GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Curly Sue, a Warner Bros. movie currently filming in Chicago, tells the tale of an eight-year-old girl and her friendship with a homeless man. The film's casting company, thinking it would be a good deed to hire real street people as extras, asked a local shelter for help in attracting recruits. But most of the 137 people who answered the casting call were rejected because they were considered too clean. Some recruits, hungry for a job that pays up to $90 a day, reluctantly traded in their apparel for filthy costumes. "They had me wear clothes that had so much dirt on them, it took a couple of days to get it out from under my nails," complains James Moffatt, one of the homeless actors. The filmmakers say they will mainly hire actors for future walk-on parts. Explains a casting staff member: "When the director asks for street people and bag people, he wants a certain look."

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart