Casting "The Rapture"
Christine Chapman, Producer/ Casting/ Wardrobe & Make-up Designer
When wearing many hats, the trick is to wear one at a time. Luckily, on a production of this nature, I got one job out of the way early. Casting the film with Johnny and the other Producers took place in October and November of 2005. Why so early? This is a very action and stunt heavy film. Even actors with stunt doubles have to be believable on camera in action sequences. We needed plenty of time for the actors to get in shape before Johnny began putting them into the heavily choreographed fights.
Johnny was implicit that we employ as many actors as possible with actual martial arts background. But, we also had to find actors who could ACT. That is not as easy as it sounds, particularly at an open casting call. How can you separate the wheat from the chaff in this situation? Improv. Every person who came through the door was put into a two to five person improv group. The pairs were for those who wished only to be considered for a lead role. The groups were for those who just wanted a shot at anything.
We had a gauntlet of sorts set up to get everyone through the process. First, each actor filled out our forms and NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) at which time they were assigned an audition number. Then, they were photographed. You’d be amazed at how many ‘actors’ either come in with no headshot or look NOTHING like the one they’ve attached their resume to. We then grouped them into pairs or groups for the audition. If we asked actors to stay for round two, they then went to the wire-work staging area so that we could check their comfort level while ‘flying’ in the wire harness.
When Chandler or James finally escorted them into the back garage area at the Hyacinth Lofts for the audition, they came face to face with…. Me and about eight other producers behind the ‘big table’. We had a camera rolling, manned by the pleasant and helpful Larry Longstreth. Johnny and I had planned the process so that he could move freely through the building, no-one guessing who he was, so that he could observe the actors. I was the ‘decoy’ so to speak. They saw me at the middle of the big table, I was the one who talked to them and directed them… in short, I got to be the scary director person.
The improv groups were a mixed bag. We brought them in, gave them a scenario (there was just a car accident/you are planning a murder/ you’re on your way to the Super Bowl and one of you lost the tickets/ You get a phone call that your mother just died…) Then we gave them 30 seconds to map it out and ‘go!’
In truth, I was the casting director that day because I have 30+ years experience in acting and directing. It was a fairly easy transition to casting director. You know what the production needs, what the director wants. You spend hours sloughing through a great many people who are perfectly nice, but not what you want, while looking for the gold.
On the table in front of me were 5 folders. Once the improv was over and the actors left the room, I rated them on a 1-5 scale (1 being the no way in hell rating.), asked for the others’ input and filed them. If they got a 5 or a 4+, we asked them to wait. Chandler got the juiciest job of the day by far- he was the “hatchet man”. He’d lead the actors back to the staging area, assuring them we’d be in touch if needed. Then he’d follow the ‘keepers’ and hold them back from the rest for a moment, and ask them to stay for the next round of auditions. In most of the groups, we didn’t find one person to hold for round two.
The pair improvs were far more fruitful. Most of those actors were invited because we considered them lead material. And they were. If you are an actor reading this who was in a pair for a lead in this film, know that you did a great job in your audition, you just weren’t right for the part. That piece of advice is a good one to keep close for any professional actor. 99% of the time, you were wonderful, but not what the director was looking for. It is truly a “needle in the haystack” process.
If you as an actor want to know what the casting director is looking for, the answer is simple, yet amorphous: Make an unusual choice with the character. It’s easy to read the words on the page, take the first characterization that comes to your head, and go. What I look for are those who THINK. The standouts of the day were people who were ultimately cast in leads or who had parts in the film added to accommodate their talents. Here are examples: When improvving, “your mother just died”, Brian Richeson (JOB) seemed to be going the usual route, until the actor who was his father hugged him. Brian turned his face ever so slightly to the camera as a smile flitted across his face. Now THAT’s an interesting acting choice! Made me ask a lot of character questions- why’s he happy? Did he do it? Plan it? Is he getting a lot of money? Was his mom a monster? Great stuff!
In the “car accident” group improv, we had a couple of great standouts. Brandy Seymour (YNARB) decided that even though I’d described the accident as a fender bender, someone had died. She went a surprising comic route, screaming whenever anyone “stepped on” the invisible body. Mark Colella (COLE), a talented stand-up comedian, also went for the funny in the same improv, playing a mentally handicapped witness of the whole thing. I still remember him turning to the cop saying, “I think he was reading a book”.
Mary Faktor (MASTER BISO) was definitely not at first blush the choice for the character. But again, she made INTERESTING choices in her improv, “planning a murder”. She elected to be the person who couldn’t follow through and completely lost her composure at even the thought of it. I remember Exec. Producer Peter Taylor leaning over to whisper to me, “Now that’s acting!”
