father Norman Ollestad Sr. Two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn is directing from an adapted screenplay written by Will Fetters. This will be the third time that Sean Penn and Josh Brolin have worked together on a feature film. For the film "Milk," Penn won an Academy Award and Brolin was nominated for an Oscar. In the Warner Bros. Pictures feature film "Gangster Squad", Penn played the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen while Brolin portrayed the determined Sgt. John O'Mara. Penn recently starred in Ben Stiller's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", while Brolin starred in the upcoming "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For".
Primetime Emmy Award nominee Bill Gerber will produce for Gerber Pictures. His producing credits include "The In-Laws" starring Michael Douglas and Ryan Reynolds, "Gran Torino" starring Clint Eastwood, and the upcoming "Grudge Match" starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro. Also producing is Norman Ollestad's literary manager Rob Weisbach, and Fonda Snyder. Ollestad will executive produce. Warner Bros. will handle domestic distribution.
The following is what the original casting call was seeking:
[NORMAN OLLESTAD] Male, 9-11 years of age, Caucasian. Must have surfing experience to play this lead role. The boy should be mentally tough and comfortable with sensitive and difficult scripted material.
All talent, including minors and foreign talent must be legally eligible to work in the state of California and in the United States.
The 2013 Los Angeles Actors Resource Guide eBook comes with free quarterly updates and includes the following information and documents for adults, minors, and foreign talent who would like to work as an actor or extra on film and television productions in Los Angeles and the United States:
• USA Child Actor Work Permit Requirements
• California Child Actor Permit Application
• California Minors Summary Chart
• Child Actor Coogan Trust Deposit Instructions
• California Division of Labor Standards Offices
• Immigration Work Permit Information
• Non-Immigrant Visa Application
In addition to the following Los Angeles Actors Resources:
• Audition Tips
• How To Make an Audition Video
• Los Angeles Casting Directors List
• Los Angeles Extras Casting Directors List
• Los Angeles Talent Agents List
• General Talent Agent Information
• Los Angeles Acting Classes List
• Acting Classes for Young Actors in Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Headshot Photographers List
• Sample Actors Resume
• Sample Beginning Actors Resume
• Sample Cover Letters
• Entertainment Industry Terminology
• Miscellaneous Los Angeles Resources
• Actors Unions
• PDF Users Guides
The 2013 Actors Resource Guide eBooks are available here.
Principal Actor Casting
See the post titled Headshot and Resume Information regarding how to submit for acting roles.
Submit photos and resumes by mail only.
No phone calls or personal drop-offs.
Los Angeles:
Tineka Becker
4000 Warner Blvd.
Building 138
Suite 1205A
Burbank, CA 91522
Extras Casting
TBA
Production Companies:
Do NOT send photos and resumes to the production companies, as they will most likely end up being thrown away. They do not cast the films, rather they hire casting directors who sort through the thousands of submissions.
Gerber Pictures
4000 Warner Blvd.
Building 138
Suite 1205A
Burbank, CA 91522
Warner Bros. Pictures
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522
Executive Producer:
Norman Ollestad
Producers:
Bill Gerber
Fonda Snyder
Rob Weisbach
Director:
Sean Penn
Starring:
Josh Brolin - Norman Ollestad Sr.
Story:
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures. Yet it were these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared "Boy Wonder," as his father called him, to become a fearless champion—and ultimately saved his life. Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. "Dad
and I were a team, and he was Superman," Ollestad writes. But now Norman's father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone.
