I don't know about everybody else here but I just look up after and go wow you know like
the task is the one part and then I'm done and I say whoa that's something, I forgot
what went into it. Finding the right people for the job is no small task and a very clear example
of this is the cast for the film Boiling Point which is a single shot film set in the kitchen of
a restaurant which receives a visit from a health and safety authority and the head chef played by
Steven Graham has to deal with the tensions that arise. So I'm going to come to you first Carolyn
as the casting director for this film. The script for this film started without any dialogue,
it only had stage directions. As an actor that fills me with a lot of anxiety.
And the process was developed through a series of rehearsals in which things were improvised.
That's very unusual for screen projects and you had to assemble and ensemble around that format.
How did you approach casting something like this? Well it was really interesting Sheila because
as you say, we had basically kind of a beat sheet really sort of a combination of
we knew what needed to happen, you know beginning middle and end of the story, but in
terms of gathering the parts, it was intriguing. Basically the film is set in a restaurant on
the busiest Saturday before Christmas so sort of um hubbub. But we have some front of house staff
so you've got the guests, you've got the waiting staff and the managers and you've got the
behind-the-scenes kitchen staff. So the first thing I had to do was basically try and get a lot of
actors on board for those characters. So the first thing I did was I put a breakdown out
and then the next step was, we had no sides to send. You know traditionally you have your script
you send out your character side. We had none of that so what was quite interesting about this
is that Phil Barantini who co-wrote the concept and uh directed the film
had worked in kitchens for over 12 years so he knew these people, he knew this environment.
I think some of us you know throughout our lives at some point worked in hospitality
so had some kind of inkling of what that kitchen life, what that hospitality life was like.
I myself had done my stint in kitchens and in restaurants so I had a concept of it.
But what I decided to do was to approach the actors by dividing them into front of house and
kitchen and giving them an improvisation to do and they had to sort of carry it out in their kitchens.
So for example there's a group of actresses that play this group of very good
friends who have come to this restaurant to celebrate, to party, to have some fun. They're
Americans who are visiting and having a great time. And for those actresses what I gave them was
be in your kitchen make yourself a cup of tea, a snack, some food whatever and then relate to me
over a sort of two three minute period one of the most enjoyable evenings you've ever spent
out. So the process of that was to try and get them to be quite natural. If you're in
your kitchen you know where your coffee cups are, you know where you get the sugar, you know where
all of these very simple things are. So it was to see if they could relate a story whilst also doing
a bit of sort of business using some props etc but do it in a naturalistic fashion. What was so
important about the fact that this was 90 minutes and it was a single shot, no cut aways, no kind of
we're going to do this we're going to do that to keep everyone concentrated keep everyone focused
is we had to have a really natural flow to what everyone was doing.
And I did that too with Dune? I brought them out to a desert and I threw sand at the actors and then I got some worms
and I just thought I'm wondering how they're gonna do and I kind of stole it from Carolyn.
Well that's perfect because I was actually coming to you next Francine. You just all said
wonderfully, you you cast Dune and that's another very ensemble project but it's
a very different type of project, it's an epic kind of sweeping futuristic sci-fi
and there are lots of new faces in there but there are lots of well-known actors as well.
But they still have to form this kind of cohesive ensemble and I wondered
what that process is like, you know matching up these big names opposite each other and still
allowing the film to feel like something that has cohesion you know and community.
I started Dune in 2018 and there was no one cast. Timothée wasn't cast and I don't think people realise what goes
into casting that how even though there are so many stars in this. Zendaya auditioned. Timothée didn't.
But it was supposed to be in the book a 15-year-old. So you slowly build and build.
And we tried to get the best person for each, not overload the cast.
But I would say I'm just gonna talk a little bit generally because it relates to the film but
I think as casting directors, what we're always forced to do is put names in.
I think now the great thing and I've said this before is that diversity is the first question we
come upon you know. And so Dune, there's like 11 countries represented. And then there's
great female roles. So I can't say, in terms of it working as an ensemble, that's the director each
of us have. Zendaya read with Timothée, that came together in audition. But everything else we picked
who was the best for the part and I think we tried to add little different flavours
that you haven't seen before. It's a combination of all of us working together. And it's,
you know, it's wonderful when a Javier or Oscar want to do something that we're doing but
I know as casting directors we all love when we're able to cast a Benjamin
or a Charlotte Rampling. And I think the best actors kind of you just, I don't know about
everybody else here but I just look up after and go, wow you know like you know the task is the
one part and then I'm done and I say whoa that's something I forgot what went into it.
