SAG awards

It was fun to watch the SAG awards last night, and my respect for Frieda Pinto grows as she was the ONLY actor to mention the Casting Director last night! She gave a shout out to Loveleen Tandan while her group was accepting the Feature ensemble award for Slumdog Millionaire.

It would have been nice for the casts of 30 Rock or Mad Men to acknowledge the original work of the Casting Director in bringing together these talented actors. But since they didn't, I will... the talented CDs are Jennifer McNamara (30 Rock) and Laura Schiff & Carrie Audino for Mad Men.

Casting Directors really are unsung heroes. We enter a project at the very beginning, work directly with the writer and director - often before any other department head is engaged. What would a film or television show be like without a Casting Director or with a different CD? The choices that ultimately end up on screen most always start with a Casting Directors idea. It's very frustrating to compile an ensemble and then not receive the credit for it, but Casting Directors have learned to live with that. (Do I sound like a martyr?).

Anyway - it was fun to watch the actors get together and celebrate themselves... it would just be nice if they remembered who was on their side in the beginning - who pushed for them to get the job - who stopped their auditions, whispered in their ear to make a subtle change that got them the job, etc.

Just a thought: does anyone else think it's weird that Slumdog Millionaire was eligible for a SAG award, even though none of it's cast are members of SAG? I certainly have no problem with their talent deserving the award, but aren't there rules about these kinds of things?

Academy Award nominations

So, what do you think of the nominations? Here is the list of acting noms:


Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

The big surprises have got to be Melissa Leo for Frozen River and Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road. Both of these actors have been around for some time, but have never
gotten this kind of attention. I applaud and congratulate all the nominees, but I always like
to root for an underdog. I haven't yet seen all of the performances, but I did think that Sean Penn was amazing as Harvey Milk. I would have rather seen James Franco get the nod for his supporting role in Milk, as opposed to Josh Brolin, who I thought was fine. Also, pleased for Richard Jenkins - who most people know from his work as the dead father in "6 Feet Under". I also loved Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Christina Barcelona".

I will post my picks after I've seen all the performances - I will now spend the next few weeks making sure that I see them all before the Academy Awards on February 22nd.

Here's an update on the casting for the Lifetime Mini-series "Maneater": we've hired Judy Greer and Noureen Dewulf to join Sarah Chalke in the cast. Judy is best known for starring in the series "Misguided" and also for her great turns in movies like The Village, The Wedding Planner and Adaptation. Noureen is a very funny fresh face, who has been very busy doing lots of tv and film roles and who was named one of Maxim's Hot 100 in 2007.

From Sundance

It's day 2 for me at the Sundance Film Festival. My short film that I Executive Produced and cast, "Boutonniere" premiered last night in the short category. There were about 300 people in the audience, and the film - which stars Wendi McClendon-Covey (Reno 911), Zach Quinto (Heroes) and ndwcomer Sara Swain- got a great audience response! The writer/director Coley Sohn attended, as did Sara Swain and the other Exec. Producers. It was a late night showing, but the audience was alert and enthusiastic, laughing a lot at the characters and the content.

You can watch the trailer here.

We were also thrilled to get great reviews of our film "Pedro" that is showing this weekend at the Palm Springs Film Festival. This particular review pays very positive attention to the casting.

Also, check out the David Faustino webseries "Starv-ing" that we cast. The first episode is now available at the Sony Digital site Crackle.com. Remember, it's pretty dark, funny and adult content so just be aware there will be some language and content that may not be appropriate for all.

Sad news.... Steven Gilborn

One of the loveliest guys in show business, Steve Gilborn, passed away last week at his home in New York. You probably remember Steve from his role on Ellen as her father. He was a wonderful, talented actor, and a friendly easy going guy. It really felt like a family on the set. I will always remember him voice... "Hi Ellie". He will be missed.... our love to his family.

Movies, movies, movies

It's been a great time for movies. While I haven't seen all of the winter offerings, I really enjoyed both Benjamin Buttons and Slumdog Millionaire. The casting in Slumdog Millionaire is remarkable, in fact, so much so, that the director Danny Boyle gave the Indian casting director, Loveleen Tandan a "co-director" credit! This is an extraordinary display of collaboration, certainly never before seen in an American film. In fact, the DGA keeps the Casting Director to be listed in the credits as Casting Director. In American films, you will only see "Casting by" or "Casting" in the credits, but never "Casting Director".

The other issue this brings up is the lack of an Academy Award for Casting Directors. We've been advocating for one for a long time. The success of any film is, of course, dependent on having a stellar cast, who elevate the material. And while directors can and should certainly take credit for many areas on a film, they are assisted in every department by experts. There is an Oscar for costume design and set design and makeup design, so why not one for "cast design". The old school academy hasn't yet been willing to open up to this idea, but the Casting Director members of the Academy are working on it diligently.

Anyone else looking forward to tomorrow's season opener of "American Idol"? I saw David Cook in the Apple store in Sherman Oaks a few days ago and I got all excited about the show starting. It will be interesting to see what the new judge adds to the panel.

Actress of the week: Frieda Pinto - this breathtakingly beautiful Indian actress radiates from the screen in Slumdog Millionaire, and is sure to become a huge star. Watch for her to take Hollywood by storm.

Exciting "Maneater" Casting News!

Well, we're off to a great start in 2009. The Maneater cast is coming together very well... we've set Gregory Harrison and Maria Conchita Alonso as Sarah Chalke's parents and the dashing Philip Winchester (star of NBC's "Crusoe") in the role of Sarah's love interest. Lifetime is excited about the project and we feel really excited about choices that we have for the other roles as well. It's great to work on such a strong script - we've had such positive response from actors and actresses.
We're enjoying working with this strong creative team.

Ok - I've talked about this before, but I have to reiterate my pet peeve from casting sessions.. actresses and actors who wear heavy perfume or cologne. Today, I walked into my waiting room and it was almost stifling. There were competing fragrances and our poor associate Anthony was hardly able to breathe. So, actors, remember this... while it may smell good to you, we have to meet and work with many actors each day, and each one of them bringing their own special "odeur" can make for a pretty overwhelming day. You will never win points for wearing cologne or scent in my book and I know this is a sentiment shared by many of my colleagues.

Congrats to Christina Applegate on her People's Choice award this past week for "Samantha Who". I am so very proud of this wonderful actress, who I have known since she was 15. Keeping my fingers crossed for her this weekend on the Golden Globes. I would have to say that the GGs are my favorite awards. This combination of film and television all in one place - its really the only time that happens during the year. I find the show to be much more fun to watch because the actors are more relaxed and it's not overly produced. Good luck also to Kevin Connolly, who is nominated for Best Actor for Entourage. I cast Kevin and worked with him for 5 seasons in a series called "Unhappily Ever After" for the WB written and produced by the brilliant Ron Leavitt. I know he's a long shot, but what a great thing to be nominated in a category including Alec Baldwin, Steve Carell, David Duchovny and Tony Shalhoub!