Casting director taps Lincoln talent

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By ZACH PLUHACEK / Lincoln Journal Star

There’s no shortage of Lincolnites to play the part of a bitter, middle-aged cowboy with a permanent seat at the neighborhood bar.

Of seven people who showed up Saturday for auditions at Gere Library, local independent film director Mark Thimijan was planning to cast four.

“The numbers were small, but everyone I saw I was very pleased with,” Thimijan said.

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Steve Garwood reads for a part in an independent feature film director Mark Thimijan plans on shooting in Lincoln this November. The movie is about how two different people can view a relationship, Thimijan said. "It's a little depressing," he said. "There is hope in it." (William Lauer)

Steve Garwood reads for a part in an independent feature film director Mark Thimijan plans on shooting in Lincoln this November. The movie is about how two different people can view a relationship, Thimijan said. "It's a little depressing," he said. "There is hope in it." (William Lauer)

He’s looking for tavern regulars, one of whom will be the lead in his first feature film, “Beast of Burden.” The main role, Mick, is middle-aged and depressed.

Mick meets Arcie, an artsy girl about half his age and basically his exact opposite. She pulls him out of his rut for a while before everything goes back to normal.

“It’s their differences that ultimately keep them apart,” Thimijan explains.

The melancholy tone is, unfortunately for Thimijan, a product of his life and past relationships.

He used his past as a model for the movie, largely basing the Mick character off the depressed state he was in when he wrote the film.

He hasn’t officially chosen the actor to play his semi-autobiographical character, but he’s seriously considering a man from Broken Bow he met at a film festival before he wrote the movie.

That role, Thimijan said, was sort of built around that actor.

“Arcie is more girls that I have dated in the past,” he said.

A 19-year-old Omaha actress, Rachel Lien, is set to play Arcie.

She was one of three chosen so far from a pool of 32 people at an Omaha casting call about a month ago.

Thimijan says Omaha is more supportive of its artistic community — hence the bigger turnout — but his sister Kristen Nugent, who is helping with the film, disagrees.

Nugent shook her head as Thimijan expressed his mild frustration with what seems like a lack of interest from the community here.

She’s been in Lincoln’s arts scene for a long time.

Later in the evening, Thimijan was already changing his tone. After all, he’s still sort of an unknown.

He’s giving Lincoln a second chance — Sept. 8 from noon to 2 p.m., in Community Room No. 2 at Gere Library, 2400 S. 56th St.

For more information on Thimijin and his past films, visit www.600Films.com.

Reach Zach Pluhacek at 473-7395 or zpluhacek@journalstar.com.