Oscar-nominated writer and director John Sayles apparently believes your average reporter looks like a guy who got his hair cut with a rototiller.
Sayles has cast Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in the speaking role of "Reporter No. 1" in "Silver City," which begins filming in Denver on Tuesday.

But this was no case of stunt casting, film representatives insist. Hickenlooper asked for an audition, was put to the (screen) test like everyone else and won the role fair and square, they say.

"We aren't always looking for a professional actor for certain roles," said location casting director Kathleen Broyles, who lives in Pueblo. "A lot of time what we are looking for is a look."

Well, sure, but there's "a look" and then there's that look.

"I might have to spend some time following reporters around, learning their nuances, like exactly how they get that kind of slightly bad posture," Hickenlooper said. "Actually, my posture is pretty bad in its own right, so I think I might fit right in."

Hickenlooper said he had no idea he was being considered for the role of a reporter.

"I just said, 'Whatever they needed was fine with me,"' he said. "When they said I was going to be a reporter, I just said, 'Well, I just go forth in order to serve."'

Broyles told Hickenlooper "he's going to owe (real reporters) big-time because they are going to get all over him for this."

Hickenlooper is ready.

"Lord knows you guys have been hassling me and following me around long enough that this could be payback time," said the mayor, who mused that he might emulate the "slightly slouched" looks of former Denver Post reporters Peter Sleeth and Mark Eddy.

Twenty speaking roles are being cast locally for Sayles' film, not including up to 800 extras, and Hickenlooper was one of 238 who were seen in private auditions. When Hickenlooper called Broyles seeking a shot, she said yes, "and he came down right away," she said.

Hickenlooper will have five lines and will be needed on the set for less than one day in the second week of October.

"Ironically, my character is following a political campaign and asking the candidate questions," Hickenlooper said.

"Silver City," which will film in Denver and Leadville through Oct. 31, is a murder mystery about a gubernatorial campaign and disgraced investigative reporter in Colorado (played not by Hickenlooper but Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper). Just before a local election, a man's body is discovered in a lake.

The movie is expected to be in theaters next summer.

Hickenlooper's name isn't the only eye-catching one on the list of 18 locals who have won speaking roles (two parts are yet to be cast). Among the other locals cast were Westword editor Patricia Calhoun, who plays Reporter No. 2 to Hickenlooper's No. 1; Denis Berckefeldt, a respected local actor and politician who last year lost to U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., in the race for McInnis' House seat; Maggie Roswell, the voice of Maude Flanders on "The Simpsons," whose character was killed off when the actress moved to Colorado; and Michael Shalhoub, brother of Golden Globe Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub ("Monk").

"Silver City" will not be Hickenlooper's first film role. He had a spot in his cousin George Hickenlooper's film "The Man From Elysian Fields" in 2001. "I was in a scene with Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies," the mayor said. "I was a manager in a Pottery Barn who popped the bubble of their idyllic reminiscences."

And last month, Hickenlooper created quite a sensation when he made a surprise appearance in the opening performance of "Sylvia" to christen the new Avenue Theater.

Hickenlooper said he is not worried if critics suggest there may be better uses of a mayor's time than on a movie set.

"Part of my job is to promote the city and make sure that people recognize that Denver is a place where you work hard but you also have fun," he said. "Something like this is good for the city in the sense for (people to see) me enjoying my job and enjoying my life. I think it's important."

Sayles is considered an actor's dream, and one reason is that every actor in his films makes the same amount of money per day as everyone else, a rate determined by a contract with the Screen Actors Guild. That means on the day Hickenlooper works, he will be paid the same amount as big-time stars Cooper, Daryl Hannah, Thora Birch and Tim Roth.

"Can you believe it?" Hickenlooper said. "I can't wait until I get my SAG card."

(NOTE by Presca - Ohhhh...Tony and Tim in the same article?  I like it!!)