Eager for their 15 minutes of fame, seasoned actors and novices alike flooded Metcalf Hall Saturday — some dressed as World War II soldiers and vintage nurses — in an attempt to stand out in a crowd of more than 2,500 acting extra hopefuls.

Boston University hosted an open casting call for Ashecliffe, Martin Scorsese’s newest film, an adaptation of the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Ashecliffe tells the story of a U.S. Marshall as he investigates the escape of a murderess from a mental institution. The film will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams.

“Usually there’s something about a person that’s what you need [in an extra],” casting director Grant Wilfley said. “We can usually pick up on that. It’s sort of an eye; we have a casting eye.”

Wilfley said he was looking to cast 700 extras to play medical staff, mental patients, soldiers and Holocaust concentration camp victims.

Though the decision for BU to host the casting call was somewhat last minute, director of BU Conference Services Diane O’Brien Wall said it was a good one.

“BU is centrally located, easy to get to and close to the T,” she said. “We offer a good facility, and it worked out for them.”

Wilfley said BU was accommodating, making the process easier for him.

“They were happy to have [the casing agency], which made it really easy,” Wilfley said.

The casting call attracted many local members of the Screen Actors Guild.

“You open yourself up to other experiences, even if it’s [as an] extra,” SAG member Peggy Holzemer said. “I’m always taught in the theater background that there are no small roles, that everybody’s a part of the team.”

Many BU students also attended to find their place under the sun.

“I’ve made a lot of movies with my friends at home and . . . for my school, but I’ve always been behind the camera; I’ve never been in front of it,” College of Communication freshman Elizabeth Peterson said. “[It would be] totally different for me.”

Peterson said being cast in Ashecliffe would not only be an “incredible” experience, but it might also have an influence on what she decides to major in.

“I’m kind of in between whether I want to stick with film or not,” she said. “I think being on set and actually seeing what it would be like would really persuade me either way . . . It’s just so exciting because it’s real; it’s not just one of my homemade movies.”

Like Peterson, COM junior Justin Drobinksi said he would be excited to explore the other side of the camera lens.

“It’d be really different and interesting to be in front of the camera – especially if I could see Scorsese work with an actor,” he said. “It’d be very valuable to see a director of such stature to be actually working.”

Filming will take place in Boston, Medfield and Taunton beginning March 6 and continuing through June, Wilfley told the hopefuls. It has a tentative release date in 2009.