Wanted: 'Miserable and downtrodden' northerners looking 'a bit hard done by' to star in Mike Leigh's new film about the Peterloo massacre
- Mr Turner director Mike Leigh is behind new blockbuster movie on 1819 rally
- Modern-day northerners are now being asked to take part as extras in the film
- 18 died and 700 injured after Government troops charged 60,000 protesters
- Casting firm wants people who look 'tired, overworked and have had a hard life'
A casting call has been made for 'miserable and downtrodden' northerners looking 'a bit hard done by' to star in a new film about the Peterloo massacre.
The blockbuster movie by Mr Turner director Mike Leigh will be a drama about the 1819 rally which saw an estimated 18 protesters killed and up to 700 injured.
And modern-day northerners are now being asked to take part as extras in the film about how government troops charged at a crowd of about 60,000 protesters.
British director Mike Leigh is working on a blockbuster about the Peterloo massacre in 1819
British soldiers charge the crowd at St Peter's Fields in Manchester during the political protest
Piece of Cake said it wants 'authentic northern faces' who look like they have 'had a hard life'
Piece of Cake Casting, based in Haslemere, Surrey, is casting 'authentic Northern faces' with Film Artistes Association pay rates in Kent, Essex, Lincoln and Lancashire.
An advert said: 'Casting for a gritty English historic feature film. Looking like you are tired, overworked, had a hard life and quite frankly a bit hard done by!'
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Agency director Alexandra Pickford told i northern correspondent Dean Kirby: 'For Peterloo, we want them to look pretty hard done by. Times were hard in 1819.'
She said men and women who think they could be an extra in the film, which will star Bolton-born actress Maxine Peake, should send a 'gritty selfie' to the agency.
The director is behind the award-winning Mr Turner starring Timothy Spall (who is from London, but could have the sort of face the casting agency is looking for) and Marion Bailey
Noel and Liam Gallagher could be seen as an example of 'miserable'-looking northerners
The TV series Shameless features 'downtrodden'-looking men and women from Manchester
Ms Pickford added that men with 'longer, collar-length hair' should ruffle it and bring it forward for the photo, and 'look really miserable, pretty down-trodden'.
Potential extras should have natural-coloured hair with no highlights – and no visible tattoos or piercings – although you don't actually have to be northern.
Ms Pickford told i: 'If you know the history of Peterloo and how things were in the area at the time, men had just come back from the Battle of Waterloo.
'They were working round the clock to take care of their families and not earning an awful lot of money and not being fed particularly well.'
How 18 people died and 700 were injured in the Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre in 1819 happened after 50,000 people gathered to protest against the political system at St Peter's Fields in Manchester.
Radical speaker Henry Hunt was due to speak about the reform of Parliament, and the Army went to prevent disturbances - with the city having no police.
Soldiers tried to arrest Mr Hunt as he began to speak, and attacked anybody who got in the way - which saw an estimated 18 people killed and 700 injured.
Yeomantry charge crowds during what became known as the 1819 Peterloo Massacre
After the massacre the Government paid tribute to the Army for trying to keep order, while Mr Hunt was jailed for more than two years.
The government also then banned meetings of more than 50 people at any one time, after what was the largest crowd ever seen in Britain at the time.
The massacre received the name Peterloo in an ironic reference to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place in present-day Belgium four years earlier.
Soldiers tried to arrest speaker Henry Hunt and attacked anybody who got in the way
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