’Em
How does the director establish a relationship with the actors? When do we get to know them? Is it in the audition? The rehearsal? The shoot?
The truth is, it gets harder and harder every year to create that relationship with the actor before the day of the shoot. At the audition, the actor comes piling into the casting office with the baggage of all the other things they’re doing that day. They grab the script sides and put all their concentration into getting a grasp of the character and how to play it. Called into the audition room, they’re lucky to have a word or two with the casting person about the scene. Then the camera records and they perform it with the casting assistant, who may or may not read well.
What’s wrong with this picture? Lots and lots. In a feature film and most television shows, the director is present and able to give the actor some direction. The smart director knows this is not just time to find an actor for a role; it is a chance to experiment with the scene long before getting to the stage. You have the actor’s attention cranked up full. They wants that job and are focused on the director like a laser.
Eriq La Salle: I find, as an actor, when a director gives me an idea in an audition, if a director gives me something I haven’t thought about, that director has me. Even in the audition process, I’m always impressed when a director says something like, “What you are doing is fine, but let’s try it this way.” Whether I get it or not, I’m glad I went in and I had an interesting time.
Whenever I direct, I’m always trying to find the thing that they haven’t thought about that’s going to give them a greater understanding of the situation, of themselves and the character. That to me is one of the marks of a good actor or director.
Even if the actor isn’t quite right for the role, they can be a source of ideas and will be delighted to try the scene any way the director suggests. I will often tell the actor who is auditioning, “You know, this is a crazy idea that isn’t in the script, but will you try playing exactly the opposite of what you just did? For example, instead of you celebrating getting an engagement ring at the dinner table, try making fun of the proposal. But use the same dialogue.”
Now I can get an idea of what the actor is made of. Now I can see how they respond under a bit of light pressure
Sometimes this works, sometimes not, but one thing is always true: The actor will never forget that you worked with them and asked them to stretch their creative juices. They will always remember you.
What can you learn from this? Plenty. You know now how much the actor can stretch and how they respond under pressure. Do they create something new, or do they just repeat what they did the first time? If the latter, then it probably won’t get any better on the set. It will be the infamous, robotic “office reading,” like a pre-recorded message. It never changes, so you should look for someone else. If the former, and the actor does respond with an unusual or creative choice, the director has also learned what kind of playing the scene will allow. It’s free rehearsal with no pressure.
Martha Coolidge: To me the auditioning process is to search the extremes of what the part might demand and find the actors who are going to bring something beyond whatever I imagined, rather than somebody who has to beat it out of them or manipulate it out of them.
This is why it is so important the director be present at auditions. Otherwise, you only get part of the information you need. Watching recorded interviews only gives you part of the information. It’s like buying a car based on seeing the commercials, but never driving it. Curiously, frustratingly, maddeningly enough, many TV shows manage to skip having the director at auditions. Maybe not by deliberately trying to keep the director out of the loop, but by dragging them off on location scouts and other things that seem more pressing. The auditions are done by the casting director and then show up online on the computers of everyone involved. Choices get made. If the director doesn’t pay attention to when auditions are happening and insist that they be present, the producer and the network subtly hijack the process.
What’s wrong with this? The actor has given a reading without much of a compass to guide them beyond the writer’s stage directions. When the producer and the network view the auditions on their computers, hopefully they aren’t taking phone calls, or chatting with associates. This would not only be disrespectful to the actor; it would also be shooting the show in the foot. Then executives send out fatwas and ex cathedra dictates about who will play every role, right down to Nurse #2 with their one line: “This way, Doctor.” Easy to see how directors have a hell of a time getting their choices heard. At least if the director were present at the auditions, they could know the actors well enough to see beneath the surface, and their recommendations would carry more weight. Besides which, the experience of working with the actor during the audition starts the creation of a bond between actor and director that will grow stronger over time.
Homework… Do It
If you’re getting serious about casting someone, you want to do homework on who they are. You can say to yourself, “Oh yes, I know Brad Pitt’s work.” Do you? Go back, look again. Pay attention to how he does things. Where are his mannerisms, his strong points, his weak points? You need that information fresh in your mind. This is where the internet is such a blessing. If you don’t know his work beforehand, you can find his films so easily. You owe it to yourself to learn all you can about what he likes and doesn’t like. Call directors he has worked with in the past and get their take on the actor. Every director will return the call and share what they know. It’s not only professional courtesy; they may need to call you one day.
Donald Petrie: Jack Lemmon kind of encompasses a role all around. Walter Matthau finds something he can glean that is the character. One of the reasons I managed to work so well with Walter is the first day we met, he said, “I don’t know if I can do this. First, this is called Grumpy Old Men. I’m not old. See this hair? There’s not a gray one in it.” He was arguing that he wasn’t old enough to play this role. I said to him, and again, I’d done my homework, so I said, “But Walter, you did so brilliantly in Koch.” Jack Lemmon had directed him in Koch, where he played an old man. “Yeah, I just don’t have a way to kind of glom onto this character. I don’t know it yet. I’ve got this doctor that works for me, and he talks like he’s got cotton in his mouth all the time.” I said, “Oh, that sounds great.” Then I knew I had him. Sure enough, if you listen to “Crazy drivers!” he sounds like he’s got something in his mouth. He chose that thing to kind of build his character around.
They’re On Board
After you, the producer, the studio, the network — and God — have discussed, argued, fought… and gone with the one God wanted in the first place, call the actor on the telephone. Don’t text, tweet, email, Facebook, or smoke signal: Call the actor. They all have phones. Call them up and welcome them to the film. Tell them how delighted you are to get to work with them. Even if you are not delighted, still tell them you are delighted. On a cynical but very realistic level, if you are going to have to work with them, you are going to have to make the best of it. That won’t happen if they think you didn’t want them in the first place. Now get their thoughts on how they see the character and how they like to work.
Jodie Foster: I love it when directors come to me before the first few days of shooting and say, “What do you like and what don’t you like?” “Tell me how I should approach you and how I shouldn’t. What happens in this
