A piece of Hollywood is coming to Bloomington in the form of Anne Hathaway’s production company Somewhere Pictures and its upcoming film “Little Five.”
While little has been confirmed regarding the film’s plot, audiences can look forward to a movie centered around a Little 500 race at Indiana University in the 1980s. The film will follow four young women as they band together and fight for a place in one of IU’s most beloved sporting traditions.
While “Little Five” will not be the first film to come out about the iconic event — that honor goes to Peter Yates’ 1979 movie “Breaking Away” — it will be the first to show the role women have played in the event's history.
Although the women's Little 500 race officially began in April 1988, women were an important part of the sporting event long before that. In 1976, Kathleen Cerajeski was the first woman to qualify as part of a men’s team. Later, in 1987, the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority raised awareness for the importance of a women’s race when they tried to participate in the men’s Little 500 race, though ultimately didn’t qualify.
Headlining the cast is Rain Spencer, popularly known as Taylor in Amazon’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” and Ariana Greenblatt, who has starred in blockbuster films like “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” and “Barbie.” Their involvement was recently announced by Deadline, though their official roles have not been disclosed.
Somewhere Pictures, which officially began operating in May 2024 with the release of Hathaway’s film “The Idea of You,” will produce “Little Five” in partnership with Pigasus Pictures, an Indiana-based independent film production company. Pigasus Pictures was founded by IU alumni John Armstrong and Zachary Spicer as a way to bring filmmaking opportunities to Indiana residents.
“Little Five” will be directed by Ian Samuels, known for Amazon’s “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” and Netflix’s “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser,” from a screenplay written by Gillian Williams and longtime Pigasus Pictures collaborator Paul Shoulberg.
Most recently Pigasus Pictures produced “The Duel,” which released July 31 2024, and stars Dylan Sprouse and Callan McAuliffe as a pair of best friends that prepare to duel over a girl. The film was shot almost entirely in Indiana, featuring locations in Indianapolis, the Indiana Dunes and the Blue Spring Caverns in Bedford, Indiana.
And it seems “Little Five” will be following this filming model as they search for extras to begin filming in Bloomington this summer.
Pigasus Pictures recently issued a casting call for extras available from July 19 to Aug. 12 as they try to recreate a 1980s Bloomington for their film. Along with extras, they also listed that they were looking for drivable vehicles made before 1987 that could be brought for filming.
