Casting directors might finally be getting the voice of a union, depending on how tricky negotiations play out over the next weeks. To say most people don't think too hard about who cast actors in certain roles when they watch a film is a compliment. A good casting director finds the perfect match between actor and role, so that we can't ever imagine anyone else having played the part. However, there still is no category in the Academy Awards for this vital contribution. So, once again, the responsibility falls on Back Stage West to come up with an annual list of Best Casting Oscars, the staff's unofficial but impassioned choices for films that showcased innovative and original casting choices.
This year's is an eclectic bunch, as we don't always go for the awards-baiting movies. Of course Sideways had an excellent cast; director Alexander Payne handpicked the four leads. And The Aviator could fill even the smallest roles with anyone--for example, Jude Law with three lines as Errol Flynn--simply because the name Scorsese was attached. But it's the less obvious choices that interest us. After all, who showed more creative casting than the team of Juel Bestrop, Blythe Cappello, Latrell Manuel, and Jeanne McCarthy? They filled the outrageous roles in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with comedic geniuses: the recognizable (Ben Stiller, Stephen Root), the up-and-coming (Missi Pyle, Chris Williams), and the memorable but new face (6-foot-7-inch Jamal Duff as trainer Me'shell). Extra points for casting Alan Tudyk as a pirate and Hank Azaria as a young Rip Torn, a genetic match that somehow makes bizarre sense. Below are a few more honorable mentions before announcing our top picks for 2004.
Best casts in a bad movie: Love the Coen Brothers, love Tom Hanks, but what were they thinking with the lowbrow, unfunny The Ladykillers? Don't blame CD Ellen Chenoweth, who filled the film with great actors in every role. The nonsensical plot is almost rescued by performances from the great Irma P. Hall as the elderly woman who outwits Hanks and his crew and the always outstanding J.K. Simmons as a gruff bomb expert. Equally dismal was the script for The Stepford Wives, which made little sense, but at least the movie boasted great casting by Laura Rosenthal and Juliet Taylor and classic comedic turns by Roger Bart, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close.
Best kids, good and bad: 2004 was a stellar year for child actors, whether charming (the boys of Finding Neverland) or frightening (the disaffected youth of Mean Creek). Kudos to Heike Brandstatter and Coreen Mayrs, who filled the cast of the religious satire Saved! with several excellent young actors, many of whom looked like teenagers rather than the thirtysomething cast of Beverly Hills, 90210. Particularly impressive was Eva Amurri, daughter of Susan Sarandon, whose take on the school bad girl was refreshing and funny. And casting director Avy Kaufman deserves special praise for locating Emily Browning, a sweet and intelligent actor with a talent beyond her young years and the uncanny ability to steal scenes from Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Best genetic matches: Casting directors Ellen Lewis and Terri Taylor had their hands full when casting the fantasy-comedy 13 Going on 30. Not only did they cast actors such as Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo but they also had to find 13-year-old versions of the actors for flashback scenes. Rumor has it they had to find these actors twice: After test audiences reacted negatively to the first pair of actors, the roles were recast with Christa B. Allen and Sean Marquette. It may have taken a second chance, but the CDs got it right with the charming, natural, and very un-Hollywood pair. Also worth mentioning are the casting directors from the three-hankie romance The Notebook (Matthew Barry, Richard Futch, Nancy Green-Keyes, and Margaret Mullins), who had the foresight to cast Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a youthful James Garner and Gena Rowlands.
Great discoveries: One of the year's most impressive turns was by hip-hop star Mos Def as a steely cop in The Woodsman, cast by Kerry Barden, Mark Bennett, Diane Heery, Billy Hopkins, and Suzanne Smith. In merely a few scenes, Mos Def captivates as a representative for the audience's disgust with Kevin Bacon's convicted pedophile. And finally, proving you're never too old to steal scenes, Kumar Pallana, an Indian actor in his 80s, was the big find of the Tom Hanks vehicle The Terminal. Huge thanks are due to Debra Zane for recognizing a star-in-the-making. Perhaps the most breathtaking new discovery was by CD Maria E. Nelson, who discovered newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno, the Colombian actor who made her film debut as the titular star of Maria Full of Grace, carrying a difficult movie with strength and dignity.
