ABOUT 200 hopefuls will take the first step to appearing in a movie version of Thomas Hardy’s classic Far from the Madding Crowd this week.

An appeal for extras – featured in the Oxford Mail – drew a response of about 200 people for the Fox Searchlight Pictures production to be shot in Oxfordshire next month.

Wardrobe fittings will take place at an undisclosed city location today.

Great Gatsby star Carey Mulligan will play Bathsheba Everdene while Frost/Nixon’s Michael Sheen will play William Boldwood.