Extras wanted for ‘Burt Wonderstone’ comedy

But there’s still time if you’d like to get into the magic act.

Las Vegas-based David Anthony Casting expects to hire about 400 background players to appear as Strip pedestrians, tourists and casino workers during “Burt Wonderstone’s” shoot Tuesday through Friday.

If you’re interested in being an extra (and at least 18 years old), email your contact information and photos to castingburtwonderstone@gmail.com.

Carell plays “Burt Wonderstone’s” title role: a jaded Strip headliner who finds himself fighting for the spotlight when rival Steve Haines (Carrey), a hip street illusionist with a penchant for dangerous stunts, storms the Strip. James Gandolfini plays casino boss Doug Munny; Buscemi plays Wonderstone’s ex-stage partner Anton Lovecraft.

“Horrible Bosses” screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein script (from a story by Chad Kultgen ), while Emmy-winning TV veteran Don Scardino (“30 Rock”) directs.

Among the locations reportedly on “Burt Wonderstone’s” four-day itinerary: interiors and exteriors at Bally’s, plus downtown and exteriors on the Strip and downtown.

HERE SHE IS: It’s crunch time for the 53 contenders competing to be the next Miss America; the new titleholder will be crowned Saturday night during a live telecast from Planet Hollywood Resort’s Theater for the Performing Arts. (Locals get the tape-delayed version, which airs at 9 p.m. on KTNV-TV, Channel 13.)

It’s the pageant’s sixth Vegas visit — and second back on network TV, notes Art McMaster, president of the Miss America Organization.

Last year’s return to ABC found “almost 14 million people watching” at least part of the pageant, he notes — a notable number, especially considering that Miss America had to compete with NFL football for viewers.

It’s a far cry from the pageant’s 1950s-1970s heyday, of course, when “there were only a couple of channels — and we got a third of the viewing audience,” McMaster says. “We’re never going to be able to get those numbers again.”

But, he adds, “I don’t think there’s specific pressure” from ABC officials to deliver ratings — “as long as it’s a good show.”

QUICK HITS: Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan, is only one of numerous notables expected this week at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show; others expected at the Las Vegas Convention Center range from teenthrob Justin Bieber to the Monte Carlo headliners Jabbawockeez. (Of special interest to movie buffs: a 50th-anniversary James Bond panel featuring four Bond directors — but, alas, not Guy Hamilton, who called the shots for 007’s Vegas adventures in 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever.”)

With CES in town, TV coverage inevitably follows.

One overseas project expected here on location: the French TV documentary “Passeport vers le future” (“Passport towards the Future”) for the MTV-owned Game One channel, reports journalist Marika Julien , who’s overseeing the shoot. On the homefront, four divisions of Las Vegas-based Dream Vision Studios are at work on Spike TV’s “CES All-Access Live” coverage.

And from the future to the past, the TV variety show pilot “Lounging Las Vegas Style” was scheduled to shoot last Thursday at the Italian American Club, with music from Jazzin’ Jeanne Brei and the Speakeasy Swingers. Brei describes the pilot as “part ‘Lawrence Welk Show,’ ” with room for the studio audience to dance, “part ‘Dinah Shore Show,’ ” with such special guests as Broadway tap dancer Van Porter, plus “part ‘Jack Paar/Nat King Cole/Judy Garland Show,’ ” thanks to the many vintage tunes on tap.

Carol Cling’s Shooting Stars column appears Mondays. Contact her at (702) 383-0272 or
ccling@reviewjournal. com.