Auditions and casting is now effectively over. We have seen a number of people, had a few debates over pronunciation and discussions between myself and Kerina - who is playing Andrea - as to who should be in what part. But it is now all done.
Over the next few days I shall be showing some of the auditions we had to give you an idea of breadth of talent and interpretations we saw.
It is very satisfying to know that there is so much talent out there, but kind of upsetting too - because I can't cast everyone, as much as I might like to. It's also a little frustrating because it makes the decision making process that much harder when you simply can't decided out of three or four incredible performances.
Some helpful pointers though:
- When running an audition, I find it is best to get at least three takes from an actor. One is a cold read where you get to see their own take on the role, one is with direction and the third is if they want to give it one more go. The reason I like to do this is because I know what it is like to walk out of an audition and think "if I had only done one more take..." So I like to try and let the actors get one more take before we finish up their audition.
- Let the actors ask questions before starting. A side rarely tells the actor the full story about their character. Giving them a chance to ask a few questions about the project and the character helps them to get them focused on what is expected. It also lets you as a producer/director get a feel for the actor as a person. When you are working with people on a volunteer project, it is good to know if their dynamic is going to match the other cast and crew.
- Be friendly. Auditions are scary things to do, it's a competition and most actors are nervous - even the real professionals still have butterflies - so keeping a friendly and approachable demeanour means that they are more likely to listen to direction and open up for their audition.
- Try to have someone else with you. Due to timing issues, some of the auditions were just myself and the actor. I don't usually like doing this as it can feel a little confrontational or creepy. Especially if you are holding auditions in a house rather than at a studio. Having another cast or crew member with you helps to add a sense of legitimacy to your project.
Something I noticed locally here is that there are a lot of actresses and simply not enough roles to go around. I definitely intend to write a female heavy project for my next undertaking...
When it came to making the decision of who got which part, we had some interesting situations. Two of the roles were no brainers. Kerina and I both just looked at the video for the two actors and said straight away yes. There simply was not doubt that they nailed their characters in ways that the other actors simply didn't.
However, two roles were very hard to decide on. The male role had two contenders. One who looked like the classical idea of the role and played the part well, and the other who had a more unusual look but had a very intense focus. The part of Anima was also hotly contested, and came down to three very different takes on the character - over which Kerina and I had much debate. The actresses were three very different looks for the part and had three very different ways of playing her.
When I put the auditions up, I won't actually discuss each individual actor and why they did nor didn't get the role. Mostly because I don't feel that it would be fair. I will cover here the key things that it came down to for each role without discussing the aspects of the actors who got the parts - these are just notes about what Kerina and I ended up agreeing were the key points we were looking for.
Devon: Despite being a mortal character, Devon is one of the most comedic characters in the script. He does a lot of physical and expressive comedy, and as such needed a very animated actor who could do funny facial expressions while also still looking cute in a boy-next-door kind of way.
Deus: On the shallow end, Deus needed to be attractive. But he also needed to be distinctive. When the actor walked into frame, he needed to have a presence that commanded attention. He also needed to be able to be both neutral but warm and be able to play opposite Devon.
Urge: In many ways Urge's character is fairly easy to play. He's larger than life and often just needs to be a little slutty in his acting. What we were looking for is an actor who could build on that and give Urge more comedy out of his performance than just relying on his audacious dialogue.
Anima: Anima was a very hard role to nail. I had very specific ideas about who she was, and the actress really needed to have a strong presence as well as a mystery to her. The role was one that needed both a warmth and a sharp edge hidden within it. As Kerina likes to say "there is a sense of 'don't f**k with me' to her."
Sadly, not everyone could "win" and I have had the unenviable job of telling most of the people I saw that they didn't get a part. Which I hate doing, because it wasn't a case of them not being good, but that there were a lot of good people who auditioned. It was not an easy decision.
Fortunately, I now know who is out there looking for work and can write characters with an idea of the people I'd like to ask to play the roles. So hopefully in the future we will see some of these faces in the series at a later point. (Fingers crossed.)
So tomorrow I shall start off with the boys - make sure to be here not only to see the auditions, but hear some of the script.
It's going to be an interesting exercise!
Conan
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