Directing, 5th Edition



CHAPTER 18

CASTING

 

 

Your audience knows immediately if your film’s cast is giving authentic and gripping performances, which is why casting is said to be 75 percent of any film’s success. Beginning directors often cast poorly: guilty about choosing between fellow aspirants, they settle gratefully for whoever seems right and available. On a BBC film I once edited, the director had cast his wife in the main part and remained touchingly blind to her limitations. Later the poor man lost his job because of it.

This is an anxious time: you need actors enthusiastic about the character they play, who will work well with you and other cast members, and who will be loyal to the project. Acting is an intense and insecure profession, so ...