Beyond all those things Tucker described about the role of a casting director, our CD brings additional value to the table with his ability to give us the 10,000 foot view of things after each audition. While the rest of us (the producers and The Director) stare intently at the auditioning actor, trying to discern whether he has the right delivery, the right tone, the right physicality for whichever role he is reading, the Casting Director sits back and takes it all in. The entirety of the performance, undissected. Then, once his assistant ushers the actor out the door and it closes behind them, he WITHOUT FAIL hits us with something that we might have known or felt subconsciously but had not fleshed out and expressed as a coherent thought. It's uncanny. Let me give you an example.
The other day we auditioned a series of guys for the Tucker character. One of the guys in that group read it significantly better than anyone had to that point. He came in with the perfect energy. He carried himself with the right breed of confidence. He slid fluidly into friendly light-hearted conversation and quickly captured the attention of the women in the room. He was perfect, and this was all before we'd even hit record on the video camera and begun the audition.
The audition was just as good. Like with most every audition, The Director starts by telling the actor we'll do each scene once to see where the actor goes with it and then he'll give the actor some notes and we'll do it again. On the first take, this guy's tone and body language were almost perfect. His pacing was pretty right on and he knew where the beats were to each scene. The Director (along with the rest of us) was duly impressed, so he only had a few notes for the guy. Mostly little things, but important enough that they would substantially change the performance if they were taken and executed properly.
Sure enough, the actor's second take of each scene was better; made all the more so by his ability to take and understand direction. We thanked him for coming in, shook hands, and the casting director's assistant escorted him out. Once the door closed, the conversation went something like this:
Tucker: That dude nailed it.
TheProducer: He's definitely the best we've seen.
TheDirector: Yeah, I was impressed. He took direction really well.
Tucker: He came in with the right confidence, he got what it was all about.
TheProducer: He's definitely at the top of the list right now.
That's when the Casting Director chimed in. And I'm paraphrasing here:
You know what, I'm really interested to see what that audition looks like on tape. I want to see him on the screen, because it's super important that the guy who ends up playing Tucker pops off the screen as someone who has a charm and likability that you can't help but fall for no matter what he does or what comes out of his mouth. He has to be likable enough that you WANT to forgive him for all the bad stuff he does. I'm not sure this guy has that. He might, but I'm not sure.
Initially, I disagreed. I mean, the audition was great. He owned the room. Everyone liked him. I thought maybe we were all being a touch hypercritical here, since we all agree that the Tucker character will be the hardest and most important to get absolutely 100% right. That evening we went home and Tucker and I watched one of his movies. This particular film will never be considered great cinema or even good comedy, so we had to factor that into our impressions of this guy's on-screen presence. Sure enough, not twenty minutes into it, we could see exactly what the Casting Director was talking about. He was almost there, as fun-loving, likable characters go, but the charm and likability didn't pop off the screen like it would need to for the type of character Tucker is and the type of things he says and does.
Man, I thought to myself as I turned off the movie, the Casting Director really knows his shit. No wonder his quote is where it is. He's fucking worth it. The fun part, of course, will come when we start casting the female leads and the Casting Director makes a similar comment that Tucker desperately wants to dismiss because the actress in question has blond hair and huge fake tits. Can't wait for that.
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