All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 117 - Casting

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the great movie director one of the most

awarded of all time if not the most

William Wier had a simple formula he

thought 90% of directing films was

script and casting and then he said the

other 10% was knowing how to get out of

the way when you've done the first two

things correctly um there there's a lot

to be said for that casting is vitally

important uh and um and it's a process

not to be trifled with to be taken very

seriously a director can guide a

performance in some instances maybe if

you're working with a child or a very

specific actor with a set of um

tremendous strengths but you know

another set of weaknesses it might be

possible to really mold a performance

but it's rare when that succeeds um you

you the the director really really needs

the actors to be uh strong and

especially in film there has to be some

kind of connection between the the the

you know the actor the performer and

that character that that that you could

just readily accept now there's some

great great character people who who can

surprise you and they can they can

create that connection in ways that you

never would have expected but that

connection is still there Merill Street

you know leaps to mind um Dustin Hoffman

some amazing uh characterizations and

you know they don't seem very much like

Dustin Hoffman at all and yet you know

uh believe me Tom Hanks is nothing like

Forest Gump uh but but there's a there's

an innate connection there that I think

if a director at and talk to any of

those actors before they were going to

tackle a role where they were going to

transform themselves they were they were

still building on something that they

understood and and felt um so you know

you you have to be very meticulous about

the casting

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process all of directing boils down to

taste you were talking a lot about

techniques and

options and possibilities and at the end

of the day it always comes back to that

that sense of what's good what's right

and you have to keep trusting that

feeling these things are not academic U

you know uh issues they they are they're

creative they're aesthetic when you're

looking at an actor's work whether

you're watching other movies or

television shows or plays that they're

that they're in uh and and you're trying

to make the decision about about the

casting you do have to you have to

follow your your gut conversations with

them will matter a lot sometimes uh

other factors will come into play that

by the way that actor has very little

control of for example if you're

building a uh you're casting a family

well if you put everybody's picture up

on a wall do you feel like they're a

cohesive unit can they look like a

family and the answer may be uh no with

you know with actor or an actress that

you're that you're really

considering as an actor

myself often disappointed by going in

auditioning and not getting a

role I was shocked when I began

casting

because I realized that as a

director most of the most of the people

that you're looking at in a casting

session can do the role in other words

they're talented enough they're

experienced enough they're intelligent

enough of course they can play the

role but of course most of them don't

get the role you have to select the

one and and there are so many

intangibles that come into play there

and again those um boil down to

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taste now I would suggest a few other

