REAL-LIFE students, nurses and taxi drivers from across Adelaide will star alongside Oscar-nominated actor Clive Owen in Scott Hicks's new $18.5 million movie.

The Boys are Back, which will start filming on September 29, will feature real people in their own workplaces as extras and also in small roles.

Even 30 or so hacks from The Advertiser will make a brief appearance in the movie when the production shifts to the newspaper's Waymouth St offices on October 11.

"We're getting real journalists, real students from Kangarilla Primary School, real nurses and doctors from Flinders Private Hospital and Qantas staff at the airport," Scene to Screen Studios casting director Wizzy Evans said.

Non-professionals will make up about 20 per cent of the extras and small parts.

"We get `actuals' (non professionals) if the job looks as if it will be more authentic if people know what they're doing," Ms Evans said.

The Boys are Back stars Owen (Closer, Children of Men) as a sports writer who becomes a single parent of two young boys in tragic circumstances and has to learn how to be a decent dad.

Hicks said he wanted to ensure that the movie was both credible and authentic.

"I like to see the reality of the situation so I can ground it in, even if in the (finished) film it gets a little bit away from that," he said.

Hicks said during his scouting visit this week that the reality of modern newspapers was different from how he had imagined it.

"It's quite different to how it's portrayed. It's quieter and a lot more corporate," he said.

Advertiser executive sports editor Peter Dawe has been hired as a consultant on the film, to help ensure certain scenes ring true.

He'll be attending filming at the SA Cricket Ground press box, Adelaide Aquatic Centre and at AAMI Stadium - which will double for Melbourne Park for scenes set at the Australian Open.

"One scene sees Clive try to cover the Australian Open from the TV because he's at home with a sick kid," Dawe said.

"Then his boss rings up and says he's going to the Open and he'll see him there."

Filming also will take place at a McLaren Flat vineyard.

Unfortunately for would-be extras, Ms Evans said no more applications would be accepted.

However, she is on the hunt for a set of 18-month-old Indian/Caucasian twins.

The Boys are Back has been estimated to be worth $6.8 million to the state economy.

The production will wrap on November 28, with post production completed by mid-2009.