When Alex Scharfman was preparing to direct his first feature, A24’s “Death of a Unicorn,” he knew exactly whom he wanted to put together the ensemble: Avy Kaufman. Over the course of nearly four decades, the Emmy winner has been the casting director on more than 150 films and TV shows, including critically acclaimed projects like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Babygirl,” “Succession,” and “Mare of Easttown.”
“Death of a Unicorn” is a stark departure from most of Kaufman’s past work. Scharfman’s horror-comedy kicks off when Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd), en route to a wilderness retreat in the company of his teenage daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega), accidentally hits a unicorn with his car. When his wealthy employers attempt to exploit the creature’s magical properties, carnage ensues.
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Scharfman needed a cast that could ground the film’s otherworldly premise in genuine human emotions. Though Rudd and Ortega were already attached when Kaufman came on board, the team wasn’t sure whether the latter’s busy schedule would prevent her from signing on. “I kept doing backup and backup and backup for Jenna, because we didn’t know if we had her,” the CD says.
To fill out the ensemble, Kaufman looked for actors who could pull off the movie’s unique blend of genres. That included Richard E. Grant as Elliot’s entitled boss, Odell Leopold; and Will Poulter, whom she’d previously cast on Netflix’s “Dopesick,” as his son, Shepard. “ ‘Death of a Unicorn’ is at the edge of farce and drama, and Richard and Will can do that,” she says. “My respect for these actors and the range they can give is phenomenal.”
But she found the perfect fit for the family matriarch, Belinda, in an unexpected place. “I had just seen Téa Leoni at the theater, and I got all excited. So I wrote to Alex and said, ‘It’s got to be Téa,’ ” she recalls.
Kaufman believes that assembling the perfect cast is “like making a recipe. I’m putting lists together, and I have pictures out, and I’m putting people next to people.” For “Death of a Unicorn,” she completed that recipe with actors who had proven comedy chops, including Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”) as the Leopolds’ beleaguered butler and Sunita Mani (“GLOW”) as a scientist tasked with testing the healing properties of the unicorn.
“Casting those roles was fun!” Kaufman says. “When I get excited, the actors also see it. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be the kind of team that makes movies where we want them to end up.”
But the flurry of tasks that go into the process isn’t just about finding the right performers. “Our business is so funny,” she explains. “I say that because there’s a mixture of trust, insight, and studio [input]. There’s so much in that ball of casting.”
She relished the chance to collaborate with Scharfman. “He would get as excited as I would about certain ideas. It was a joy working with him,” she says. “He was very generous, and my job was to really get into his head and see how he wanted to tell this story.”
As a tried-and-true industry veteran, Kaufman has been in the trenches—and in the room—with countless performers over the years. Above all, she always strives to be gentle. “I think it’s so hard to audition; it’s so hard to put yourself on the line,” she says. “My respect for actors is enormous. I know that when I go through rejection, I take everything personally.”
Her biggest piece of advice? Be prepared. “When you walk into the room, you should know the material. I don’t mean that you have to be off-book, but you should know the person you’re playing. So if I say, ‘Try it here, try it there,’ how is that person going to do that? Be as centered as you can.”
This story originally appeared in the May 1 issue of Backstage Magazine.