Vermont nonconformists cast as extras in new Ang Lee film about Woodstock

By Susan Green, Free Press Correspondent

Some people contend that if you claim to remember the 1960s, you weren’t actually there.

No matter. Ang Lee, who won an Oscar in 2006 for directing “Brokeback Mountain,” plans to resurrect the counterculture haze with a new motion picture.

“Taking Woodstock,” adapted from a recent memoir, requires numerous extras resembling the kind of look-alike nonconformists that flocked to the legendary August 1969 music festival in Bethel, N.Y. But flower children apparently are now somewhat limited in that area, where shooting will begin next month. So, auditions were held last weekend in Bennington and Brattleboro.

The try-outs drew 450 hopefuls, many of whom wouldn’t necessarily require much in the way of costumes and make-up. “We’re not wigging people,” said extras casting director Sophia Costas. “We’re looking for authenticity and we found quite a few who live that type of life. It seemed as if Vermont never left the ‘60s.”

Joe Bookchin, executive director of the Green Mountain State’s film commission in Montpelier, agrees that the production might hit the 21st-century bohemian jackpot here: “They obviously came to the right place. We’re glad we can do out part.”

He first learned about “Taking Woodstock” from Craig’s List, an informational Web site. The notice posted on July 22 describes an open casting call for “townspeople, college kids, young hippies” and points out long hair would be a plus.

These folks, called “background extras,” probably won’t have any dialogue. But they will be paid. Bennington is only about an hour from where the film is set, in New York’s Columbia County, so travel is not likely to be a hardship.

The film’s assistant location manager and location manager are, respectively, Seth Blackman of Starksboro and Joe Guest, who grew up in Norwich but now lives in Manhattan. They’ve been scouting potential sites since April and will remain on the job until the movie wraps in October.

“They’re searching for locations up and down the Hudson (River) Valley,” said Ann Marie Schaummann, deputy administrator for the Columbia County Tourism Department and Film Office.

They cannot, however, tap into any Vermont locations. New York State provides filmmakers with generous tax incentives and, in return, requires geographic fidelity.

“Taking Woodstock,” a 2007 autobiography by Elliot Tiber, chronicles his involvement with the festival attended by an estimated 500,000 youngsters. He was then president of the local chamber of commerce, trying to bring an array of arts events to the Catskills.

Tiber wanted to lure tourists back to the depressed region, thereby attracting overnight guests who might stay at his parents’ floundering motel. After hearing that the Woodstock concert organizers were in need of a venue, he suggested Max Yasgur’s 600-acre Bethel farm. And the rest is rock ‘n’ roll history.

Despite massive traffic jams, gate-crashers, torrential downpours, muddy fields, unsanitary conditions, food shortages and rampant drug use, the festival maintained a sort of peaceful anarchy. Over the course of three days and three nights, 32 of the era’s most popular acts — such as Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Santana and Canned Heat — delighted the crowd. Many blissed-out fans were also stark naked.

Ironically, the movie may employ some contemporary free spirits from Brattleboro, which declared public nudity legal last summer.

Demetri Martin, a faux-commentator on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” will portray Tiber. When filming starts on Aug. 18, the proverbial cast of thousands that Costas is rounding up should be more or less complete. But there’s still a call for the wheels that kept Americans on the road four decades ago.

“The production is also car casting,” Schaummann said. “They need period automobiles, VW buses, trucks, motorcycles and farm equipment from 1958 to 1970.”

Although Vermont’s association with the Ang Lee project is marginal, Bookchin can boast a true connection to the subject. “My mother took us to the Woodstock festival when I was 8 years old,” he said. “My sister Debbie got to go backstage because she knew Canned Heat.”

But his clan remained fully clothed and sober, according to Bookchin. “When we walked round, people selling drugs would ask us: ‘Mescaline? Pot? LSD?’ My mom would just say, ‘Aspirin?’”

- Burlington Free Press