Choosing Actors (Acting Ability First – Look Second)
Before you can make any final decisions on casting, you must know where you stand “along the food chain” of any film you direct. In other words, what are the “office politics?” Are you a first-time director or are you an award winning director with 30 years experience? These facts will ultimately determine your relationship (and influence) with actors, producers, studios and networks.
We have now reached the most decisive and crucial moment in the casting process – the time when everyone involved gets to voice their “opinion” on which actors they want for each role. And unfortunately, this is also the time when the “casting bottleneck” could begin to rear its ugly head.
I firmly believe that the most important factor to remember when casting is to choose actors based on “acting ability first and look second!” Of course there are always going to be exceptions, but if you start with the premise that you want to cast actors who are believable because they gave the best organic performances, (rather than “they look like the character”) you will be better prepared to get the performances you need on set.
Audiences will never know if you wanted a different actor for a role. They only see (on the screen) whom you have chosen. And if your story is compelling and the actors are believable, the audience will be engaged in your film.
As a director you will find yourself in situations where the “money people” (producers, executives, investors etc.) love the look of an actor because they “are” the character they have always visualized, and you could be put under pressure to hire that actor.
If you agree with their choice (because you also know the actor is a talented performer based on what you’ve seen during the casting process), then everyone is happy!
But if you are “way down the production food chain” you may have to suck it up and improve your directing skills because there’s a chance that an actor who was approved by the “money people” may look the part, but their performance range and acting skills are weak. However, if you disagree with their choices and you are “high up the production food chain”, then casting actors you want may not be a big issue.
It may seem like I’m picking on the “money people” here but I’m not. If you are a director and you choose an actor just because they look the part (even after the producers wanted someone else who was a better actor) then you will have to live with your choice. And once on set, it’s usually too late for anyone to say “I told you so!”
Casting sessions are not just to pick actors for a role they are also a very useful way for a director to improve their script. When you listen to actors performing a scene in the script, you get a real feel for the words and how they flow when different actors read the same scenes. You can actually see (or hear) what works and what doesn’t and it’s from the casting sessions that many of your script changes will happen.
Copyright (c) 2020 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
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