We had been clear that we needed actors for the leads with martial arts backgrounds. Many actors put martial arts backgrounds on their resumes and then looked flummoxed that we actually expected them to demonstrate their skills. Another note for actors: Be sure you actually HAVE a skill before you claim it. It will come back to bite you in the end.
On a technical note: we did miss one important thing in this process- FOOD for the production team! We were so busy, we didn’t even think of it, and subsisted on popcorn, water and Twizzlers for the day. Not great brain food.
We saw about sixty actors for two lead and two supporting roles and various smaller parts. We stayed an hour and a half after our scheduled time to accommodate actors who’d arrived late. Don’t arrive late. It’s stressful for the production team. What we wanted to spend our time on was matching up the several actors in round two and seeing who worked with whom. We ended up rushing that part a great deal because quite a few actors had yet to be seen in round one. It is a problem with open calls that I doubt anyone will ever solve.
At the end of the day, I suspected we’d struck our gold. I knew we had acting-wise. Johnny was not so sure, wanting better trained martial artists, so erring on the side of caution, we scheduled a call back. It was an invitation only event, with actors coming from three states to hopefully lock down one of two lead roles.
We had two sets of ‘brothers’ (JOB & MIDAEL) to do a read-off. Annie Kitral (DR. GUTIERREZ) was there to read with them so that we could get a feel of the family/ tension the roles required. Again, most of the producers were there, but this time we were in Johnny’s office, camera rolling. Our problem was two-fold. The better martial artists were extremely attractive (a must) and obviously physically able to handle the stunt-work. The other pair were charismatic and gorgeous, and better actors.
So our dilemma: Athletes or actors? Younger or older? Could we mix them up and have some of both? I put all these poor men through their paces for a couple of hours, and they bore it wonderfully. As did Annie, reading the same couple of sides over and over again while we puzzled it out.
In the end, the actors won out. Why? Because it is show business. We are making a product, and we (and those who are investing) want it to sell. Any of these four actors would have been fine in the roles, but we needed more than fine. We needed “Wow!” We needed actors who could cross genre boundaries and gain an audience among young women/teens. We firmly believe that the pairing of Brian Richeson and George Michael Tutie (MIDAEL) will bring us that.
A side note on George. He came in just hoping to get a background extra part. He had little to no acting experience, but was enthusiastic as hell. Never let anyone tell you to not try. George Michael Tutie went from being a promising model to the lead in a feature film because he wasn’t afraid to show up and do what was asked of him. Rule #1- SHOW UP.
More from the trenches later. Christine
When wearing many hats, the trick is to wear one at a time. Luckily, on a production of this nature, I got one job out of the way early. Casting the film with Johnny and the other Producers took place in October and November of 2005. Why so early? This is a very action and stunt heavy film. Even actors with stunt doubles have to be believable on camera in action sequences. We needed plenty of time for the actors to get in shape before Johnny began putting them into the heavily choreographed fights.
Johnny was implicit that we employ as many actors as possible with actual martial arts background. But, we also had to find actors who could ACT. That is not as easy as it sounds, particularly at an open casting call. How can you separate the wheat from the chaff in this situation? Improv. Every person who came through the door was put into a two to five person improv group. The pairs were for those who wished only to be considered for a lead role. The groups were for those who just wanted a shot at anything.
We had a gauntlet of sorts set up to get everyone through the process. First, each actor filled out our forms and NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) at which time they were assigned an audition number. Then, they were photographed. You’d be amazed at how many ‘actors’ either come in with no headshot or look NOTHING like the one they’ve attached their resume to. We then grouped them into pairs or groups for the audition. If we asked actors to stay for round two, they then went to the wire-work staging area so that we could check their comfort level while ‘flying’ in the wire harness.
When Chandler or James finally escorted them into the back garage area at the Hyacinth Lofts for the audition, they came face to face with…. Me and about eight other producers behind the ‘big table’. We had a camera rolling, manned by the pleasant and helpful Larry Longstreth. Johnny and I had planned the process so that he could move freely through the building, no-one guessing who he was, so that he could observe the actors. I was the ‘decoy’ so to speak. They saw me at the middle of the big table, I was the one who talked to them and directed them… in short, I got to be the scary director person.
The improv groups were a mixed bag. We brought them in, gave them a scenario (there was just a car accident/you are planning a murder/ you’re on your way to the Super Bowl and one of you lost the tickets/ You get a phone call that your mother just died…) Then we gave them 30 seconds to map it out and ‘go!’
In truth, I was the casting director that day because I have 30+ years experience in acting and directing. It was a fairly easy transition to casting director. You know what the production needs, what the director wants. You spend hours sloughing through a great many people who are perfectly nice, but not what you want, while looking for the gold.
