After all of the statues had been handed out at Monday night’s 25th Annual Artios Awards in New York City, we had a drink with “Mad Men” star Vincent Kartheiser, who was on hand to present several awards honoring the top casting directors in the industry.
What brings you to the Artios Awards tonight?
Vincent Kartheiser: Well I was offered to come, and I said, “That’s a huge honor and I’d love to do it.” I have primarily worked out of L.A., although I know some casting directors in New York. I love casting directors. I owe my career, like all actors do, to two or three casting directors who have really stood behind me.
Who are some those casting directors who’ve shaped your career?
Mali Finn was actually a huge, huge impact on my life as a young man. She basically pulled me out of Minnesota, brought me to L.A., screen tested me. She passed away a couple years ago now, but she was a huge catalyst in my career – and they always are. Throughout your career, you’re going to go through periods where the public doesn’t want you and directors don’t know you, but these people who do the work, and spend their evenings watching movies they don’t want to and plays that are out of their way, are the people who we owe our careers to and who believe in us. Keep reading →
On Monday night, some of today’s hottest actors came to the new Times Center in New York City to honor the industry’s top casting directors at the 25th Annual Artios Awards. I spoke with actor Patrick Wilson (“All My Sons,” “Watchmen,” “Little Children”) at the pre-ceremony reception, before the lights dimmed and he presented several of the night’s awards — and he actually seemed excited to see us!
Does this mean you used to read the Back Stage casting notices when you began your acting career?
Patrick Wilson: I started pre-internet! Absolutely, my first job was from Back Stage, though.
Do you remember what that first gig was?
I used to get Back Stage when I was in college – well, I had friends who got it and would tell me about it, and my friends and I would drive up from Pittsburgh [to auditions in New York]. I auditioned for so many things then, let me think… My first job was “Miss Saigon,” which I got out of Back Stage West.
But even though I had an agent, I would still go to open calls or EPAs, you know. It’s what I tell young actors now: Just because you get an agent doesn’t mean the work stops, or the pursuit stops. A couple times you’ll get cross-referenced, like “Yeah, so I got you an appointment,” and you’re like “Oh yeah, I already went in for that.” And they’re like, “What?” Keep reading →
Comedian and actress Janeane Garofalo (“Reality Bites,” “The Truth About Cats & Dogs,” “24″) hosted the Artios Awards in New York City on Monday night, where CSA-member casting directors are recognized annually for their work casting film, theater, and television projects. I was there before the ceremony to speak candidly with Garofalo about past auditions, the ups and downs of her long career, and why acting is always personal.
Do you have relationships with any of the casting directors being honored here tonight?
Janeane Garofalo: I mean, I know some of them. I don’t know them know them, but I’ve met some over the years. But I don’t even know if they know who’s hosting. (laughs)
What does it mean to you to be hosting the awards tonight? As an actor, these casting directors kind of control your destiny, right?
Yeah. So they’re getting rewarded for controlling the destiny of millions of young – and middle-aged – actors.
Speaking of casting directors, do you remember your best – or worst – audition experience?
My worst audition was for Oliver Stone, many years ago. He walked out of the room while I was auditioning for “Natural Born Killers.” That’s the only time I remember that happening. And I was told by others that that was not unusual. That was his behavior back in those days. Keep reading →
Michael Shannon and Elizabeth Reaser congratulate the winners at the Artios Awards.
Casting directors came out from behind the curtain to be honored by their peers last night at the 25th Annual Artios Awards.
The bi-coastal awards, which were held simultaneously at the new Times Center in New York City and the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, are presented yearly for outstanding achievement in casting in theater, film, and television categories on the criteria of originality, creativity, and contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project.
