How to Get Cast on ‘Widow’s Bay’

“Widow’s Bay” takes place in a fictional island town roughly 40 miles off the New England coast. The remote community is all but cut off from the wider world, with unreliable cell phone service and no Wi-Fi access, creating an eerie feeling that something sinister is hiding just below the surface. Despite the island’s reputation among locals for being cursed, newly elected mayor Tom Loftis (Rhys) is determined to revitalize Widow’s Bay by launching a tourism campaign to encourage visitors and new opportunities. But soon after outsiders begin to arrive, a series of strange and disturbing events unfolds, revealing the horrors locals had been warning about.

The ensemble cast members are: 

• Matthew Rhys as Mayor Tom Loftis
• Kate O’Flynn as Patricia Moyer
• Stephen Root as Wyck Crawford
• Kingston Rumi Southwick as Evan Loftis
• Kevin Carroll as Bechir Clemmons
• Dale Dickey as Rosemary
• K Callan as Ruth Livingston
• Christian Clemenson as Dr. Calvin Morgan
• Jeff Hiller as Dale
• Nancy Lenehan as Gerrie Doyle
• Meredith Casey as Lauren Loftis
• Neil Casey as Kurt

Allison Jones and Emily Buntyn (“The Housemaid,” “Barbie”) are the primary casting directors on “Widow’s Bay.” With shows like “The Office,” “Veep,” and “Arrested Development” on her résumé, Jones obviously knows a thing or two about creating an outstanding ensemble. So, what’s the best way to get your foot in the door? “I would say take any work you can get. Don’t pass on something if it’s a commercial. Take it,” she tells us. “Work really does lead to other work. Especially if you’re just starting out, work begets work.”

Dippold, the show’s creator, told IndieWire that casting for “Widow’s Bay” was tricky because they needed actors who could effectively play the comedic elements underlying this thriller series. “One of the harder parts was casting; it was one of the scarier times, because it just wasn’t going to work until you found the person it worked with,” Dippold says. “I never had specific actors in mind for the parts, because most of it was taking pieces of people from real life and putting them into characters.”

Director Hiro Murai adds, “When we first started casting the show, we were looking for something really specific. If you brought a comedy-only person onto the show, your expectations out of the show would be a certain thing. If you brought a purely drama person, again, it becomes more of a horror thing. It’s really hard to find people who can play both, who can play absurdity in a real way,” he says. “Once we got Matthew, Stephen, and Kate, it just made sense that that was kind of the register that we wanted to be in—that this should be all kinds of people who can sit in the reality of this very strange place and also know what’s funny.”

Casting the series’ lead was the team’s most difficult task, says Dippold. “There are a lot of comedic actors who are so funny and good actors, but I just don’t know that I would’ve watched the show,” Dippold says. “We met with so many different people, and [casting director] Allison Jones is amazing, and she just always has wonderful ideas. I’ve always loved Matthew Rhys.… I think he’s one of the best actors of all time. And so he came up, and to be honest, as much as I loved him, it was hard for me to imagine him doing this.”

But Rhys turned out to be precisely what the project needed. “He was just so lovely and so naturally funny, and he just seemed to get it,” Dippold says. “Usually after a meeting, you either have a good feeling or a bad feeling, and I just had the best feeling, and then I called Hiro, and he also had the best feeling, and we’re like, ‘Well, I guess let’s do that.’ It’s one of those things that I feel the most lucky about because I can’t imagine this show without him. I just feel like he’s so that part, and he just plays the truth of it. He never goes for the joke. He’s so funny, but he’s so funny that he knows not to try to be funny.”

Similarly, Dippold didn’t see O’Flynn playing Patricia, but she stunned the entire team with her audition. "What Katie O'Flynn did with the character was something that we couldn't predict,” Murai told Polygon. “When she auditioned and put herself on tape for us, her tape was so singular and strange and interesting. Katie [Dippold] told me later that it was not how she saw Patricia at all. It was not what she expected out of that character, but it was so obvious that it was special. We were like, ‘Well, this is lightning in a bottle. It has to be her.’ I couldn't exactly tell you what it was, other than that when you watch the tape, you're like, ‘Oh, this person definitely grew up on a haunted island.’ ”

While the show was officially renewed for Season 2 on June 11, “Widow’s Bay” hasn’t yet established its production schedule. Stay tuned for updates on the second season’s’ development.

There are no auditions available for “Widow’s Bay” Season 2 at this time. Season 1 production took place across Massachusetts, with some scenes filmed in Maine, so we suggest bookmarking our New England casting calls page for upcoming opportunities in that area. Our guides on how to audition for Apple TV and how to become an actor in Boston can help you prepare.

If you ever hope to hear a yes, you’ll have to accept each no that comes your way, too. Just know that in many cases, it has nothing to do with your talent, Jones tells us. “When you walk in the room, you’re either right for the role or not. It doesn’t mean you didn’t give a good audition. It’s funny, we’ve worked with some directors who were actors first, and the first thing they always say is, ‘Wow, it really doesn’t matter what your audition is. It’s who you are, if you’re right for the role or wrong for the role.’ That’s why I don’t want people beating themselves up thinking they gave a bad reading, because it’s frequently never that.”

Jones noted the same perspective applies when submitting a self-tape, too. “[I]t’s almost the same thing if they’re in the room or not,” she says. “First of all, if they’re right for the role. It’s important to get good sound. Then do a wide shot and maybe a shot that’s elbows-up so that you can really see almost how you would see them in real life. It [shouldn’t be] a severe close-up, just the waist up. If they feel like doing two takes, that’s good, too. As long as the takes are different—they can do one take and then another slightly different take. We do that all the time in person.”

Jones adds: “Don’t beat yourself up. Move on after every audition. I’ve never been an actor, but I know if I don’t get a job, I beat myself up. I would say just keep moving forward,” she says. “Tenacity is everything.”

In a similar vein, Rhys wishes he could go back and tell his younger self not to sweat the small stuff. “In my 20s, I spent so much time worrying about decisions that I had absolutely no influence or input [on]. I wish I could’ve told my younger self to enjoy a lot more about it, because I was so angst-laden,” he tells us.

One experience, in particular, taught him the importance of developing a thick skin to handle rejection. “I remember I went into a very famous casting director’s office, and I could hear her on the phone. I sat there for quite a long time, and I could hear her having this heated discussion. Eventually, the assistant came out of the office and said, ‘Come in,’ ” Rhys explains. “I gingerly follow the assistant as I’m still listening to the casting director talking with someone on the phone. I walk in, and the casting director looks me up and down, then looks at the assistant and shakes her head. Then the assistant goes, ‘Thank you so much for coming in,’ and ushers me out. I literally hadn’t taken a breath. As brutal as it was, it was important. You’ve got to [grow] this rhinoceros hide in order to just be rejected—not just week after week, but day after day sometimes. You can do two or three [auditions] a week. I went a whole year without working, and being rejected that many times takes its toll.”

Root credited persistence for winning his ongoing battle against rejection. “The reason I'm still acting is because, even though I had been turned down by a big audition [for the National Shakespeare Company], I went to New York and said, ‘No, I didn't get that letter’ and auditioned again and got it,” Root tells us. “Persistence is key in this business.” 

This approach helped Root build up a substantial résumé. “Then I could get into more auditions,” he says. “It’s the same everywhere: The more you have on your résumé, the more auditions you can get into, and the more comfortable a casting director will be saying, ‘Yes, I know this guy's work.’ ”

Someday, casting directors could say the same about you!