On the table in front of me were 5 folders. Once the improv was over and the actors left the room, I rated them on a 1-5 scale (1 being the no way in hell rating.), asked for the others’ input and filed them. If they got a 5 or a 4+, we asked them to wait. Chandler got the juiciest job of the day by far- he was the “hatchet man”. He’d lead the actors back to the staging area, assuring them we’d be in touch if needed. Then he’d follow the ‘keepers’ and hold them back from the rest for a moment, and ask them to stay for the next round of auditions. In most of the groups, we didn’t find one person to hold for round two.
The pair improvs were far more fruitful. Most of those actors were invited because we considered them lead material. And they were. If you are an actor reading this who was in a pair for a lead in this film, know that you did a great job in your audition, you just weren’t right for the part. That piece of advice is a good one to keep close for any professional actor. 99% of the time, you were wonderful, but not what the director was looking for. It is truly a “needle in the haystack” process.
If you as an actor want to know what the casting director is looking for, the answer is simple, yet amorphous: Make an unusual choice with the character. It’s easy to read the words on the page, take the first characterization that comes to your head, and go. What I look for are those who THINK. The standouts of the day were people who were ultimately cast in leads or who had parts in the film added to accommodate their talents. Here are examples: When improvving, “your mother just died”, Brian Richeson (JOB) seemed to be going the usual route, until the actor who was his father hugged him. Brian turned his face ever so slightly to the camera as a smile flitted across his face. Now THAT’s an interesting acting choice! Made me ask a lot of character questions- why’s he happy? Did he do it? Plan it? Is he getting a lot of money? Was his mom a monster? Great stuff!
In the “car accident” group improv, we had a couple of great standouts. Brandy Seymour (YNARB) decided that even though I’d described the accident as a fender bender, someone had died. She went a surprising comic route, screaming whenever anyone “stepped on” the invisible body. Mark Colella (COLE), a talented stand-up comedian, also went for the funny in the same improv, playing a mentally handicapped witness of the whole thing. I still remember him turning to the cop saying, “I think he was reading a book”.
Mary Faktor (MASTER BISO) was definitely not at first blush the choice for the character. But again, she made INTERESTING choices in her improv, “planning a murder”. She elected to be the person who couldn’t follow through and completely lost her composure at even the thought of it. I remember Exec. Producer Peter Taylor leaning over to whisper to me, “Now that’s acting!”
We had been clear that we needed actors for the leads with martial arts backgrounds. Many actors put martial arts backgrounds on their resumes and then looked flummoxed that we actually expected them to demonstrate their skills. Another note for actors: Be sure you actually HAVE a skill before you claim it. It will come back to bite you in the end.
On a technical note: we did miss one important thing in this process- FOOD for the production team! We were so busy, we didn’t even think of it, and subsisted on popcorn, water and Twizzlers for the day. Not great brain food.
We saw about sixty actors for two lead and two supporting roles and various smaller parts. We stayed an hour and a half after our scheduled time to accommodate actors who’d arrived late. Don’t arrive late. It’s stressful for the production team. What we wanted to spend our time on was matching up the several actors in round two and seeing who worked with whom. We ended up rushing that part a great deal because quite a few actors had yet to be seen in round one. It is a problem with open calls that I doubt anyone will ever solve.
At the end of the day, I suspected we’d struck our gold. I knew we had acting-wise. Johnny was not so sure, wanting better trained martial artists, so erring on the side of caution, we scheduled a call back. It was an invitation only event, with actors coming from three states to hopefully lock down one of two lead roles.
We had two sets of ‘brothers’ (JOB & MIDAEL) to do a read-off. Annie Kitral (DR. GUTIERREZ) was there to read with them so that we could get a feel of the family/ tension the roles required. Again, most of the producers were there, but this time we were in Johnny’s office, camera rolling. Our problem was two-fold. The better martial artists were extremely attractive (a must) and obviously physically able to handle the stunt-work. The other pair were charismatic and gorgeous, and better actors.
So our dilemma: Athletes or actors? Younger or older? Could we mix them up and have some of both? I put all these poor men through their paces for a couple of hours, and they bore it wonderfully. As did Annie, reading the same couple of sides over and over again while we puzzled it out.
In the end, the actors won out. Why? Because it is show business. We are making a product, and we (and those who are investing) want it to sell. Any of these four actors would have been fine in the roles, but we needed more than fine. We needed “Wow!” We needed actors who could cross genre boundaries and gain an audience among young women/teens. We firmly believe that the pairing of Brian Richeson and George Michael Tutie (MIDAEL) will bring us that.
A side note on George. He came in just hoping to get a background extra part. He had little to no acting experience, but was enthusiastic as hell. Never let anyone tell you to not try. George Michael Tutie went from being a promising model to the lead in a feature film because he wasn’t afraid to show up and do what was asked of him. Rule #1- SHOW UP.
More from the trenches later. Christine
posted by The Rapture Blog at 1:41 PM
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