‘Sympathy Pains’ searches for talent

The UCA Digital Filmmaking department is looking for people to star in its feature film “Sympathy Pains.”
Auditions will be held Feb. 24 in Conway; Feb. 25 in Little Rock; March 10 in Memphis; March 16 in Fayetteville and March 17 in Hot Springs .
The film was produced by the UCA Filmmaking Department and written and directed by Joe Dull.
The auditions are open to anyone.
Dull said the reason for the various locations is to spread the net out as far as possible.
“Last time we just did auditions in Conway and Little Rock and we saw some wonderful people,” he said.
Dull said they are looking for men, women and children of all ethnicities that have a desire to act, to be in the film.
Dull said he expects the actors to have confidence and flexibility.
He said the actors should ask themselves two questions: “Can I pull off the part with raw talent?” and “What can I bring to the role?”
Film professor, Katiina Dull said they are looking for a variety of people to fill the film’s roles.
“The auditions are taking place all over Arkansas, as well as a stop in Memphis,” she said. “There are a range of roles we are looking to cast, everything from a bossy stand-up comedian to a scowling football coach who also happens to be the father-in-law.”
She said they will also need about 200 extras by the time they are done with the shoot, so they encourage anyone who wants to be involved in the film, even just a minor commitment, to contact her or Joe in Stanley Russ Hall.
Joe and Katiina encourage anyone who is interested in auditioning, or just to get more imformation about their films to go their website: daringlydullproductions.com.
On the website, there are trailers, a list of cast members and short synopsises of many of their films available for viewing.
The film projects listed on the site, along with “Sympathy Pains,” are “Table at Luigi’s,” “The Proposal,” “Starring: Rachel Miller. A Different Documentary” and “The Midterm Incident.”
“Sympathy Pains” is the story of Danny, who is described as a terrible comedian, who suffers from morning sickness after he discovers his wife is pregnant.
As he fights a battle between his family and his dream job, Danny attempts to juggle both and succeeds at neither.
Joe said the characters are his favorite part of this film.
“They are so much fun,” he said. “I really enjoy writing them. The lead character is drawn a little bit from myself. It’s fun to kind of make fun of myself in some way. The next lead character, my wife, is just one of the best characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing.”
He said what he dislikes most is within the production, the many hours of “writing and rewriting, writing and rewriting, writing and rewriting ….”
He said it is a labor of love.
“There are always fun parts but there’s also an awful lot of work,” he said. “From promoting the film to driving to audition locations, there are so many hours of mundane things that kind of make up the making of a film.”
He said the filming portion will begin in June and will most likely last through all of August.
He said post-production will continue through the summer of 2013.
He said “Sympathy Pains” should be completed in time for the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festival submissions, whose deadlines are in August.
The UCA Digital Filmmaking is the largest filmmaking program in Arkansas.
Added to that, it is one of the only programs in the nation to include a hands-on feature filmmaking course.
Recent UCA graduates have gone on to work on “Green Lantern,” “ The Pirates of the Caribbean” and the Jeff Nichols’ feature “Mud.”
The department’s last project, “Table at Luigi’s,” premiered in 2010 and has been screened across the country.
“Table at Luigi’s” involved nearly 100 UCA students.
It won Best in Show at the Indie Fest in La Jolla, Cali.; Best Romance Film at Bare Bones Film Festival in Muskogee, Okla.; the Love is in the Air Award at the Film Festival in Denver, Colo. and an Official Finalist Award in the Las Vegas Film Festival.
“The first film was such a success, we’re looking forward to repeating that and making it even stronger with this one,” Joe Dull said.
Katiina said she thinks everyone involved will enjoy working on “Sympathy Pains.”
“I am really excited to be able to do a second feature film at UCA,” she said. “It is as a lot of work, but it is great opportunity for the UCA film students.  The script is really funny and so it should be a good time on set.”
Junior Codi Bogard is a producer of the film, grad-student Lyle Arnett is the post-production supervisor, senior Brandon Bogard is an editor and senior Kim Risi is the set dresser.