♪♪
Kennedy: WE ARE CARETAKERS,
BECAUSE WE HAVE TO TAKE THESE ACTORS WHO COME IN
WHO ARE NERVOUS AND WHO HAVE HOPES AND DREAMS
AND ASPIRATIONS AND DESIRES AND ALL OF THOSE THINGS,
AND WE HAVE TO MAKE THEM FOCUS, DEAL WITH WHAT'S IN THE MOMENT,
AND GET THEM TO THE POINT
WHERE THEY, HOPEFULLY, WILL GET THE JOB.
AND THEN WE HAVE TO TAKE THE DIRECTORS
AND TAKE THEIR ANXIETIES AND THEIR NERVES
AND FOCUS THEM AND GIVE THEM THE BEST ACTOR
SO THAT THEY CAN REALIZE THE STORY THAT THEY'RE TELLING.
♪♪
"ARGO" WAS A PRETTY DAUNTING TASK.
THE MAIN REASON WHY IS
THAT BEN'S A STICKLER FOR AUTHENTICITY.
"ARGO" WAS THE LARGEST I'D DONE.
THERE WAS 120 PEOPLE.
I HAD THE WHITE HOUSE. I HAD THE STATE DEPARTMENT.
I HAD THE CIA. I HAD THE IRANIANS.
AND IT SO WAS ALL KIND OF COMPARTMENTALIZED.
WE HAD TO MAKE EACH ONE SPECIFIC,
'CAUSE THEY ALL HAD A DIFFERENT FEEL
AND A DIFFERENT KIND OF RHYTHM AND SPEED ABOUT THEM.
WE DIDN'T EVER SET OUT TO CAST PEOPLE WHO LOOKED LIKE THEM.
BUT WE DID WANT REAL-FEELING PEOPLE.
I GUESS MAYBE HAVING THE PICTURES UP THERE
LED US TO PEOPLE THAT LOOKED JUST LIKE THEM.
BUT IT WAS KIND OF UNCANNY AT THE END.
IT WAS PRETTY CLOSE.
AND THEY WERE ALL REALLY FANTASTIC.
WE HAD HAD THIS ONE CASTING SESSION,
AND I BROUGHT THIS ONE ACTOR BACK
LIKE THREE DIFFERENT TIMES
AND KEPT TRYING TO GET BEN TO HIRE HIM.
AND BEN WAS LIKE, "I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW."
AND I WAS LIKE, "PLEASE LET ME PUT HIM IN THE MOVIE.
JUST LET ME PUT HIM IN THE MOVIE AS, LIKE, A GUARD.
JUST GIVE HIM A LINE. LET ME PUT HIM IN AS A GUARD."
"FINE." HE JUST, LIKE, WANTS ME TO STOP TALKING,
SO HE'S LIKE, "FINE, FINE, DO IT."
SO I HAPPENED TO GO TO SET THAT DAY.
AND I RAN INTO THE PRODUCER.
HE GOES, "OH, MY GOD, DID YOU SEE THE GUY
THAT BEN UPGRADED FROM THE EXTRA PILE?"
AND I'M LIKE, "NO. WHO WAS THAT?"
AND THEY POINTED OUT, AND I SAID, "FARSHAD?!"
AND THEY GO, "YEAH, ISN'T HE GREAT? HE'S SO SCARY.
BEN PICKED HIM OUT OF THE EXTRAS."
AND I WAS LIKE, "OH, MY GOD."
I SAID, "BEN DID NOT PICK HIM OUT OF THE EXTRAS."
I SAID, "WE CAST FARSHAD. HE HAD A LINE."
WHEN HE GOT IN HIS UNIFORM AND HE STARTED DOING HIS STUFF,
HE WAS SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF THE ACTORS.
SO BEN THEN UPGRADED HIM
TO THE GUY THAT INTERROGATED THEM,
AND THEN HE STOLE THAT SCENE,
AND HE STOLE THE END OF THAT MOVIE.
WHEN YOU WALK AWAY FROM A FILM, YOU REMEMBER THE STORY,
BUT YOU REMEMBER THE PEOPLE WHO WERE TELLING THE STORY
MORE THAN ANYTHING.
AND THAT'S OUR JOB,
IS TO MAKE THESE PEOPLE COME TO LIFE.
AND I THINK THAT'S KIND OF FUN.
♪♪