GREENSBORO
-- He gained fame for his screen portrayals of the son of Forrest Gump and of
a boy who sees dead people. On Wednesday,
Haley Joel Osment, 17, started filming his latest movie, the high school basketball
drama "Home of the Giants." The
movie actually is set in high-school basketball-loving Indiana. But
Greensboro-based production company SymPics International will shoot all scenes
-- except for Indiana cornfields and water towers -- across the Triad this month
and next. 
| | Libby
Grimes, an executive producer and her husband, Charles Grimes (center), a producer
of the upcoming movie “Home of the Giants,” talk with Eugene Osment,
father of movie star Haley Joel Osment. Most scenes in the film will be shot at
locations across the Triad. |
|
Location
managers had scoured the northwest Greensboro neighborhood of Starmount Forest
for a home that matched script settings. They found it at the Madison Avenue address
of Emil and Jane Dovan, who welcomed the idea. Wednesday,
filmmakers transformed it into a movie set for a day. They
shot scenes with Osment and actor Ryan Merriman, who play best friends in the
coming-of-age story about friendship and the potential dangers of hero worship. The
script by Indiana native Rusty Gorman, who will also direct, attracted him to
the film, Osment said."This one is perfect for this age for me," Osment
said as he took a break between scenes. Osment's
breakthrough role came in 1994 as Tom Hanks' son in "Forrest Gump."
He received an Oscar nomination for the 1999 film, "The Sixth Sense,"
as a child who communicates with the dead. Since
then, he has appeared in "Pay It Forward," "Artificial Intelligence:
AI" and "Secondhand Lions," in addition to doing voiceovers for
animated films. In "Home of the Giants,"
Osment plays Robert "Gar" Gartland, a high school journalist who covers
the basketball team as it heads toward a state championship. "It's
important to find roles with characters growing up," Osment said. "Gar
is one of those characters that moves me along the timeline in my career." The
dialogue particularly impressed him, Osment added. "It's how me and my friends
talk to each other. It seemed very real and very natural." Merriman,
who has a lead role in the upcoming film, "Final Destination 3," plays
Matt, the team's star. The cast includes
Danielle Panabaker of TV's "Summerland" and "Empire Falls."
She plays a new girl in town who studies journalism with Gar. ESPN
commentators Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas also will have scenes, said L. Charles
Grimes, the Greensboro attorney who started SymPics International with his attorney
wife, Elizabeth "Libby" Grimes, and their business partners. The
public will have chances to appear in the movie, too. Basketball
game scenes will need thousands of extras for large crowds. Some may be shot at
Winston-Salem's Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and possibly at area
colleges, Grimes said. Dates and locations
have not been finalized.Call the extras casting hotline at 232-5913 for updates. Contact
Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5240 or dkane@news-record.com | 
