Casting your film is one of the most important tasks on your list as a director. Finding the right actors can make or break your film. They need to embody characters that so far only exist on the page, and work as a team with the rest of your ensemble.
This week I want to talk about how we cast Wild Boys, and give you an insight into our process:
- Why your first round of casting should be self tapes
- Why chemistry is king
- Why finding the right actor for your project is the most important metric
The only thing most filmmakers know about casting is “get someone famous to be in your film.” I’ll shine a light on the process of casting non-famous people, and what it’s like working with limited resources when casting your film. Once you understand the value of a solid casting process, the path to finding great actors for your film becomes a lot easier.
Let’s roll.
The Basics
Most films with a budget use a casting director to help find the perfect talent for the film. The benefits of working with a casting director is their multitude of relationships with actors, agents and managers. They see a lot of actors in their day to day, and can whip up lists of potential actors for you like it’s magic. If you’re anything like us, you can’t afford that and have to figure out casting on your own.
Without a casting director you have to do the heavy lifting yourself.
Before we dive into the specifics I want to give you an overview of how the casting process works, so we’re on the same page:
- Audition: the first audition is like a speed date with the actors. They get a short (1-2 pages) scene to read as the character they’re auditioning for. There is no reason why you shouldn’t make this first round of auditions a self-tape. The actors send you a video of their read, rather than having to go somewhere in person for a 3 minute audition.
- Callbacks: the second round of auditions is called a callback. You pick a select few actors from the first round of auditions you'd like to work with more closely. It’s a second chance to work with the actors, and get to know them a little better. This is a great time to get some facetime with the actor’s you’re seriously considering for your film.
- Chemistry read: the third part of the audition process is a chemistry read. This is where you bring your top candidates for the different roles together to perform a scene. This part is crucial to figure out how two actors work, not only on their own, but in the context of the film with the characters they’ll be acting with.
I also prefer to spend time with the actors we’re seriously considering for a role outside of the auditioning process. Getting to know them as people, and not their characters is important for figuring out if the two of you have what it takes to work well together.
Cast your net wide
The very first step to getting a great cast for your film is to attract the right people. We’re lucky to be in a global film hub like Los Angeles, where the amount of talented actors is astounding. If you’re in the same situation, there are websites, apps, services etc. that help you upload your project and put out a casting call. If you’re in a smaller town, where the film community isn’t as well developed, you’ll have to be more creative.
- Reach out to other local filmmakers for recommendations
- Get in touch with local theater groups
- Join forums or interest groups on social media
- Put up fliers all over town (I actually did this and got 100s of people to audition for my high school film)
Regardless of how you go about attracting talent, it’s important to have a good, clear description of your project and the roles you’re casting for. I like making it crystal clear what the film is about, what type of film it is, and who the characters are.
You want to attract the right kind of actors, and part of that is turning the wrong people away.
When describing your project be honest. If it’s unpaid, say it’s unpaid. If it’s paid, say what the day rate is. This will make sure the actors that are willing to work within your limitations find you. It’s also important to include whether the project has any union affiliation.
When looking for the right actor for a role, keep an open mind and cast a wide net. Even if you have a very specific image of what a character looks like in your head, don’t let that narrow down who you search for. In your character description, focus on their qualities, their personality and their journey. Unless physical descriptions are 1000% crucial for the character, don’t include them.
I’ve been surprised many times when casting a film. I've often cast actors who were totally different from what I had in my mind when I first started out.
In this first round of searching, give yourself the option of being surprised. I also like doing this first round of auditions via self tape. It’s easier for you to review auditions on your own time, and it saves the actors from spending hours on an audition that lasts minutes.
When you have a large pool of self tapes for the first round of auditions, you get to spend time reviewing a lot of different performances. Not only does it help you see a lot of variety, but it will also help you home in on what kind of actor you’re looking for.
Why you need to check their chemistry
Once you’ve gone through all the self tapes and made your selection it’s time for callbacks.
There are two important reasons to do callback auditions:
- Meeting the actors in person
- Giving them feedback and seeing how they work with your direction.
Because you did all your initial auditions virtually, you now have a selective list of actors for your callbacks. This means you can see a smaller number of actors, and spend more time with them in the auditioning room.
When you meet them in person you’ll get a better sense of them as people. My favorite part of callbacks is getting to work with the actors. I pick scenes that can be played in a variety of ways. Depending on the actors first run through, I give them some feedback and try the scene again. This is not so much about getting a better performance out of them, but seeing how they react to feedback. It's important to find actors who are willing and able to work with your direction.
If I have some of the lead characters cast already, I like to bring them into the room to play opposite their potential scene partners.
On Wild Boys we cast Kate and the Wild Boys as we wrote the scripts. Kate, Vincent and Jordan had all been in school together, and had tons of experience acting with each other.
Their chemistry was obvious and made working with them as a director easy.
When looking for the rest of the cast members, we included the three of them in the auditioning process. This helped us find actors who could add to the already strong chemistry.
For the villain role, we cast one of my actor friends who I’d worked with on several projects, Vince Major. He came in as a great counterpoint to the main trio, and was able to match the tone of the story, while giving it a different dimension than what our heroes did.
For the rest of the cast we auditioned actors against the ones we’d already cast, and were able to combine callback auditions with chemistry reads.
As a director, my main goal when auditioning for chemistry is making sure
- the actors listen to each other,
- they work off of each other’s performances
- you feel like “they’re all in the same movie.”
Sometimes you’ll find a great actor, but when you put them with the rest of your cast something is off. In those cases I always focus on the team over individuals.
I want to work with an ensemble that make each other better as a whole, rather than focusing on themselves.
Best doesn’t always mean right
For the role of the Sheriff in Wild Boys we knew we wanted an older woman as a contrast to Kate. Most older actors have a lot of experience by the sheer consequence of having acted for a long time.
We were looking for someone who was willing to
- work for no pay
- come stay up in a cabin with a bunch of youngsters for a week
- and trust a first time feature director with their performance.
That’s asking a lot.
We auditioned some wonderful actors. And we were completely honest about the circumstances of how the film would be made. There were actors with more credits, more experience, more accolades and education, but let me tell you why Alyssa Padia was the perfect casting choice for us.
Alyssa had recently taken up acting after a long career in a completely different field. She had plenty of life experience, but was brand new to acting. She had the perfect look and temperament we were looking for.
When she came to audition she had the same giddy excitement we were feeling about making the film.
She hit it off with the rest of the cast immediately, and showed she was willing to put in the work. When we emphasized she’d have to drive 3-4 hours to come film up in the mountains, and stay in a cabin with the rest of us, she loved the idea.
Making Wild Boys was in many ways more like summer camp than a traditional movie making experience. There was no star treatment, no luxuries. Finding an actor who could not only carry the role of the Sheriff, but also enjoy our unorthodox process was a huge task. In Alyssa we found both, and I’m so happy with our choice.
The point of this story is to show you that the human aspect of casting is a crucial part of assembling your group of actors. On paper we shouldn’t have cast Alyssa. But because we took the time to get to know her, and we communicated well how we were going to make the film, casting her became a no-brainer.
And cut!
That does it for this week. As always, thanks for reading.
Hit reply and let me know what you found most helpful this week—I’d love to hear from you!
Next week we’ll talk about why we didn’t go after “name talent” for Wild Boys, and the dangers of doing so for small indie films.
See you next Saturday,
Morten
