Seacliff resident Derek Abbott said the DreamWorks location scout was looking for a certain type of house for external shots to be filmed in October.
Mr Abbott did not know what movie he was scouting for, but auditions were held in Wellington on Saturday for girls aged between 4 and 6, to work alongside X-Men star Michael Fassbender on the movie The Light Between Oceans, which is being produced DreamWorks.
A casting call for the part on the Star Now website said the film was being shot in New Zealand from late September.
According to the Internet Movie Database, the film, based on a book of the same name, will star Fassbender in the main role, Tom Sherbourne.
Rachel Weisz is rumoured to be playing his wife.
It will be directed by Derek Cianfrance, whose previous films include Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines.
The book is set on an island off the coast of Western Australia.
Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin Jennings would neither ''confirm or deny'' whether he knew if DreamWorks was filming parts of The Light Between Oceans in the Dunedin area.
