All language subtitles for 117 - Casting

the great movie director

one of the most awarded of all time

if not the most

William Wyler had a simple formula

he thought 90% of directing films was script

and casting

and then he said

the other 10% was knowing how to get out of the way

when you've done the first two things correctly

um there there's a lot to be said for that

casting is vitally important

uh and and it's a process not to be trifled with

to be taken very seriously

a director can guide a performance in some instances

maybe if you're working with a child

or a very specific actor

with a set of tremendous strengths

but you know

another set of weaknesses

it might be possible to really mold a performance

but it's rare when that succeeds you you

the director really

really needs the actors to be strong

and especially in film

there has to be some kind of connection between the

the the you know

the actor the performer and that character that

that you can just readily accept

now there's some great

great character people who can surprise you

and they can

they can create that connection

in ways that you never would have expected

but that connection is still there

Meryl Streep

you know leaps to mind um

Dustin Hoffman

some amazing

uh characterizations

and you know

they don't seem very much like Dustin Hoffman at all

and yet you know

uh believe me

Tom Hanks is nothing like Forrest Gump uh

but but there's um

there's an innate connection there

that I think of

a director sat and talk to any of those actors

before they were gonna tackle a role

where they were gonna transform themselves

they were they were still building on something

that they understood and

and felt um

so you know you

you have to be

very meticulous about the casting process

all of directing boils down to taste

you were talking a lot about techniques and

options and possibilities

and at the end of the day

it always comes back to that

that sense of what's good

what's right

and you have to keep trusting that feeling

these things are not academic

uh you know uh issues

they're they're

they're creative

they're aesthetic

when you're looking at an actor's work

whether you're watching other movies

or television shows or plays that they're

that they're in

uh and and you're trying to make the decision about

about the casting

you do have to

you have to follow your

your gut conversations with them will matter a lot

sometimes other factors will come into play that

by the way that actor has very little control of

for example

if you're building a

you're casting a family

well if you put everybody's picture up on a wall

do you feel like they're cohesive unit

can they look like a family

and the answer

maybe uh no

with you know

with an actor or an actress that you're

that you're really considering

as an actor

myself often disappointed by going in

auditioning and not getting a role

I was shocked when I began casting

because I realized that as a director

most of the

most of the people that you're looking at

in a casting session can do the role

in other words

they're talented enough

they're experienced enough

they're intelligent enough

of course they can play the role

but of course

most of them don't get the role

you have to select the one and and

there are so many intangibles that come into play there

and again those boil down to taste

now I would suggest a few other things to look for

I believe that compatibility is important

and I don't just mean congeniality

cause you know

it doesn't matter if a person is uh

pleasant or sullen or funny and kind

and none of those things matter again

what matters is what you get inside those frame lines

and what that actor can do with those

with those scenes

but you need a kind of creative compatibility

you need to believe that

that that actor um

and that character

and your sensibility

is gonna create a strong foundation

um and if in conversation

you believe that the actor disagrees with your approach

you either have to think it through and and

and and ask yourself

is the actor right here

and am I wrong

which is possible

actors are smart

and they think about characters in a very particular

very profound

and deep way often

but if there's a

if there's a disconnect

the chances are you're not

you're not going to benefit your story

by trying to talk them out of their ideas

even if they're pleasant about it

and they try their best

they're they're not gonna own their ideas

so it's very important that they be able to

put their personal stamp on their ideas

of course you're gonna

you're gonna give directions and suggestions

and they're gonna have to do some things

that might be outside their comfort zone

that's you know

those are the particulars

those are the specifics

but looking holistically at

should this person be

you know in this film or this television show

you you have to look at that creative compatibility

and be honest with yourself about it

when I'm auditioning an actor

and by the way

I don't always audition actors very

very often I just know I want somebody in a role and

and there's also a kind of an

you know an easy consensus

you're talking to your friends

you're talking to the people

uh you know

involved in the project

you mention somebody's name

as it relates to a character

and everybody goes oh my god

that would be great

and you know

if you have a meeting or a phone call or conversation

and you sort of see that there's good

good chemistry

you know you just

you just want that person in the role

and trust that I've never

I've never gone wrong with that

that kind of thinking

but whenever I'm working with an actor

and I think they're

you know I have a question

as to whether they're really right or not

um but there's something about them intrinsically

