‘Real World’ reunites cast at Palms

What goes around comes around. Including the series that kicked off Las Vegas' reality TV boom in 2002.

The cast of MTV's "The Real World: Las Vegas" has returned to the Palms for "Reunited: The Real World," which brings Alton, Arissa, Brynn, Frank, Irulan, Steven and Trishelle back to the 26th-floor fantasy suite they once called home.

"We looked at a couple of other casts" to reunite, notes executive producer Jon Murray of Bunim-Murray Productions.

But the fact that "we had a home to come back home to," plus the cast that figured in "one of the most memorable and highly rated 'Real World' seasons" -- proved key to the Las Vegas return.

In addition, "we were very fortunate" that all seven cast members could join the reunion. (They previously starred in a 2003 reunion special.)

"A couple were in between things; others rearranged their schedules," Murray says. "They were generally all pretty excited."

Home plates: The big-screen comedy-drama "Finding Amanda" -- about a washed-up TV producer (Matthew Broderick) dispatched to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece (Brittany Snow) to enter rehab -- already has finished shooting.

Except for the Las Vegas part, that is. Which is why background plates, designed to capture the movie's grit-to-glitter atmosphere, will be shot this week around town.

Local motion: Two local productions keep rolling.

The horror romp "Demon Haunt," from cult auteur (and grindhouse pioneer) Ted V. Mikels, has an on-the-road ambulance scene planned, along with scenes at a residence in a vintage Vegas neighborhood.

In addition, computer-generated animation continues on "Demon Haunt's" resident demon, Hemator, who emerges from a snakepit to torment a Las Vegas teacher -- and her handicapped sister.

The political satire "Vegasland," meanwhile, from the Yuzzi Brothers (alias writer-director Thomas Vosicky and co-writer Kenneth Kit Lamug, also director of photography) hits the road this week for several driving scenes.

That should be a relief for the cast and crew, who spent part of last week in a warehouse -- with a scorpion who escaped, prompting a break in shooting until the little stinger was found, Vosicky reports.

Hair apparent: Or, more precisely, unapparent, because Vegas Background is casting an upcoming informercial for a hair-growth product and needs men and women of all ages with receding hairlines or thinning hair atop their heads. (They're also hoping to cast twins with receding hairlines.) Complete details are available on the casting calls page at www.vegasbackground.com.

Carol Cling's Shooting Stars column appears Mondays. Contact her at 383-0272 or e-mail her at ccling@reviewjournal.com.