More great discoveries--Kim Basinger's younger men: Here's a special subcategory for two great actors found in two wildly different films starring the gorgeous Basinger. First, Door in the Floor casting director Ann Goulder brought us Jon Foster, a sensitive young actor who found himself trading punches with Jeff Bridges and sharing love scenes with Basinger. Foster more than held his own against these heavyweights and also shared some sweet scenes with another young discovery, Elle Fanning (sister of Dakota), who played Bridges' and Basinger's daughter. Shortly thereafter, Cellular opened, starring Basinger and actor Chris Evans. Casting director Roger Mussenden clearly has an eye for talent: The charismatic Evans went on to land a lead role in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.
An animated year: Although the casting of The Incredibles deserves its own award (see story), 2004 was an exceptional year for matching voice talent to cartoon counterparts. We'll skip The Polar Express, because most of those roles were filled by Tom Hanks (does he have to do everything?). Also spectacular was Leslee Feldman's casting of Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots in Shrek 2, a film that also featured great voice work by Julie Andrews, Jennifer Saunders, and John Cleese. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the casting directors behind I, Robot (Juel Bestrop, Coreen Mayrs, and Jeanne McCarthy) were clever to avoid stunt casting and used Alan Tudyk as Sonny, the all-too-human android. Tudyk's complicated, sensitive performance is possibly the most three-dimensional in the entire film and is a large part of why the story succeeds.
--Jenelle Riley
Mary Hidalgo, Kevin Reher, Mathew Jon Beck, and Jen Rudin: The Incredibles
Pixar's The Incredibles isn't just the best animated movie of 2004: It's one of the best films of the year, period. The stunning script and breathtaking animation are major factors, but the movie wouldn't have worked so wonderfully without its diverse, perfectly chosen ensemble of voices. The film was cast by a group well-versed in quality animation: Mary Hidalgo, Kevin Reher, and Matthew Jon Beck, with additional casting by Jen Rudin. Hidalgo, Beck, and Reher also worked on 2003's Finding Nemo, making them the perfect team to assemble The Incredibles' gang of out-of-practice superheroes.
First of all, the film's central family is cast imaginatively and unexpectedly. For Bob Parr, aka Mr. Incredible, likeable Everyman Craig T. Nelson might not seem the obvious choice: The actor is still probably best-known for his role on cuddly sitcom Coach. And yet, Nelson's ability to be gruff and nurturing, blowhard and sympathetic, brings out the All-American Dad qualities inherent in Bob's persona. Meanwhile takes-no-guff Holly Hunter adds perfect balance as Bob's wife, Helen, aka Elastigirl; her sassy performance makes us wonder why Hunter hasn't been cast in more voiceover roles.
Perhaps one of the most unusual, and ultimately spot-on, bits of casting comes in the form of Violet, the eldest Parr offspring. It would have been easy to go with one of the big-name, of-the-moment teen ingenues, but the film is instead graced with Sarah Vowell, a writer perhaps best-known for her monologues on public radio's This American Life. Vowell's distinctively nasally tones perfectly convey Violet's sulky teen angst, while Spencer Fox, a young actor who has worked mostly in commercials, brings a spunky, devilish quality to Violet's younger brother, Dash.
The film's supporting roles are likewise stocked with thoughtfully chosen players: hilarious Jason Lee as dastardly villain Syndrome, silky-voiced Elizabeth Pena as sultry Mirage, cooler-than-ever Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone, distinctive character actor Wallace Shawn as Bob's petty boss, and the always-welcome John Ratzenberger as The Underminer.
Finally, another of the film's most inspired casting decisions has got to be the actor behind diminutive, irascible superhero costume designer Edna Mode. Having trouble placing those gravelly, imperious tones? It's none other than Incredibles writer-director Brad Bird, whose scene-stealing work proves once again that sometimes the most unlikely casting choices are the most rewarding.
