Between late July and early August, while most students were home for summer break, Bloomington was busy with a crew of 60 members across various departments filming for the upcoming “Little Five” movie, produced by Anne Hathaway’s production company Somewhere Pictures and the Indiana-based Pigasus Pictures. The film — set to release in 2027— centers around four women training to compete in the first women’s Little 500 race in the 1980s.
The film was announced July 6. The production companies put a form on their website calling for extras available from July 19 to Aug. 12, noting that they particularly wanted large numbers of people for crowd scenes filmed at Simon Skodt Assembly Hall and Bill Armstrong Stadium. They used multiple advertisements on their social media also calling for extras.
For weeks, Bloomington was turned into a Hollywood production set with the help of local residents and businesses. Thousands of potential extras poured into Bloomington for the chance to be featured in a scene or two.
IU junior Kate Strunk, who volunteered to be an extra on the production, said the process of becoming a background actor was fairly simple.
“After a couple of days of volunteering, production contacted me to let me know they were interested in having me be an extra as a Sigma Kappa cyclist,” she said.
The production team dressed Strunk in a period-appropriate outfit, complete with vintage cycling gloves and a helmet. Although some shoot days were very hot, Strunk said she enjoyed the experience.
“Once I really got into it and started making friends, I had so much fun,” Strunk said. “I got to meet a lot of the crew that works on this movie in a very in-depth way.”
Senior Anna Witte is the captain of Delta Gamma’s Little 500 team and was a stunt double for one of the film’s main characters, a role she obtained through an application on an online form.
Witte said shoot days were often long, lasting for 10 hours or more. Although she said there was frequent downtime, she had to be prepared to jump in at a moment’s notice if production needed her.
Some shoot days had unconventional hours — including from sundown to sunrise, twice. Witte said what stuck out to her the most about the filming process was how chaotic it could be.
“There are so many moving pieces and communication that needs to be constantly happening,” Witte said.
Witte was also given a period-appropriate outfit and had her hair braided by the hair and makeup team. She said some extras were even given wigs to keep the film accurate to the era.
Production shot at several spots around the city, beyond the university campus. The iconic Bloomington bar Nick’s English Hut was transformed for the film, according to Nick’s employee Zachary Smith.
“They rented out the bar for three to four days and completely transformed it into the classic ‘80s version of our pub,” Smith said.
To make the bar authentic, production removed the TVs and other modern devices.
Allowing for filming, the city temporarily closed several streets around town. Parts of Grant, Seventh, Kirkwood and Dunn streets, as well as Park Avenue, were closed.
For the people of Bloomington, the film offered a modern opportunity to see the city represented on the big screen.
“I met such cool people and I got to meet a lot of the crew that works on this movie in a very in-depth way,” Strunk said.
