The live action Smurfs movie has started casting and they aren’t looking for little blue people. Put down that spray paint Verne Troyer. Odds are the Smurfs will be CGI or something, but the movie will contain humans. That’s right I said humans. In the Smurfs cartoons the only human involved was the evil wizard Gargamel, but for the live action movie it looks like they’re going a different direction. Specifically, they’re casting kids.
Backstage has a casting notice posted by Sony Pictures Animation in which they describe two specific roles they’re looking to fill. Here’s what Sony’s looking for:
Sophie: ages 8-10, a girl of great imagination and originality, though always appealing, she is often socially awkward and doesn't fit in with the other kids, she's smart and open, though she can be physically clumsy, when she discovers that the "doll" her father brought home from Belgium is actually a living, breathing Smurf, she takes "Clumsy" in as a member of the family and tries to get the household to embrace him and the rest of the Smurfs.Sam: 13-16 (to play 14-15), Sophie's brother, a good kid, but he's going through that phase where he can be difficult and withdrawn and retreat to his room to play video games, through his involvement in the Smurfs' quest to get home, he reconnects with his parents and sister.
So if you’re hoping for a magical movie set in a remote, fantasy village full of Smurfs under assault from an evil wizard, forget it. It looks like they’re taking the Smurfs out of their fantasy environment and turning them into Alvin and the Chipmunks. Instead of mushroom huts hidden in the weeds, they’re plopping them down in the real world where they’ll hang out with awkward kids and video game obsessed teenagers.