--Sarah Kuhn
Nancy Klopper: Ray
Taylor Hackford's Oscar-nominated biopic Ray is a career milestone for Jamie Foxx, who brilliantly plays the late, great singer-songwriter Ray Charles. Perhaps the unsung hero of this richly textured film is casting director Nancy Klopper. She astutely handpicked the extraordinary ensemble--actors who play a diverse roster of roles, large and small. She initially suggested Foxx as the ideal actor to play the legendary singer when Hackford first emailed her from England, saying he was thinking of doing the film. She was unaware at the time that Foxx has a splendid musical background. "That was the icing on the cake," she says.
Klopper hastens to give due credit to location casting director Mark Fincannon for two "ingenious" pieces of casting: the untrained but remarkable C. J. Sanders, who plays Charles as a young boy, and Sharon Warren, Ray's mother in the film. All other choices came through Klopper's efforts as she worked closely with Hackford, her longtime associate. Finding an actor to play Quincy Jones was a challenge. She explains, "[Jones] and Ray had been friends since they were in their teens. It was an important relationship, though it's depicted briefly in the film. He's still alive, and we wanted to get it right. Jones magnanimously offered to have Larenz Tate [the actor cast as Jones] spend time with him."
Klopper says working on this film was wonderful because it was not a studio-produced effort, giving her more freedom than usual in casting recommendations. She explains, "I didn't have to think about box-office demands, just on finding the best actors for the roles. The film was especially great in giving chances to many African-American actors who don't always get opportunities to display their talents. They cherished the experience, and it was a joy for me to share it with them."
--Les Spindle
Marci Liroff: Mean Girls
Mean Girls could have been a lot of things. It could have been a frivolous, puffy comedy that poked fun at adolescent angst, or an excuse for writer Tina Fey to rail against the popular cliques she readily admits she was not a part of as a high schooler. Instead Mean Girls is a terrific blend of a fun, lighthearted teen story and a sincere warning against the drastic and sometimes devastatingly spiteful turn that can happen to young girls' personalities when they hit puberty. The cast is headed by Lindsay Lohan, who, prior to Mean Girls, had just made it big with Freaky Friday, also cast by Liroff. It's amazing, knowing now what a huge star Lohan has become, when we consider how understated yet captivating her performance is.
Although Lohan's performance is central, Mean Girls' spirit comes from the strength of the smaller roles. As Liroff points out, there were 91 speaking roles that needed to be cast for the movie, "which is huge," she says. Every role, from the home-schooled geeks to the earnest chemistry teacher to the skater girls, had to be perfect to set the offbeat and satirical tone of the film.
Liroff seems to have a knack for finding that special indefinable quality in young actors. Besides her find in Lohan, Liroff has cast such notable films as Footloose, The Crush, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, A Christmas Story, E.T., and Poltergeist. She says there's no special secret to discovering new talent. "Literally when someone comes in who is so right for the role, the air changes, you can just feel it," she says. She recalls the experience of casting Alicia Silverstone in The Crush, who was at the perfect age and at the precise point in her life to take on the role of the vengeful teen seductress. Liroff says, "The greatest thing in casting is to catch someone at the exact right moment in their lives, when no one else but that person could play the part. It doesn't happen often, and, when it does, everything else just falls into place."
--Pamela Bock
Richard Pagano: Hotel Rwanda
Writer-director Terry George's wrenching film about the 1994 Rwandan genocide has already won raves and Oscar nominations for actors Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo. It's no small feat to say the consistently spectacular Cheadle gives the performance of his career as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, who secretly housed more than 1,000 refugees while more than a million Tutsis were slaughtered over a 100-day period. And Okonedo, whom George and producer Alex Ho first spotted in the film Dirty Pretty Things, delivers a searing performance that promises more great things to come from this talented actor.
But even the smaller roles are filled to perfection. CD Richard Pagano is a veteran at spotting burgeoning talent, as he does regularly on the hit TV show 24, for which he has received two Emmy nominations. Although some critics have quibbled about the casting of Nick Nolte as Colonel Oliver, a sympathizer to Rusesabagina's cause, Nolte's grizzled seen-it-all attitude makes his horror at the tragedy all the more compelling. And Joaquin Phoenix, as an American cameraman, is flawless in one of the most pivotal scenes, when Rusesabagina comes to learn help may not be on its way. As Rusesabagina's right-hand man, Desmond Dube, an actor with only a few film credits, is particularly memorable. Also exceptional are Mosa Kaiser and Mathabo Pieterson, the young actors who portray Rusesabagina's children, who display none of the child actor tics that have become so common. The audience never doubts for a moment the vitality of this family, which makes its story all the more compelling. "We've been so lucky with this cast," George has said. "Everyone we asked was really willing to do the film. And when they arrived in South Africa, they were all team players and just got down to business."
