Last fall, hundreds of people lined up outside the Zembo Mosque in an open call for extras casting to score a part in the movie Lucky Numbers. The film, starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow, was shot locally last year and, after a slight name change (it was originally entitled simply Numbers), it is set to debut in theatres nationwide on October 27.

Loosely based on a real lottery scandal that happened in 1980 at the WTAE-TV studios in Pittsburgh, and often referred to as the "666 Fix," Lucky Numbers is a comedy/drama about local television weatherman, Russ Richards (Travolta), who, after having difficulty keeping up with his extravagant lifestyle, concocts a scheme with the station lotto ball girl, Crystal Latroy (Kudrow), to rig the state’s lottery drawing — but what seems like a great idea soon runs wild.

Along with Travolta (The General’s Daughter, Battlefield Earth) and Kudrow ("Friends," Hanging Up) — as well as a cast of others, including Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs), Michael Rapaport (Beautiful Girls, Bamboozled) and Ed O’Neill ("Married … With Children," The Bone Collector) — the film will also showcase a slew of familiar sights and recognizable faces. Shot at a variety of places in and around Harrisburg and Palmyra, including the glass tiered office on Front Street in Wormleysburg and the Denny’s Restaurant on the Carlisle Pike, Lucky Numbers was directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) and written by area-native Adam Resnick. Resnick, who grew up in the area and now lives in New York, began his career at the "Late Show with David Letterman" and has since written for "The Larry Sanders Show," created the television show "Get A Life," and co-wrote and directed the film Cabin Boy.

In addition to the excitement that was generated by the presence of John Travolta in the area for a lengthy amount of time, the actual filming of the movie itself has done great things for the region according to Brian Kreider, Director of the Pennsylvania Film Office. Kreider said that the recent shooting of Lucky Numbers — on the heels of the filming of a variety of independent movies and Winona Ryder’s Girl, Interrupted — proves that Harrisburg is an attractive site for filming and hopes that its success will help encourage filmmakers to use other parts of the state. "It was fantastic that Lucky Numbers came to Harrisburg … now it is clear that Harrisburg is a viable location [for filming] and [we] hope to do the same with Erie, Scranton, and Allentown."