Merchant Ivory Productions, the makers of A Room with a View, Howards End and The Remains of the Day, is shooting The White Countess in Shanghai, a 1930s period film to be shot from September-December 2004.

They want to exploit YOU, for no pay: check out this ad on That's Shanghai's website:

The Casting Department of Merchant Ivory Productions is looking for several English-speaking interns to be a part of our production. This is an unpaid internship that will last through mid-December. Some travel and communications expenses will be covered. Any nationality ok, but your English needs to be quite fluent and your Mandarin should be pretty good. Chances to get on the set of a major movie production, see how movies are made, and maybe even see a few of the stars!

They are also looking to exploit 2 young boys with Jewish features (age approx 8 and 10) and 3 Japanese men (2 aged 25, 1 aged 35) to play military roles.

Other chances to be exploited: Western people to feature as extras in the film, particularly anyone with a basic knowledge of 1930s dance moves.

If you are interested in any of these, please send photo and contact details to Merchant Ivory Productions C/O Shanghai Film Studio C EXTRAS CASTING 595 Cao Xi Road North, Room 222 Shanghai 200030.

Thanks for the tip to Chris, who is not amused by cheap bastard Hollywood producers exploiting people in China, a trend pioneered by Quentin Tarantino.

The ads are on That's Shanghai's website, somewhere here; do a search for Merchant Ivory to find them.

There's more on The White Countess here and here.

UPDATE: Reader David Crawford comments: "Merchant Ivory Productions are, in no way, "Hollywood producers". They currently have offices in London and New York. About the only time they deal with Hollywood is when they set up U.S. distribution of their films."