Celebrity awards presenters in New York were Patrick Wilson (“Little Children,” “Angels in America”), Carrie Preston (“True Blood”), Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”), Jennifer Morrison (“House”), Bill Pullman (“Oleanna”), Christine Ebersole (“Grey Gardens”), Vincent Kartheiser (“Mad Men”), and Elizabeth Reaser (“Twilight”). Stanley Tucci and producer Daryl Roth presented the New York Big Apple Award to Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, whose “Love, Loss and What I Wore” recently opened Off-Broadway to rave reviews.
The event was hosted in New York by comedian Janeane Garofalo, who admitted the stakes are a little higher when you’re responsible for honoring your potential employers. “One would hope I don’t fail,” Garofalo said before the ceremony. “I can’t imagine it would be helpful if I do poorly tonight — unless they were casting for somebody who was failing at something. So hopefully I will not embarrass myself.”
But on this night, the actors were happy to step out of the spotlight, as they were given a rare opportunity to celebrate many of the behind-the-scenes heroes who have secretly shaped their careers. These A-listers seemed genuinely thrilled to attend and show their support for the CSA members being recognized.
“The director’s not going to know everybody out there,” Shannon said while speaking with Pullman and Artios Award-nominated casting director Ellen Lewis (“Revolutionary Road”) before the ceremony. “I mean, they’re very busy doing all the things they have to do, so it’s up to the casting directors to bring in the stack of photos and say, ‘Think about it.’ Without casting directors like Ellen, I’d just be sitting at home. It’s a big deal.” Keep reading →
Role: Ensemble member of the Grown Up’s Playground Theater Company for improv comedy.
Jeff Asbell
Jeff Asbell calls himself a novice performer, but in reality he had been practicing improv for decades before being cast as a member of the New York City improv troupe the Grown Up’s Playground Theater Company last year.
Asbell had abandoned an early childhood love of the performing arts in favor of a more practical career. While working toward a master’s degree in counseling psychology in 1968, he realized that before he could become a guidance counselor in the New York school system, he would have to be observed working with students. Asbell felt self-conscious about “performing” in front of his peers and professors, so to prepare himself for his time in the spotlight, he enrolled in a year of improv and scene study classes at HB Studio.
“To me, people who did improv were able to mentally fly by the seat of their pants and do verbal acrobatics,” he says. “And I thought, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’ But I just needed a little teaching and coaching, an opportunity to interact.” Keep reading →
Companies like AuditionHost and MyStudio are taking casting to the Web, but are users following?
MyStudio at Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, AZ
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? If you invent a brilliant new technology but no one uses it, how can it make people’s lives easier?
That’s what Scott Weiss must be wondering. Weiss is co-founder and president of AuditionHost, a new website designed to simplify casting by allowing casting directors to manage audition videos online and share them with their clients. The goal is “to automate the first round of the audition process,” Weiss says. “It’s a business tool. There’s an emerging trend: How can we use the Internet to make things easier and faster, to focus on more stuff? For a casting director, maybe they can take the few hours this would save them sitting in an audition room and put it toward the next project.”
One obstacle for start-ups like AuditionHost, which launched in February, is that in order to become viable, it must first be widely adopted by casting directors. The service costs CDs $299 for one 30-day online casting call (prices for long-term plans vary). For casting offices without their own studios, Weiss notes, that’s cheaper than renting audition space. The service is free for actors, who can also get feedback from casting directors on the site.
Cast It Systems is another online management tool for casting, and after five years in business it boasts more than 400 clients, including major studios and networks such as 20th Century Fox and HBO and producers like Bad Robot, Happy Madison, and the Weinstein Co. Producers post casting needs and production details, CDs upload audition videos and actor profiles, and both sides interact, comment on the material, and make decisions faster.
“I think you’ll always have those smaller projects that take YouTube auditions,” says Cast It co-founder Eric Hayes. “But for it to be a viable system, it has to be standardized for the big studios. That’s kind of the advantage of Cast It. Casting directors know that if they use Cast It, they can work with any studio or network.” Keep reading →
I spoke with the cast of the hit FX comedy series ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ on the red carpet before the NYC premiere of their live stage musical, ‘The Nightman Cometh,’ at the Beacon Theater. With Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis.
