UALR sophomore Mary Ellen Hunthrop, a communications major with a minor in dance performance from White Hall, landed a star-studded internship-of-sorts this fall. She spent a week as a stunt double and stand-in for Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon in Dumas, where the film “Mud” was on location.

The movie, with a planned theatrical release in 2012, also stars Matthew McConaughey, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Sarah Paulson, and Ray McKinnon.

Although she has performed in theatrical productions since she was little, Hunthrop told InArkansas.com:

“This was completely different. There’s lot of waiting around, that’s one thing I definitely learned. But it gave me a chance to keep up with my school work. I have a lot of dance classes and some core curriculum classes this semester, and my professors let me off for a week. They all said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I’ve always been good at keeping up with school.”

Is there more film work in her future? “I hope to do something else — commercials, something like that,” Hunthrop says. “I guess I got the acting bug.”