Extras wanted for film at Hoover

The former washing machine plant closed in March

Thousands of unpaid wannabe film extras are being asked to turn up at a redundant factory in Merthyr Tydfil.

The producers of Dagenham Girls, the story of 300 machinists who went on strike over equal pay, want the unpaid extras for the film's opening scene.

The filmmakers are taking over the Hoover plant, which closed in March, for two weeks.

They recruited 150 extras earlier this month but now need "literally thousands" to turn up early on Friday.

Producer Elizabeth Karlsen said: "We're hoping that thousands of people who want to just be in this shot will want to take part.

"We're just asking that people wear dark clothes and be there at seven o'clock [in the morning]."

Golden Globe winner Bob Hoskins is one of the film's stars

The film's stars - including Golden Globe winners Bob Hoskins and Sally Hawkins - are also descending on the south Wales town during two weeks of filming which begins on Friday.

Dagenham Girls is directed by Nigel Cole, who was also behind the hugely successful Calendar Girls and written by William Ivory

It tells the feel-good story of Rita, a feisty factory worker who inadvertently challenges one of the biggest corporations in the world.

Working in extremely impoverished conditions and for long arduous hours, the women at the Ford Dagenham plant finally downed tools in 1968 when they are reclassified as "unskilled".

The women take on their US paymasters, the local community, and finally the government itself, to strike an everlasting blow for equal pay for women.

'Meat and potatoes'

Ms Karlsen said the original Dagenham factory at the heart of the story is no longer standing, and the Merthyr plant, which closed down earlier this year after six decades of washing machine production, was "aesthetically just right" as a stand-in location.

She said the set's proximity to Cardiff and Wales' film facilities also made it an ideal setting.

About 800 local people volunteered to take part as paid extras in the film at two casting days held earlier this month, and Ms Karlsen said they were delighted with the interest they had received.

"But now we really need the help of many more to come forward...and that it is nice and sunny," she said.

Scenes for the film are also being shot in the south of England, and at Westminster where Miranda Richardson will play former Labour government minister Barbara Castle.

But Ms Karlsen said the Merthyr scenes would provide the "meat and potatoes" of the film, which is expected to be released in summer 2010.