It’s a familiar routine for actors everywhere: Get dressed, check your makeup, fight traffic or subway crowds for an hour or more, then sit in a casting office, poring over sides for the hundredth time as you wait for your name to be called. A few minutes later, you’re saying “Thank you” and heading off to your next chance to hurry up and wait. It’s just what you have to do to get a job, right? Well, maybe not anymore.
Actor Johanne Marie Maurasse juggles her duties as a mother with long commutes to infrequent auditions across the state of Florida. When she saw a casting notice for the indie thriller “Stopped Dead” on MySpace, she decided to record a brief audition video and upload it from home.
“My husband was at work all night,” Maurasse recalled. “My kids were sleeping. I found a way to put my little digital camera on a shelf, and I had something under it to have the right level. And then I made sure that when I pressed Record, my face was in front of the camera. In two hours I was able to figure out the right way to record my audition.”
She admits that when she factors in the time it took to rehearse, set up the camera and lights, and upload the video, she might not have saved more than a few minutes compared to driving to a live audition. But Maurasse was glad to avoid the stress of having to schedule an appointment and hire a babysitter—though she assumed the filmmakers would still need to meet with her in person before they’d consider casting her in a feature.
In fact, director Jason L. Liquori contacted her the next day to let her know that her video had impressed him. Rather than ask for another audition, however, Liquori quickly offered her the supporting role of rookie cop Donna Finnigan—based solely on her video. “Stopped Dead” was shot in Apopka, Fla., this summer.
Maurasse’s story is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to online auditions. But her experience may become more common. Keep reading →
More than likely, Andrea Romano is responsible for some of your fondest childhood memories — even though you’ve probably never heard of her or seen her face. Her impressive list of voiceover casting and directing credits reads like the 1980s and ’90s inductees of a hypothetical Saturday morning cartoon Hall of Fame.
Romano has worked behind the scenes as a voiceover casting director and voice director for hit animated fare as varied as Hanna-Barbera cartoons, The Smurfs, Batman: The Animated Series, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Boondocks, and more. In a career spanning 25 years, Romano has 18 Emmy nominations and six wins. Most recently, Romano has cast and directed the voiceover work for Warner Bros.’ series of successful direct-to-video titles based on popular DC Comics superhero properties, including Batman and Wonder Woman.
The latest, Green Lantern: First Flight, will be released July 28 and features the voice talents of Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and Victor Garber (Alias, Milk) as hero Hal Jordan and villain Sinestro, respectively, as well as Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, and Kurtwood Smith. (A Wonder Woman DVD, released earlier this year, stars Keri Russell as the titular heroine, with Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, and Virginia Madsen rounding out the cast).
Romano is currently attending the annual Comic-Con International: San Diego, where she will host panels and present screenings of Green Lantern: First Flight, as well as a special all-musical episode of the new WB animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold (with Neil Patrick Harris providing the voice of the villain the “Musical Meister”).
I had the chance to speak with Romano before her appearances at Comic-Con. Read the full Q&A with Romano below: Keep reading →
Josh Brolin as President George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's 'W.'
Sarah Finn
Sarah Finn Co., Los Angeles W., Gridiron Gang, Coach Carter, Miracle, Castro’s Daughter, Iron Man, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
It’s a much more specific demand when we’re casting really current figures—figures in the media, very visible figures. They’re not just in history; they’re people our audience would know very well. What we’re really trying to capture is the essential quality of that person. But it’s also very risky, because with public figures, we know that everyone will have an opinion and approve or disapprove of the casting. Keep reading →
Daniel Lehman is a writer, editor, and journalist based in New York City. He currently works for Back Stage.
Mr. Lehman’s work has been published by Back Stage, amNewYork, Filmmaker Magazine, the New York Resident, The Jewish Exponent, the Washington Square News, and more.
