A Typical Day in My Atypical Life

I flew to New York on a quick turnaround this past weekend, even though production on GOD OF WARS had kicked off and the premiere of NEW MOON back here in Hollywood was looming on the horizon. Why? I had to recast a small role in FAIR GAME, the Doug Liman-directed movie starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn that I cast last spring

So here's a situation that sometimes comes up, which I feel is something worth dedicating a post to: I'll search in every and all directions to cast the perfect actor in a role (in this case, I traveled halfway across the globe to India to do so) and then, as the movie evolves through the process of getting made, it shape-shifts in such a way that something else is required from the role that the director couldn't have anticipated in the beginning of production.

It happens to be the case that Doug Liman is a director who enjoys demystifies stereotypes. He likes to cast against type, opting instead for the unexpected and the subtle, which is one of the reasons I love working with him. For the role in question, which was a small one, I cast a wonderfully talented young actor who showed up and did excellent work when the movie was getting shot in Kuala Lumpur. But it turned out that ultimately the needs of the movie demanded that the actor in this role had to communicate "danger" and "creepy" in a way that was immediate, not implied. The onscreen moment was small and fleeting. There wasn't time, in other words, for nuance in the scene; the actor in question had to simply embody "threat." Unfortunately, when the movie tested in the Midwest (I'll be posting soon about what this process is all about) the audience felt the actor played too young. The actor did everything right but sadly we need someone different. Or is there a chance it has something to do with the scene and not the actor?? I won't go there because it really doesn't matter. What matters is I deliver another version of that role via another actor.

Because I'm the casting Director from beginning to end on every project, it was my job to go back to the drawing board and search for someone new. (Interesting, isn't it, that after originally finding someone all the way over in India, I've now got my eye on a great actor right here in L.A.?) It's a shame when an actor gets cut from a film after having experienced the excitement of landing a role, and it can get logistically crazy for me when I've moved deep into other projects and suddenly get yanked back into one I thought was wrapped up. (Thank God for the red eye, for wifi on flights.) But all of this comes with the territory of working in the movies.

Welcome to my life. I love every minute of it.

(Did I mention that I'm posting this from my hotel room in Sydney? That's right, I'm working in Australia right now. I'll tell you all about it in a post, after I post about the NEW MOON premiere, which was fantastic.)