Casting

While working on the storyboard and other preproduction processes, the producer will be able to determine when each actor will be working during the course of the filming. Because there is such a wide range of prices asked for by different actors in today’s film industry, the casting of the film is a great factor in determining a films budget and visa versa. In an ideal situation, a producer and director will pick the best actor for the part. Betty Davis once told Ron Howard, “95 percent of directing is the script and the casting. Once you’ve done that, the rest is knowing how to stay the hell out of the way and still get the movie shot”.

There is perhaps nowhere in which directors differ more than in the way they interact with actors. This begins from the very moment a part for a picture is cast. “One of the blessings is to cast well, to cast carefully. I have a terrific associate in this. We tend to cast for good actors: people who have emotional availability, who have technique and skills. I’m under the assumption that once we cast the person, they are that character. After all, a character on a page is really only a dozen lines of dialogue. Once you assign those to a whole person, he or she becomes that person”, quoted Arthur Penn, director of such films as Bonnie and Clyde and Night Moves.  To cast a specific role effectively, the director must of course have a firm idea of the character. Each role, no matter how big or small, is extremely important to the final outcome of the picture. It has been reiterated numerous times that a film is only as good as its worst performer. Likewise, it is often said that almost any director can evoke an excellent performance from an experienced, talented actor but that good direction is most evident in the quality of the smaller roles.

There are at least three major factors that should be taken under consideration when a director is casting a role (budget aside). These factors are the audience, the character or role and the physical appearance of the actor. It is crucial to take audience expectations into consideration when casting a role. Because audiences tend to type-cast certain actors in certain types of roles, placing an actor known for big muscle action films (a perfect example being Arnold Schwarzenegger) in a role such as Dustin Hoffman played in Tootsie would no doubt deter audiences. The personality projected by the actor must match audience expectations for the role.

Rehearsal

Once the major roles for the film have been cast, a director can begin preliminary run-throughs (rehearsals) to help the actors develop their specific characters. The amount of rehearsal time afforded depends greatly on what the director requests, the availability of the actor, and the overall time constraints on the film. Generally, rehearsals last 2-3 weeks before the actual shooting process begins. Rehearsals can be very helpful in establishing relationships with the actors, along with determining if a specific scene plays out as believable or not. It is a time when the actors can give input, ask questions and collaborate with the director on whether a scene will relay well to the audience. If not, this is the time to make changes. Different directors have differing points of view as to whether rehearsal is important to the overall production of the film or not. On one side (say, the left side) there are those such as Paul Williams, “I am very actor oriented, and am very concerned with performance. I don’t know how to do it without rehearsals”. Next there are directors such as Bernardo Bertolicci, “I don’t rehearse too much. I try, if I can”. Leaning over to the right side there are directors such as Robert Altman, “I don’t have any real rehearsal period. I'm embarrassed to rehearse because I don’t know what to do”. Finally, there are those on the far right, like Michael Winner, “I don’t believe in rehearsal for a film”. There are many directors who would rather take several shots during the filming process than waste that time in rehearsals. Then, when that perfect impromptu action occurs, it is more realistic because it has not been played over previously. Once a scene has been rehearsed and the perfect action for that scene has been discovered, to recreate that perfect scene when the camera is rolling is sometimes difficult, because now the actor is trying to act out that impromptu action.