When Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam debuted on the Disney Channel Sept. 3, U of G student Peter Hewitt was watching closely for a familiar face — his own.
Hewitt appears as a background actor in the film, which stars Demi Lovado and the Jonas Brothers.
“It was surreal being on set with them,” says Hewitt, a third-year marketing management student from Pembroke, Ont. “But at the same time, it gives you a better understanding of what goes into making movies. It’s amazing to know that millions of people will watch it.”
Hewitt says getting cast wasn’t all that difficult for him: “I’ve since heard that there were people from all over the world scrambling to be part of it. I was lucky, I guess.”
He learned that part of the film was being shot just outside of Guelph at the Rockwood Conservation Centre after a visit to the site with friends last September. He saw replicas of the Camp Rock cabins and Camp Rock signs hidden under garbage bags on the hiking trails, and the canoes at the beach had the film’s logo on them. After some online sleuthing when he got home, he found a blog post about the need for background actors for the Camp Rock sequel.
“I didn’t know if it was legit or not, but I sent in my picture and some other information anyway. Three weeks later, I got an email saying I was picked. I was given instructions to bring two changes of clothes and told where and when to meet the bus for a ride to the set. That was it,” he says.
Hewitt spent two days on set — one in Haliburton and one in Rockwood.
Although he can’t disclose details about what he was doing on set — other than to say he was cast as a camper — he says he was part of some individual shots with Kevin, Nick and Joe. He got to know the musicians a bit more after being asked to play a game of baseball with them. Filmmaking is something that Hewitt has been interested in since elementary school. He dabbled in video production after getting a camera for Christmas in 2006. Last fall, he produced a one-minute video, “Where I Live, Learn and Play,” that won a Student Housing Services competition.