Casting for Extras

It’s been over a month since I last posted regarding production of The Lunchroom.  I want to apologize for that from the get go.  This blog post is part of a continuing series on the making of are first short film The Lunchroom. If you want to catch up, Please do so on the below links.

The Beginning

Rebel without a Crew | Sifting | Last Call? | A Band Apart | Soundtrack | Lights! Camera!? | Bad M.F. |  This is the End | Gotta Have It

Pre-Production

Lunchroom Conversations | Another 48 Hrs. | Odishon

 On my last entry we had wrapped up auditions and had found new energy.  It had sparked the creative desire in each and every one of us. I’d like to tell you that we seized the moment and banged out a slew of short films in the couple of months since casting. But that’s not what happened at all:

Getting the film made was not an easy undertaking.  I don’t want to highlight any of the negative aspects, but suffice it to say there was friction in the group. Some of us, had experience, and some of us did not. Some felt they were just along for the ride. Some of us were used to doing things in one fashion, and others were looking for  direction, while others were flowing with the moment.  What I learned most though is even with a small group of independent filmmakers, it can get very Hollywood when its time for creative decisions. What I mean by “Hollywood” is when things spiral out of control in the creation process, and you end up with a giant fucking Spider in your movie. We see some asinine situations come out of Hollywood, absurd plots, stupid remakes, and ending that differ completely from the novel and you wonder Who the Hell was the guy that came up this bullshit? It’s just normal people. Each pursuing their own interests in the project, whether its money, fame or career. Each with an ego, they needed to check, an opinion they just NEED to share, They need to be heard.  You know the saying too many cooks spoil the soup? Well the same can be said about filmmaking.   And that’s something I learned for the future. Everyone should have an assigned job, and they need to it, and everyone else needs to get out of their way. The writer is the writer. The director directs, and producer needs to wrangle them altogether, or shit will never get done.

I decided since I wasn’t writing or directing, that I would take the task of production on my shoulders. It also seemed like no one else wanted it, even though a deadline for shooting had been set. Furthermore, we had yet still not cast the lead actress. The one that ties it all together. While I saw the comedic opportunities of the role, a crazy stalker. A woman too desperate to realize that her advances were unwanted. Leonard had the one caveat that she had to be extremely hot. So the idea that she’s desperate no longer worked.  The character would have to be naive.

I went ahead, and put up a casting call on Mandy.com.  The character sheet said she would be 22-29, but Mandy only had 18-24 and 25-30. I didn’t want the character to be so young. So I chose 25-30.  What I would soon learn is that in Hollywood talk, 25-30 is late 40’s to early 50’s. The first dozen or so applicants. where 25-30 years older than ME. It seemed like an utter disaster at this point. There were no actresses who would fit the description. The closest was a  late thirties hispanic woman, who had done some dramatic work in short films, but was going to be unable to attend the audition. She wanted to audition via the web. Which in this day and age was not an unusual request. Hell, production meetings on this film were being held over facebook messages.  But I had come up with the GENIUS idea, to hold auditions on the very same day of the shoot. The character didn’t have a lot of lines and no one was available to hold secondary auditions. So why not merge everything onto the same day.

I then moved on to Craigslist, which had been such a huge boon in talent scouting on previous projects. I sent out the same posting, plus a separate one for Extras. While I got a dozens of requests for people wanting to be extras, I got very few prospects in the way of lead actress. It wasn’t for lack of applicants either. I got tons of resumes this time. People that weren’t quite right for the part. Mostly because they had the wrong genitalia. Apparently on Craigslist Looking for Lead Actress means: Hairy chested men Wanted.  One woman even sent me the resume for her adorable 3 year old son. She had him pimped out in a business suit and a slick haircut. I know you’re looking for women, she said. But please keep my son in mind. Let’s see: Now casting for workplace comedy, The Office meets Fatal Attraction. I guess I really might have a part for junior.  He did have a nice suit.

Eventually the most interesting thing happened. My craigslist ad was dumped, on several, talent agency websites. All of a sudden I was bombarded with applicants. Male, female, and some of undermined sexuality. I’m not going post pictures, but they ranged from some beautiful women to some of the most absurd people. There was a guy who looked like he belonged  as an extra in Napoleon Dynamite. He had an awesome wristband, killer hair, and a katana sword. I really wanted him in the movie.  I can’t help it. I gotta post pictures.

Freakin’ Awesome. *lol*

Then there was this lady, who was part bodybuilder, part cougar, All bad ass. She was the star of her own comic book.  Correction. TWO Comic Books. Rarely does one get to be the star of one comic, let alone TWO. Unless you’re Batman. But we weren’t exactly sure if she was a female.  Serge and Eric, experts in photoshop and digital manipulation, went over the image in question and did notice that it was “retouched” in the crotch area.

here was this lady, who was part bodybuilder, part cougar, All bad ass. She was the star of her own comic book.  Correction. TWO Comic Books. Rarely does one get to be the star of one comic, let alone TWO. Unless you’re Batman. But we weren’t exactly sure if she was a female.  Serge and Eric, experts in photoshop and digital manipulation, went over the image in question and did notice that it was “retouched” in the crotch area.

Still Casting Auditions over the internet weren’t all bad.  It’s how we found Pearce Blair after all.

From the get-go I knew I wanted him in the movie. He just looked so pimp in that suit. There wasn’t even a part for him beyond extra. So I lobbied for us to create something special for him.  Pretty much the entire crew loved his look. So we created the role of “The Boss” for him.  If you haven't seen it yet. Check out Pearce in the short film Intervention below.

 

We also found Nikita Miller this way. She applied to be an extra in our film. But I knew right away, that we could cast her in the lead female role.

I submitted her in with the other applicants without much fanfare. Everyone’s conception of beauty is different, so I didn’t want someone veto-ing her automatically. Just because I thought she was right for the role, even though she was a bit young.  I think Serge was the first one to get excited over her picture. If she could act he wanted her in his short film Norwood.  I also saw her in a few of my feature length scripts. She had that girl next door quality in her photos. Eric also chimed in his approval, and lastly Leonard would ask to bring her on board in his usual understated way. Give me so and so, oh and Nikita too.