From IMDB:

"Casting Director Asks for "Inbred"-Looking Extras, Is Fired

The casting director for a horror movie being shot in West Virginia has been fired after putting out a call for extras with facial features that would make them look "inbred." Casting director Donna M. Belajac was dismissed after Gov. Joe Manchin released a statement describing the casting call as "offensive." He added that he thought that the movie, a horror flick titled Shelter, produced by Nala Films of Los Angeles, "does not sound like a movie worth watching." Producers Emilio Diez Barroso and Darlene Caamano apologized "for the very insensitive casting call sent out without our knowledge." The incident also drew the attention of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, who released a statement saying, "Unfortunately, some in the filmmaking industry have decided that perpetuating stereotypes and insulting generations of West Virginians means cash at the box office." "

... the funny thing is, you'd expect this to be some cheap WRONG TURN knock-off but this 'heinous' horror movie actually stars Julianne Moore!!!

I think there's that old saying about people who live in glass houses...

If one does not wish to draw attention to something that causes embarrassment, one should not proceed to cause a ruckus with a film company.

I know our resident West Virginia native is going to have something to say...

The father side of my family is from Berkeley County, West Virginia. I moved to California to get away from that side. I suppose they're sort of social... they tend to kill each other rather than strangers. Sometimes it makes the news.

I only have a couple of WV stories that would curl your hair, sort of like grungy horror flicks being made without the film equipment.

But then, I grew up on the Ohio side of the fence, so I'm biased.

I'm fixin' to write somethin' but I cain't rightly find muh writin' stick.

Well, when some of your best known exports are Jesco White, Hasil Atkins and The Amazing Delores, you can kinda get that stigma.


marc

Maybe she just shoulda said they were looking for some banjo players.

Reminds me of the saga of trying to track down a 1975 student film called THE HOLLOW. Two Skidmore College students made a film focusing on the harsh conditions of a local mountain hamlet that was populated by the incestual intermarriage of two families going back to the 19th century. When contacting the college, I was told the film was strictly unavailable, except for screenings for a single class, but the local public library had a copy on film. Efforts to contact them about seeing it hit a dead end.

Then there's that hideously deformed Jennifer Garner.

And David Selby, of course.

And Paul Dooley. And the late, great Don Knotts, who sounded like my West Virginia relations. And Ann Magnuson, who doesn't. And Chris Sarandon, with whom I share a place of birth and whose family ran a grocery store where my father shopped as a kid. And Allison ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN Hayes. And Conchatta TWO AND A HALF MEN Ferrell. And Jeramie LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT Rain. Oh, what a party we could have! And yes, there would be banjo music.

Not that I think the casting call wasn't insensitive, but it was pretty harmless compared to Senator Robert Byrd's very real participation in the KKK. And he's upset that Hollywood is perpetuating stereotypes?

D.