Spielberg still hunting for his next child star
MONTHS AFTER the search first began, Steven Spielberg is still on the hunt for a new child star to play a Jewish boy in his latest film.
Agents for the Hollywood director have seen hundreds of potential young actors to play the role of Edgardo Mortara opposite Oscar-winner Mark Rylance — but so far, nobody fits the bill.
Talent scouts from Nina Gold Casting, a London agency which regularly recruits British actors for Hollywood, visited a number of Jewish schools last summer when the role was first announced but to no avail.
Now, with just three months to go before the cameras start rolling, the search for the right child has become urgent.
The Schindler’s List director has asked casting agents in the UK, the United States, Australia and Italy, to look for a “truly special and gifted boy” to play the title role in The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. Based on David Kertzer’s book of the same name, the film will tell the true story of a young Jewish boy secretly baptised by a maid during an illness, then seized in 1858 to be raised by the Catholic church. Edgardo fate became a cause célèbre of 19th-century European politics. Mark Rylance plays Pope Pius IX.
Last week, Nina Gold Casting took out a large advert in the inviting youngsters to attend an open audition this Sunday.
The advert read: “We are looking for a truly special, gifted, curious and intelligent boy with a mischievous streak who appears to be Jewish and Italian.” Boys should be aged between six and nine and need neither acting experience nor a foreign accent.
A spokeswoman for Nina Gold said: “We have seen lots and lots of really great boys but are doing one final push to make sure we see everyone who’s out there. “It’s quite hard to find that one little boy. We have been to lots of schools and different drama groups and held open castings too. We are hoping that anyone who didn’t come out before will come along.” Based in north-west London, the agency has cast many high-profile roles, including 11-yearold British schoolgirl Ruby Barnhil as Sophie in Spielberg’s blockbuster