that I think

you know could really work

and having been an actor myself

always trying to give an actor every opportunity to

to impress and and

and sort of

um you know

give their best to the audition uh

I'll often ask them to do it again

and and and

and think of a direction to give them

it might not even be a direction I would really give

on a shooting day

it might it might be that their

their instincts are fundamentally correct

but I usually

uh test the waters of my

making a suggestion

offering an adjustment

and seeing how they handle it

because it's also useful to know

is this somebody who has that kind of command of their

of their talent

of their instrument

or do they get locked in on a particular

you know sort of idea

a way of presenting the scene

a way of approaching a scene and the dialogue within it

and if so you need to know that

and then say

all right well

there come there

this is there

this is how they see it

this is how they feel it

they've obviously prepared it

that way and this is what they do

and when you push them outside of that

prepared approach they're

they're gonna be a little bit at sea and lost

and you just wanna note that there are other people who

you know are improvisational and inspired

and they can begin to

uh you know

to work with the scene in some remarkable ways

and then you begin to say

there's another element here

this person could actually improve the writing

they they could refine the character

they could think of

of details that none of us have

have considered

um you know

that's always an exciting prospect

when you can find that person

I have definitely made some mistakes and missteps

in casting and um

probably the

the only painful moments

of having to replace somebody on a

on a production um

have have really been the handful of times

when I realized that I made a mistake in the casting

and it's never

never been the actors fault

it's not that they're showing up late

or unprofessional

or any of those things

that you can talk to a person about

it's usually that

on some fundamental level

they're not clicking with the role and the character

the way you thought they should

and it's apparent to you

and there have been other times when um

especially with you know

people playing smaller roles

or just coming in for the day

where you know

you realize that

um this that

there's a um

there there may have been someone else who could

who could have brought more to this role

and and yet

for practical reasons

you know you

you uh you you make it work

you know you

you shoot more coverage on them

so that you're gonna have more options

to help build the performance

um you may stage the scenes in ways so that they're not

they're not

they're not really featured all that much

if somebody is really struggling with their dialogue

or with a character grasping something you might

might suggest to a director to stage the scene more

kind of over their shoulder

and so that when you come around and shoot them

for their lines or their reactions

you have a you know

a lot more control

it's always gonna be the

the the specific shot for the specific moment

and you know then you

you do a number of takes and choose the ones that

that work the best

so in film you can do a lot of things

to help make

make a performance work better

um but without meticulous

thoroughcasting um

in the beginning

especially with lead roles

you're um that that's

that's gonna be um

you know a huge um

detrimental

um sort of misdirection for the for the

for the movie

so there's there's talent

there's skill

intelligence

um those things are important there

there's also this other intangible quality which is um

let's just call it chemistry

and if you feel like that actor can

can embody the spirit of that character

in some honest way

and some way that either entertains you or moves you

or fascinates you um

you should really respond to that and keep note of that

and that should be a tiebreaker

so you might have several people who can play the part

one person might even be

you know maybe a little more experienced

a little a little more creative

a little more talented

but I would give the nod to the person

who seems to inhabit the character in a more natural

spontaneous kind of way

assuming that they

they do have the talent and the skills

to be able to give you

give you what you need as an actor

that's that

then they're

they're bringing that X factor to a role and

and cameras film

it's more important in film than it is in the theater

this this factor that I'm talking about

because you know

lenses do kind of see into

through the eyes

into the soul and um

and it's you um

so much more subtle process

and the more connected

that a film or television actor is to the character

um the more we

as audience members

just believe it and lose ourselves in it

whenever possible I

I try to bring the actors together

before the final casting is

in pairs especially

you know um

if they're gonna be friends or

or you know

you know parent child

loved ones you know

I try to see them together

and certainly the

in the major roles

very often I will bring uh

the actors who have already been cast in

to actually audition with finalists

so that I can quickly see where there's a

a natural rapport

uh in a in a

in a chemistry

and just observe it

and again it's a

it's a very uh

you know elusive

um imperfect process

and I often toss and turn during the casting process

it is it's one of the only phases of making

a movie or a television show that I find really

really unsettling

because these

these are the decisions that are gonna transcend

the director's ability to solve a misstep

um you know

be other than some drastic measure

like having to let somebody go and recast