It’s Lights! Camera! Action! at Labatt Park as the home of the London Majors will be transformed into a little league baseball diamond for filming a movie.
You Gotta Believe rolls into town Friday for one of three filming dates in the Forest City.
While little is known about the movie, a casting call describes the film as, “A heart wrenching and inspiring independent feature film telling the incredible story of a Texan little league baseball team making it against all odds to the 2002 Little League World Series.”
Andrew Dodd, the manager of Film London, said it was months ago when the scouting and production team for the movie reached out about using Labatt Park for one of the settings.
“Once they knew they were going to be Ontario based… and doing a historic baseball movie, then Labatt Park is obviously going to come on their radar,” said Dodd.
When asked why he thinks Labatt Park was selected as a filming location, Dodd said having it be one of the oldest continually operated diamonds in the world likely played a factor.
“I was there when the director came, and I think it was just gut instinct. They looked around and they are envisioning things with other key production people when factoring in stuff like size.”
Other than covering up some signage that would giveaway where the movie is being shot, Dodd says he doesn’t expect many alterations to be made to the stadium.
Over the past year, London has hosted numerous productions, like the recently-released Blackberry. Dodd says London continues to receive more and more attention from production companies.
“Definitely seeing some significant growth,” added Dodd, teasing there are some “irons in the fire” for more stuff later this year.
The casting call for being a stand-in for the crowd has already been filled for Friday, but Dodd says there should be more opportunities with the other two filming dates.
With the timing of production changing, Dodd says checking the Film London website regularly is the best way to find out about future opportunities to be an extra. If chosen as an extra, vouchers are available for area food trucks while the film’s shooting takes place, adds Dodd.
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