Cynicism, politics, wrecks delayed but not prevented
July 9, 20133 die in separate crashes
July 9, 2013
White rubber boots, usually seen at the dock, on the boat or in the truck, were on the main dining room floor of Big Al’s Seafood last Saturday as locals and out-of-towners arrived for Swamp People’s latest casting call.
“I’ve been hunting gators with friends or family my whole life, but I finally got tags of my own,” said 18-year-old Murphy Ayo, of Paradis, who had his white boots on. “One of my dad’s friends called him and said I should come down here. I’d be happy to make it on the show. My friends and family are excited that I came here today.”
Ayo, who crabs for a living and also hunts and fishes, was one of roughly 25 hopefuls first filling out an application and waiting for an interview with staff from The Casting Firm during the noon-5 p.m. event.
“I like that the show is about stuff that I do,” he said. “I’d rather watch that on television than anything else.”
Season five of the popular reality television show will begin filming in August, about a week or two before alligator season opens, and the show’s casting company hosts a handful of casting calls in south Louisiana a few months before filming begins.
“We are looking for new stories and new characters,” said Goloka Bolte, head of casting for The Casting Firm, a Los Angeles-based talent agency. “We are looking for characters that are unmistakably from south Louisiana, ones with huge personalities. We want people who really live off the bayou, people who do this 24/7, not just weekend warriors.”
This is the third time the show has hosted a casting event at Big Al’s, and the casting company hooked ZZ Loupe of Bayou Boeuf out of about 100 hopefuls who turned out for last season’s Houma casting call.
“We’ll see how it turns out,” Bolte said as she and two of her staff prepared to screen the potentials in the restaurant’s bar area. “We love the culture down here. America, the audience, loves these people and how they live. They love the great, local characters.”
Bolte encouraged swampers who were unable to make it to the event or those who would like to submit an application for someone they know to fill out a submission online at www.thecastingfirm.com/swamppeople.
“We will be here for a few more weeks, doing a little filming, scouting the area and looking for more stories,” she said. “You may even see us wandering down the bayou in a boat, waving fliers and saying ‘Hi’ to people.”
Vincent LaFrance, 23, traveled “down the bayou” from Slidell in his white boots to attend the casting call.
“I catch alligator gar, catfish, flounder – anything I can get my hands on and sell commercially – and I wanted to know if they wanted to put something like that in the show,” LaFrance said as he thumbed through photographs of he and his son out on the water that he printed to show the casting crew. “I’ve never been gator hunting to sell the gators, but I have been on hunts on wildlife management areas with my stepdad.
“I like gar fishing and cat fishing more than gator hunting. You never know what you are going to reel in.”
As the crew chatted with prospects like LaFrance and Ayo, cast members R.J. Molinere Jr. and his son Jay Paul, both of Grand Bois, spoke with fans as well as those waiting for their interview.
“The casting crew is always looking for something unique,” R.J. said. “Hopefully they will get some great new people for this season. I would like to see them add something besides gator hunting to show. It’s not all we do. I’d like to see more frogging or duck hunting, stuff like that.”
According to the elder Molinere, he and his son help out at the events by answering questions the casting crew may have, offering advice on the area and visiting with the fans. The pair will be featured in the upcoming season of the show, and both can’t wait to get back out on the water and haul in some gators.
“I really love the adrenaline rush,” Jay Paul said. “It’s like deer hunting. I can’t wait to see that big gator on the end of the line.”
“It’s great to catch the biggest gator you can or see how many you can catch in a day,” R.J. said. “Plus, you get that sense of pride and bragging rights.”
Leroy Verdin of Houma has his photo taken by Whitney Billiot of Wetland Tours. Billiot was helping out at the Houma casting call for the new season of the “Swamp People” television show on the History Channel.
