Westporter, 11, Makes Film Debut on Valentine’s Day

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Westporter Ryder Chasin, 11, is looking forward to Valentine’s Day, but not because he has a special love. That’s when the sixth grader at Coleytown Middle School makes his film debut. WestportNow.com Image
Ryder Chasin: sixth grader at Coleytown Middle School. Contributed photo

Ryder has a role in ”Definitely, Maybe,” a Universal Studios release opening nationwide Feb. 14. The romantic comedy stars Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine,"), Ryan Reynolds ("Smokin’ Aces"), and Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener").

Ryder, who enjoys beat boxing, baseball and playing double bass with the Coleytown Jazz Band, has been acting in local theater groups and camps, including Westport’s Center Stage Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Norwalk’s Crystal Theatre, and Stamford’s Curtain Call Theatre, among others.

“At first, I was supposed to be just an extra,” he said. “But the director (Adam Brooks) asked me to improvise on set. After that first day of shooting, they called me back and asked me to do a line in the script that the director wrote especially for me.”

He said the line early in the film “got such a huge laugh in preliminary audience screenings that they asked me to come back for a close up shoot of the same scene.”

“Definitely, Maybe” begins when a 10-year-old girl, fresh from “The Big Talk” in fifth grade health class, starts to question her divorcing father about his life before marriage.

What follows is a sweet, cleverly woven story of three relationships, with true identities not revealed until near the end of the move.

Ryder, who attended preschool at Westport’s Earhplace and then King’s Highway Elementary School, shot the scenes in October and December of 2005 on location at a New York City school and in May of 2007 at a sound stage for close-ups.

“I feel excited because this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss out on,” he said.

Ryder can be seen playing Captain Von Trapp in Westport’s Center Stage production of “The Sound of Music” on Feb. 2 and 3 at Seabury Center.

He is the only child of Rob and Holly Chasin who make their home on White Woods Lane.

Posted 01/12 at 09:25 PM

Comments: Comment Policy

Congratulations, Ryder! Looking forward to your film debut.

Posted by Alice Shelton on January 13, 2008 at 12:01 PM | #

Congrats Ryder. Can’t wait to see you on the big screen. I can yell out - “I know him!”

Posted by Frank Grazynski on January 13, 2008 at 04:05 PM | #

Cheers to you, Ryder. What an exciting experience.

Posted by John Horkel on January 13, 2008 at 04:12 PM | #

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