4.02.2007

jessica yu filming ping pong playa

For those of you in Southern California looking for something to do this Wednesday and Thursday, here's something that sounds kind of fun... Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu is shooting her first narrative feature film, Ping Pong Playa, an Asian American sports comedy, and needs extras to fill out an important crowd scene:
Academy Award winning filmmaker Jessica Yu is inviting you to participate in her first feature film.

On Wednesday April 4 and Thursday April 5, Jessica will be filming crucial scenes for her first feature picture, an Asian-American comedy, currently titled, "Ping Pong Playa." We need people to sit as audience spectators at a sports tournament. Everyone is welcome.

Food, entertainment, and gifts will be provided. This is a great opportunity to meet and be directed by the critically acclaimed director, whose film credits include documentaries, "Breathing Lessons," "The Living Museum," and "In The Realms of the Unreal." Her TV credits include episodes of "The West Wing," and the popular "Grey's Anatomy."

The film is being produced by Cherry Sky Films, the producer of Justin Lin's breakout film, "Better Luck Tomorrow," and his upcoming "Finishing the Game."

Come watch Jessica make movie magic and later see yourself on the big screen!

For information regarding time and place, please respond with your name, phone number, and email address to the following:

extraplayas@gmail.com

You must be over 18 years old to participate.
It sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and a chance for you to see a talented, acclaimed filmmaker at work on the set. I always wondered when Jessica Yu might make her foray into narrative films. This isn't the narrative project I expected from the person who made In the Realms of the Unreal, but I guess that's what makes it sounds so great. I did some poking around the web, and came up with movie's storyline:
CHRISTOPHER "C-DUB" WANG" is a young Chinese-American man who presents himself with a streetwise, ghetto swagger and dreams of a career as a basketball star -- but he finds his real gift as a ping-pong player and coach, leading an odd squad of students to a local championship.
An Asian American underdog sports story? I love it already. Here's also an interesting casting notice posted back in January with a rundown of the movie's characters. And this bit in Variety says that Smith Cho is playing one of the leads. Keep an eye on this one. And if anyone ends up going to the set as an extra this week, let me know how it goes.

angry archive