Director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire) has cast the pivotal role of Dylan Mee in We Bought a Zoo, based on Benjamin Mee’s memoir of the same name. Seasoned Child Actor and Damon look-alike, Colin Ford has been cast as Matt Damon’s son in the movie, per the latest IMDB information on the film. Colin is represented by the Osbrink Agency and by Management 360, parent company of Film 360.
As mentioned in an earlier HMB post, “We Bought a Zoo” adapts Mee’s novel which documents the former news columnist purchase of the Dartmoor Wildlife Park In England with an ambitious notion of renovating it to it’s former glory and simultaneously helping the animals that resided there.
While Mee successfully saves the Zoo, during the process his wife Katherine learns she has terminal cancer and eventually succumbs to the disease leaving behind her spouse and 2 young children.
Ford, born September 12, 1996, in Nashville, Tennessee, has worked on such films as Push, and has appeared on numerous television shows: Supernatural, Hawaii Five-0, CSI Miami, Family Guy, and Private Practice among others.
Ford will appear alongside Damon in the movie, which will shoot early next.
Thomas Haden Church recently joined the cast. Amy Adams is under serious consideration to play Damon’s wife. HMB will update you with news of other castings as they come in.
wow, they cast someone who has come out in movies. Well then why do an open casting then. They should give someone who hasn´t come out in a movie a chance.
The Mees actually only have two children. If you’re thinking of Lily, she’s not related.
Wow! That was incredibly fast. Casting just called my son’s manager last week asking for a tape which we sent in (had made it in July just as casting went on hiatus). Certainly the kid is a clone of Matt Damon, but with the edginess of Tim Burton…hmmm. Were there any callbacks for this role at all? Makes the “open casting” seem very suspect, that’s for sure.
Hey all – while the news is emanating from reliable sources like imdb pro and hollywood cog keep in mind that no source is infallible. No telling what’s going on behind the scenes in casting too. Still no word on the other two young cast mates. They may end up being unknowns from the open casting call. As soon as we know, we’ll post it.
Good point. We’ve been in this business a while, but even I was surprised this was “booked” and up on IMDB only a couple of days after we had been asked for a re-submission (October 18th) requested by casting through our LA agent and manager. And just a week and a bit after the open casting closed (October 11th, I believe). Just not great PR really if that’s what they’re going for. Makes all those kids who did put the time and effort into the open casting feel like it was rigged from the start. Well, time will tell…
I agree with Francisco!!! They always have open calls and enclose no experience needed! But then they cast someone already in films. Think they only do it to waste everyone’s time… they are plenty of talent to go around ppl.. plzz grab your ears and pull hard in order to get your heads out of places thy shouldn’t be. We the ppl can make a difference here boy cot all the new films until they start giving others a chance to shine. They dont make $$ on films unless we the ppl pay to watch them.
Actually, many of the open casting calls do in fact find undiscovered talent. Perfect example is the open call for Jonah Hill’s new movie “The Sitter.” Adorable Landry Bender was cast as the youngest sibling and she has never worked in a feature or television before. We’ll be featuring her and her mom Amy on the blog soon. =)
Isn’t he a bit too young looking? He looks like hes 13. How would that work out with Lily being around 15-16? Hmmm…
By the way nice blog! I enjoy it greatly! 🙂
I just look at it like this, my daughter got some much needed experience auditioning. Too much auditioning can never hurt!
Rosie has also now been cast. She is 7 year old Maggie Elizabeth Jones (see the imdb page for We Bought a Zoo). She has an agent and looks to not have been chosen from the open casting. Lily remains to be cast as far as I know.
Thank you for the update Sherry. We’ll try to get as much information up as possible.
WOWSERS
I luv u!.. U r SO HOT! My heart pounds when i watch u act.