--Jenelle Riley
Cindy Tolan and Douglas Aibel: Kinsey
With Liam Neeson and Laura Linney heading up Bill Condon's biopic, Kinsey--not to mention the able support of actors such as John Lithgow, Veronica Cartwright, and Oliver Platt--one would think there would barely be room for more than a few faceless students and the occasional gall wasp to fill out the tale. But as Cindy Tolan, who along with Douglas Aibel so adroitly cast the film, points out, "There were over 100 speaking roles in that movie," and it's in this parade of brief but indelible performances that the character of the film lays. "The thing is, when you're casting, it's all about faces," the CD continues. "With Kinsey it very much was to get a certain period."
Casting so huge a film relies on the CD's contacts, as well as a willingness to scout out new talent. "The way that I cast it's 50–50," she estimates. "You come up with a couple of people that you think, 'Oh, my God, they would be great in this part, that face is perfect.' And then also you go through all the submissions of all the actors that are out in the world that you don't know. You need to do both, so that you can constantly find the new people with the new faces." Tolan's personal casting coup? Using the echt '50s face behind Lypsinka, John Epperson, paired with Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife) for a scene in a gay bar. "Of course only the inside industry would know who it is, which is always such a special thrill for Doug and myself, because we're such big theatre people. It's such a kick, because they are famous in their circles, but then to get many, many other people to see them is always a great thing."
--Wenzel Jones
Jory Weitz: Napoleon Dynamite
Ever since Napoleon Dynamite became the successful dark horse at Sundance 2004, executive producer and casting director Jory Weitz has encountered many people convinced he cast with real people and not actors. "Obviously, there's no greater compliment," Weitz admits. "That's why, pound for pound, this is the best cast I've ever put together. I certainly did not think whatever happened to this movie was going to happen."
Having cast before for testosterone-pumping action flicks such as Blade and Universal Soldier, Weitz was itching to do a comedy when he was first handed the script. "I read it, and I laughed out loud," he recalls. "And that never happens when I read scripts." The biggest challenge for him was that the quirky-yet-clean comedy was so low-budget and so counterintuitive to Hollywood. Because newcomer Jon Heder was already attached to play the title role, after having starred in the short film (Peluca) that inspired the feature, Weitz decided to follow his lead to stay truthful to the piece.
"When you look at Jon in that short, it looks like he's been beamed down from some parallel solar system," Weitz says. "I told them, 'You're introducing characters that have a lot of heart but are so bizarre that I don't think I want to be watching the usual Hollywood hipsters trying to find these kind of roles. Let's just keep going from Jon Heder and follow that lead there.'" The CD took the "Seinfeld approach" by looking for straight or dramatic actors to play the comedy. Aside from filmmaker Jared Hess' Brigham Young University classmates Heder and Aaron Ruell (as Napoleon's brother Kip), the entire cast was assembled by Weitz in a few days.
Weitz brought the scene-stealing Jon Gries out of acting retirement when he cast The Big Empty in 2003, so Gries immediately popped into his mind again when casting for the stuck-in-1982 Uncle Rico. Gries has since earned an Independent Spirit nomination for his performance. Weitz also brought child star Tina Majorino out of early retirement as aspiring "glamour-shot" photographer Deb. Efren Ramirez impressed Hess and the CD with his ability to tone down his usually chatty self to play Napoleon's friend Pedro, a character with barely a pulse. Practically every actor Weitz cast had the same knee-jerk response--immediately wanting to sign on--including Diedrich Bader as Rex Kwon Do, and Haylie Duff as popular girl Summer. The one thing that surprised Weitz was that he had no second choices, which was a first for him in casting. It's obvious he needed none.