I just wanted to come to Massimo and Annamaria. These are the casting directors for The Hand of
God which is another film which features a very strong ensemble. I think ensembles are kind of the
the name of the game this evening. But this time the challenge is casting a family
in a coming-of-age story about a young teen in Italy and the impacts that an accident by
Diego Maradona had on his life. This is very much an autobiographical work by the writer and
director Paolo Sorrentino, so what's that like casting a film where you are essentially casting
the creator of the film and his family from his childhood? Is that more challenging?
Is there more pressure when it comes to trying to find these people?
That is so interesting to hear because Rich and Avy, I wonder if you guys had a similar experience
with having to cast King Richard which is a film about the Williams sisters
and their father Richard Williams. I mean what is that like casting two sporting icons? How did
you find Demi and Saniyya? And I believe you saw around a thousand people for the roles?
Yeah it was about a thousand people. I mean, I love what Francine said as well about starting the search
early because I started looking in 2018. I had a chance meeting with the producer and he set
me up to meet with Isha and Lyndrea Price who are Venus and Serena's sisters and when they gave
the go-ahead to start looking. It was before the movie had found a studio or found a home yet so
couldn't really say what it was about so we wrote fake sides for these girls, Veronica and
Sophia, spelling bee champions and we just started looking everywhere.
That was in January of 2019 and in February or March of 2019 Saniyya and Demi came into the process
and we knew right away that they were something special. You were looking for girls that had
the physical ability to learn how to play tennis if they weren't you know natural
athletic ability, that they could look like the characters that would blend seamlessly into a
family, that would be able to believably span five years because they started the film and then had
to go five years and that could play sisters. And Venus and Serena for me personally are my
heroes in life and have been since they came onto the scene. So for me it was incredibly incredibly
filled with a lot of pressure and a challenge but you know keeping it with tennis, Billie Jean King
says pressure is a privilege and so I had that posted on my desk with pictures of Serena and
Venus all over my office and just reminding myself that pressure is a privilege and lean into that.
And so once we found them in February, it was quite exciting but we had to kind of keep them
on ice because we didn't have a director on board yet, we didn't have the film land a home yet.
Fortunately you know we kind of kept them on board and then once Rei Green came
on the film in August, we had to start that process all over again. I think we
had about 100 girls out of the thousand that we had seen that we were like these are girls
that are potential contenders so bringing those in and kind of starting the process from there again,
it was a lot of pressure. But at the end of the day, I think everyone that came to this project
really believed in the power of the story and it was a lot of passion and grit and
just a desire to get it right and I think that that's why hopefully the results are on the
screen, because everyone really really cared about putting their best foot forward and trying to get it right.
Reaching out to every tennis club and having all young girls have a dream to audition
was so exciting, so exciting, so excited. And they would even say even if they didn't get
the job you know just to try it or be in front of Rei was was brilliant. And you know I've
cast many films that are based on real people and you just have to take such consideration.
And so that's a different step you know. It's not just young ladies who could play tennis and who
could act but it's really portraying iconic people which is you know a hard thing to do
especially being a child and putting an ensemble together like this.
I've worked with Rei before and putting an ensemble together like this and
having I don't know... it meant so much the way he portrayed a family that I just... there
were certain things that I know might you know, we want to pay very close attention to.
So to be recognised as brilliant and to be part of this group with you guys is brilliant.
It was an incredible moment when we read Aunjanue Ellis who plays Oracene Williams in the film.
She came over to Will Smith's house and did the little session with him kind of in his living
room. And I think everyone there immediately was really hoping that this would go well.
But the second she sat down, it was a very intimate setting, she sat down on the couch with him
and before she even started doing the scene she just started picking little pieces of
lint off his clothing and moving a stray hair and it was just like building those little
blocks of a relationship and a married couple that you started to see right away that these
people had a connection that would translate into something.
It was really incredible, it was an amazing experience.
And that leads me perfectly on to West Side Story and to you Cindy who I believe watched about 30 000 audition tapes.
That's what I've heard which sounds like a lot of audition tapes.
But just like everybody here you know we also started working on it in 2018 and my staff and
I watched all the... I can't say that I watch them all myself you know because it takes a team
and we worked on it for a year and a half. And it was the most joyous experience ever.
And I would say like with Francine, I'd like to just say I think what we're always trying to
do is build a single cohesive whole without losing each individual actor's unique voice
and I think that's what casting is and I think it's fulfilling the story and the vision
of the director and the writer but trying to do that seamlessly so that
everybody is part of the same fabric of the film. And I know that every single casting
director here does it flawlessly and I'm in awe of that but yeah, thirty thousand.