The audition process has evolved since the 1980s, when casting director Margery Simkin put together the ensembles of movies like “Top Gun” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” But her philosophy remains the same: “I know we’re thought of as the people that say no,” she explains. “But in fact, we’re the people who want to say yes.” While serving on the jury of the 2024 Mediterrane Film Festival in Malta, she shared valuable insights with us about casting James Cameron’s “Avatar” films, as well as Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet’s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” She also offered tips to performers who want to score sci-fi roles.
How can actors stand out now that there are more chances to put themselves on tape?
Do good work. Everybody wants the magic bullet and the answer. If I said, “You’ll stand out if you wear a blue shirt,” then suddenly everybody’s gonna wear a blue shirt, and they won’t stand out. There isn’t one way to do it. You have to be true to yourself. When people try to be something else to make it work, they do everyone a disservice—themselves and those of us assessing.
Is everything done on tape instead of in person these days?
The stuff I’m working on now, everybody is everywhere. I have showrunners in L.A. and directors in Toronto, and I may be in New York, and my partner may be in L.A. We’re all over the place, so [we’re] doing things online. But online doesn’t mean not personal. Everything is a unique situation. That’s the other thing I think everyone forgets about what we do: Each job has its own requirements; each role has its own requirements.
This is, again, director to director, and one of the interesting things I have to say at this festival is that there are three directors on the jury with me, and they are so different from [one another]—in both the work they do and the way that they talk about casting. One of them was saying, “The tapes look so bad.” I’m thinking, OK. Well, then, I would never send you a rough-looking [tape].
But I have people I work with that I can go, “There’s something in this one; just look at it. It’s not perfect. If you like it, we’ll go back and get another one.” Sometimes, we know there are things we have to redo or re-tape, or get actors to change the lighting or what they’re wearing. I really believe in giving people the opportunity to succeed.
If we think you’re the answer, we’re going to go crazy—getting you and teeing you up to do the best possible version of this thing, given all the people that are going to be decision-makers. Maybe it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, and maybe it does. If it’s a situation where it does, I used to keep clothes at my office. Now, I’ll say, “You’re at home. Go in your closet. Do you have a white shirt?”
In a master class you gave at the festival, you said that an older actor you recently cast was having technical issues on their tape, but that even though self-taping can feel like a younger person’s game, anyone can do it with some guidance.
Absolutely. He clearly was challenged [by the technology,] so we helped him because he was clearly talented. As long as we can see and hear him, we’re in a position to assess.
In terms of what you look like, back in the day, people used to club together and get video cameras. In my opinion, you don’t need to be at a studio. One of the things I always say is: [Beforehand,] just on an ordinary day when you don’t have an audition, walk around your house and find the place that has the best light, so that when the moment comes that you get the audition, you’re prepped. You know, between three and five, the light is great from this window. Then, I hope you use cookbooks; I hope you read something [and that] you have some books in your house. If you pile up books and put your camera or computer on top of it, you’ll get a better angle.
You don’t have to invest in some massive thing; a ring light costs less than a hair blowout. I agree [that actors] shouldn’t be burdened. I understand the competition is larger now that we can go more places, [but] it isn’t just about going around the world. In the United States, you don’t have to live in L.A. or New York, which are super expensive…. You can live somewhere else and put yourself on tape.
The first “Avatar” came out in 2009 and the second in 2022, while the third movie and parts of the fourth were shot simultaneously with “The Way of Water.” When it comes to casting kids, how do you find the magic?
You cast children like everyone else—you have to do it for the moment. Of course, the hope in “Avatar” is that they will grow and grow as performers. The plan is the same for the fourth and fifth movies—they’ll be filmed as a unit. You just hope for the best. You roll the dice, take an educated guess, and worry about the present. It is a fascinating puzzle.
There are a lot of motion-capture and underwater scenes in “Avatar.” Is physical skill something you consider when casting children?
My theory on all of this is that you go for the performance first; you find the kids that are good. We did physical and water tests, if nothing else, to know what a person’s baseline is, so you know…what training had to be done, or who could do what. The decisions were made not based on that; the decisions were made based on who was the better actor. When you do those kinds of tests, you find out things about their pluck, energy, and how they operate as a group. It was a good way of assessing what they’d be like in the situation, but you never know what it’s going to be like.
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” features actors playing different versions of established characters like James T. Kirk, Spock, and Christopher Pike. What are the challenges of casting recognizable roles?
Years ago, I got asked to do a couple of biopics, which I shied away from. I was like, Everybody knows what this person looks like, and I don’t want to be burdened with having to match them. You have to catch the essence of both the character as written and who that person really was. You have to do the same thing with the established characters in “Star Trek,” because people really care. You have to honor that, and I think we have been able to.
Is there anything specific you look for when casting a science fiction project?
You’re just looking for a good actor who works and who makes sense in the role. You have to make sure they’re appropriate for the part.
With “Star Trek,” you have the added element of a certain level of expectation when it’s a returning character. Then you try to do something surprising. One of the things I’m personally most proud of was having the idea of casting Carol Kane as Pelia on “Strange New Worlds.” We had featured Tig Notaro on “Star Trek: Discovery,” but now the creators wanted to see someone else in the engineering room.
It was an opportunity to add some comedy. I thought, Well, it should be an older person. Pelia is a species that lives for a long time. “Well, what about Carol Kane?” I asked. It’s the biggest laugh I’ve ever heard from Akiva. I thought, OK, it’s a good idea. It’s probably the thing people talk to me about most. Carol has gotten such a kick out of doing it.
I’m not a sci-fi person at all. One of the things that’s exciting to me about working on all these projects is that I feel like if it works for me, it’s going to work for a wider audience, which I think has turned out to be true. Particularly, “Strange New Worlds” has been really welcoming to newbies, and people really like it.
So, an actor shouldn’t wear Spock ears if they’re auditioning for a “Star Trek” project?
Definitely no Spock ears, and don’t paint your face green if that character’s green. When actors do something too extreme, they take away the decision-makers’ ability to see your audition and imagine what they think the costume is going to be on top of it. That’s true whether you’re performing in the room or on tape.
What has been the most rewarding thing about being on the jury at the Mediterrane Film Festival and the movies you’re seeing there?
Getting to meet all the other people on the jury. That sounds like such a gooey thing to say, but it is completely true. It is a fantastic bunch. I have been on juries before, and there’s always someone you like, or a few people you like. But I really like every single person on the jury, and we’re having an amazing time together, and we could not be more different [from one another]. It’s fascinating watching these movies. And then we get out of the movies and we all talk about them. We have such disparate opinions. It’s an intellectual challenge—even my own opinions.
I have always been interested in movies from all over. I’ve been part of what was the [best] foreign language and is now the international award at the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] since I’ve been a member, and I was on the exec committee of that for a dozen years. I came up with this program—that sadly doesn’t exist anymore—where we were bringing the nominated films to Washington, D.C., to show to young people in politics and policy, because I had this theory that everyone doesn’t get to travel.
What is great about seeing movies from other countries is that you get a sense of what the concerns are in that country at a [certain] point in time. It’s always really interesting to come to these festivals—first of all, to see what’s presented, and then to see what people’s ideas or reactions are to it.
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 1 issue of Backstage Magazine.