things to look

for I believe

that compatibility is important and I

don't just mean

Congeniality because you know it doesn't

matter if a person is uh Pleasant or

Sullen or funny and kind none of those

things matter again what matters is what

you get inside those framelines and what

that actor can do with those with those

scenes but you need a kind of creative

compatibility you need to believe

that that that actor

um and that character and your

sensibility is going to create a strong

Foundation um and if in conversation you

believe that the actor disagrees with

your approach you either have to think

it through and and and ask yourself is

the actor right here and am I wrong

which is possible because actors are

smart and they think about characters in

a very particular very profound and Deep

Way often but if there's a if there's a

disconnect the chances are you're not

you're not going to benefit Your Story

by trying to talk them out of their

ideas even if they're Pleasant about it

and they try their best they're they're

not going to own their ideas so it's

very important that they be able to put

their personal stamp on their ideas now

of course you're going to you're going

to give directions and suggestions and

they're going to have to do some things

that might be outside their comfort zone

that's you know those are are the

particulars those are the specifics but

looking holistically at should this

person be you know in this film or this

television show you you have to look at

that creative compatibility and be

honest with yourself about

it when I'm auditioning an actor and by

the way I don't always audition actors

very often I just know I want somebody

in a role and and there's also a kind of

an you know an easy consensus you're

talking to your friends you're talking

to the people uh you know involved in

the project uh you mention somebody's

name as it relates to a character and

everybody goes oh my God that would be

great and you know if you have a meeting

or a phone call or a conversation and

you sort of see that there's good good

chemistry you know you just you just

want that person in the role you know

trust that I've I've never I've never

gone wrong with that that kind of

thinking but whenever I'm working with

an actor and I think they're you know I

have a question as to whether they're

really right or not

um but there's something about them

intrinsically that I think you know

could really work and having been an

actor myself always trying to give an

actor every opportunity to to impress

and and and sort of um you know G give

their best to the audition uh I'll

often ask them to do it again and and

and and think of a direction to give

them it might not even be a Direction I

Would really give on a shooting day it

might it might be that their their

instincts are fundamentally correct but

I usually uh test the waters of my

making a suggestion offering an

adjustment and seeing how they handle it

because it's it's also useful to know is

this somebody who has that kind of

command of their of their talent of

their instrument or do they get locked

in on a particular I you know sort of

idea a way of presenting the scene a way

of approaching the scene and the

dialogue within it and if so you need to

know that and then say all right well

they're com this is their this is how

they see it this is how they feel it

they've obviously prepared it that way

and this is what they do and when you

push them outside of that prepared

approach they're they're going to be a

little bit at Sea and lost and you just

want to note that there are other people

who you know are improvisational and

inspired and they can begin to uh you

know to work with the scene in some

remarkable ways and then you begin to

say there's another element here this

person could actually improve the

writing they they could refine the

character they could think of of details

that none of us have have considered um

you know that's always an exciting

prospect when you can find that

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person I have definitely made some

mistakes and missteps in casting and uh

um probably the the only painful moments

of having to replace somebody on on a

production um have have really been the

handful of of times when I realized that

I made a mistake in the casting uh and

it's never never been the actor's fault

it's not that they're showing up late or

unprofessional or any of those things

that you can talk to a person about it's

it's usually that on some fundamental

level they're not clicking with the role

and the character the way you thought

they should and it's apparent to you

and uh there have been other times when

um especially with you know people

playing smaller roles they're just

coming in for the day where you know you

realize that um this that there's a u

there may have been someone else who

could who could have brought more to

this role and and yet for practical

reasons you know you you uh you you make

it work you know you you shoot more

coverage on them so that you're going to

have more options to help build the

performance um you may

stage the scenes in ways so that they're

not they're not they're not really

featured uh all that much uh if somebody

is really struggling with their dialogue

or with a character or grasping

something you might might suggest to a

director to Stage the scene more kind of

over their shoulder and so that when you

come around and shoot them for their

lines or their reactions you have you

know a lot more control it's always

always going to be the the the specific

shot for the specific moment and you

know then you you do a number of takes

and choose the ones that that work the

best so in film you can do a lot of

things to help make make a performance

work better uh but without meticulous

thorough casting uh in the beginning

especially with lead roles you're um

that that's that's going to be um you

know a huge U detrimental

um sort of misdirection for the for the

for the

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movie so there's there's Talent there's

skill

intelligence um those things are

important there there's also this other

intangible quality which is um let's

just call it

chemistry and if you feel like that

actor can can EMB body the spirit of

that character in some honest way in

some way that either entertains you or

moves you or fascinates

you um you should really respond to that

and keep note of that and that should be

a tiebreaker so you might have several

people who can play the part one person

might even be you know maybe a little

more experienced a a little more

creative a little more talented but I

would give the nod to the person who

seems to inhabit the character in a more

natural uh spontaneous kind of way

assuming that they they do have the

talent and the skills to be able to give

you give you what you need uh as an

actor that's that then they're they're

bringing that X Factor to a role and and

cameras film it's more important in film

than it is in the theater this this

factor that I'm talking about because

you know uh lenses do kind of see into

Through The Eyes into the soul and um

and it's you um it's a much more subtle

process and the more connected that a

film or television actor is to the

character um the more we as audience

members just believe it and lose

ourselves in it whenever possible I uh I

try to bring the actors together before

the final casting in pairs especially

you know U if they're going to be

friends or or you know uh uh you know

parent and

child um loved ones you know I I try to

see them uh together and certainly the

in the in the major roles very often

I will bring uh the actors who have

already been cast in to actually

audition with finalists so that I can

quickly see where there's a a natural

Rapport uh and a and a and a chemistry

and just observe it and again it's a

it's a very uh you know

elusive um imperfect process and I often

toss and turn during the casting process

it is it's one of the only phases of

making uh a movie or a television show

that I find really really

unsettling because these These are the

decisions that are going to transcend

the director's ability to solve a

misstep um you know be other than some

drastic measure like having to let

somebody go and recast