Austin-based casting director Vicky Boone has put together the ensembles of many influential films. Her work on Terrence Malick’s Oscar-nominated 2011 drama “The Tree of Life” gave her agency, Vicky Boone Casting, a major boost. This led to the first of numerous collaborations with filmmaker Richard Linklater on his 2016 comedy “Everybody Wants Some!!”
The pair’s latest project, “Hit Man,” out June 7 on Netflix, stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a cop who goes undercover as a hit man; the actor also co-wrote the script. The film marks a reunion for the trio as Powell, also starred in “Everybody Wants Some!!”
Here, Boone discusses casting the eccentric characters in “Hit Man” and how actors can nail their the self-tapes.
What was it like to work with Linklater and Powell again?
I can take co-collaborative credit for casting Glen [on “Everybody Wants Some!!”], because Glen is from Austin, Texas, as Rick is. There was a group of guys [on the film] who were, at that point, in their early 20s—Glen, Austin Amelio, Will Brittain; a whole set of them had just moved to Los Angeles. And so that was my first time [working] with Rick, and I was like, These guys are so good.
[It’s been] really fun to see Glen’s [career] arc—his massive creativity, and not only owning it as an actor, but moving into the writing and producing space. I was watching two creative soulmates make this very cool thing.
Austin Amelio, Sanjay Rao, and Retta in “Hit Man” Credit: Brian Roedel/Netflix
There are some really fun casting surprises in “Hit Man,” like Retta as another undercover cop and Molly Bernard as Gary’s ex-wife.
[Linklater] is a master of chemistry. He has such a great instinct for who’s going to bring the magic out of each other and what combinations are going to be interesting.
Retta came up in an early conversation. Originally, [the role] was written for a male. It just came up: “I think Retta would be really great there.” It seemed to be a bull’s-eye.
There’s a montage scene in the film that features a variety of degenerates who want to hire Gary as an assassin. What was your process for putting that group together?
[I got] really nice direction from [Linklater]. He [said], “Each one of these people—they’re hiring someone to murder someone.” It was so much fun to cast that and to think about it compositionally. They all had to bring their own energy and contrast and humor, but at the same time, have flexibility. Most of the people we cast were in New Orleans.
What audition advice would you give to actors?
[CDs] see the same scene a lot of times. Everybody’s doing it right; this is how the scene was written. And then somebody comes in and they just do it in some way that is just so personal. That’s really what you look for…that moment [when] they bring something beyond the script that just brings [the scene] to life and adds layers that you weren’t expecting.
People want to get it right, especially when they’re doing self-tapes. And it’s like: Take some risks; have some fun. The tapes that really start to fly are the ones…[in which] an actor is not trying to please. They’re not trying to do it right; they just have an idea. They love their idea, and they go for it. That usually translates into a really successful audition.