Auditions are frightening. The director never knows what to expect from his actors. Its frightening because this is where you find out if you have selected the right person for the right part. I look at great directors who managed to extract a tour de force performance from his actors and I wonder...at what stage of development or pre-production did he know if the right decision was made.
Did Paul Thomas Anderson know that Tom Cruise would give a bravura of a performance that would change the way people perceived him? Some directors claim to have written a part for a specific actor. I think its one thing to have an actor who fits the part (phyisically) and one who can embody the character in its entirety.
Going back to that Magnolia example, I cant see any other actor playing Frank T.J. Mackey or Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Pil Parma. That is strong and perfect casting, where the audience feels that no other actor could play that part...for an actor to clear the path for the audience in their suspension of disbelief. Aspiring filmmakers need to learn from this.
The casting for The Low dweller has been a tricky one. Choosing these particular actors has been instinctive. We have just recently completed a few scenes of rehearsals. These sessions have been quite breezy, with the lead actors going through their lines with a confidence I didn't expect. They understand the emotion needed in the scenes. They understand the meaning in every single line of dialogue.
There is still a lot of deconstruction to do, where all formal rules and principles of performance need to be put aside. That is where my challenge lies with directing actors trained in theater. It is my duty as a writer director, to make sure that my words are translated perfectly on screen.
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