So, even though they might be doing under five lines, theyve got to be able to hold their own. I get on the phone with agents, and the casting process goes on from there. The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. This interview has been edited and condensed. Sign Up. Did you specify that in the breakdowns or did you have to redirect people? BIALY / THOMAS CASTING - The Casting Society of America More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Resume Add to list Nominated for 9 Primetime Emmys So find somebody who really is going to, give you a little bit of something to play off of, but not try to sort of make it about them, because thats not what theyre there for. Sharon Bialy: I mean, I watch the whole thing. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Slowly they realized that Maitreyi and Jaren have this really great chemistry, so it naturally evolved into this love triangle, which was really fun to see., Finding stars for a show that centers entirely on musical numbers is not the daunting task one imagines especially if you were the casting director of Glee and have an enormous roster of singing actors at your disposal. Russell Scott, Casting Director. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. When you guys watch a self-tape, how long do you spend on it until you move on. Craig Fincannon (Location Casting Director) 2010 Nominee Artios Award: Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Television Series - Drama Breaking Bad (2008) Shared with: Sharon Bialy. We really kind of leave it up to the actor. We can be a force of nature in our career and still want to spend more than an hour and a half with our newborn baby. Mindy did, probably, because she had her on The Mindy Project. RS: A lot of times those small roles are the hardest to cast. Its been a long time coming and were very proud of it., 9 Emmy nominees you didnt know were already on Netflix: Breaking Bad, Scandal, , If they do win the Emmy, they arent worried about getting kicked off the stage if their acceptance speech lasts too long. Despite the mega success of Breaking Bad at the Emmys including three acting wins for Bryan Cranston, a pair for Aaron Paul and one for Anna Gunn casting directors Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas have been mysteriously overlooked by the TV Academy year after year. As a freelance writer for me at Modern Luxury, NS magazine, Sherry pitched and wrote creative . The storylines and arcs are massive, and youre also in a period piece, so it was important to make sure that each actor [remained] defined within their own self, even if the character wasnt around all the time, says Thomas. I obviously knew of him, but he was a friend of Austins, so he suggested him, and he is so great on the show., John I also knew because he was in What/If. We were able to find actors like Ericka Kreutz who played Shandys mother, and you had Adora Bricher who played Shandy who is amazing as the dark, dark little girl. We had to make sure all of the players were lined up, and from there, it was a lot of immediate yess. But what they dont realize is that not only are they watching closely, they might actually be looking straight into the actors souls. Sherry Thomas (I) Casting Director Casting Department Producer IMDbPro Starmeter See rank Sherry Thomas was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City.The Cherry Lane Theatre contains a 179-seat main stage and a 60-seat studio. I personally just do my best to be as organized as possible and stay present in the moment, taking it one day at a time. Its all so seamless, though, that you cant see any of those divisions in his performance. If we cant connect its very hard to do our jobs. [Tatiana is] someone we really believed in and highly recommended to Tim and the producers., [Gayle was] the only one who read, Thomas says. The age had to be appropriate so there would be chemistry with Linda. You do a drama and they say you can only do drama. Instead its all of the supporting players, the day players, because you have to have great actors, the majority of who are in scenes with Christina and Linda. You can see a number of actors for an audition before that one person comes in, and everything just clicks. But going into the second season, the world knows the show, and we dont have to explain what it is. Twitter Icon Thomas says of the then-not-so-well-known Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, I kind of always knew Yahya was it. Sharon Bialy: There are always challenges, but this season there were a couple of roles that caused some particular challenges. We went back to our theatre brains, and Laila Robins is someone I had seen over 25 years ago doing The Real Thing opposite Jeremy Irons. There was something she found the strength in that character, the fearlessness in her eyes., We werent identifying what roles would be people of color, adds her colleague Sherry Thomas. In a COVID and post-COVID world do you think youre job will permanently change? [Tim] talks about the spirit and the soul of the actor marrying with the spirit and the soul of the character, says Thomas. With Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd attached to it, if I went in for an audition, Id automatically think, this was like a more comedic sort of thing. Bradley Whitford @BradleyWhitford 10 months ago. What can you tell us about the process of assembling the cast for its long-awaited third season? Sharon Bialy: I think thats a really good note. We are very passionate about not pigeonholing actors. One day, Damon said, Hey, theres this guy, Yahya! I went, Yeah. Natalie Morales, left, joined the cast of Dead to Me in Season 2 as the love interest for Linda Cardellini. Its definitely a world that were extremely interested in.. After a 2007 surgery that required general anesthesia, Steenburgen, who plays Zoeys mother, Maggie, began hearing original music in her head. I remember going in for you guys a couple times and unlike a lot of rooms, you guys made it so comfortable, and it was just so warm. When youre chasing after an actor with a name, you need them to trust you. You learn what you want to change moving forward. Even the actor didnt know until that episodes script rolled around. Facebook Icon. He felt just perfect for Bruce. Required fields are marked *. That was a very, very challenging role, Thomas says of the eager young econowife character who comes to learn just how divorced love and marriage are in the Gilead dystopia. It might help for other projects more so than this, just to get a sense of it when youre in the room with us. For the vampire mockuseries What We Do in the Shadows, nominees Gayle Keller, Jenny Lewis and Sara Kay find themselves looking for actors who dont look like typical actors. Among them, theyre responsible for five of the shows nominated for casting Emmys this year as well as a host of others that have received acting nominations in the past. Elarica leads more with vulnerability, and Brandee leads more with strength. Weve been bringing him in and casting him for some time, so he was somebody right from the start. ST: Not at all! The others laugh a little. All of the shows we do from The Walking Dead to Better Call Saul to The Righteous Gemstones are all over the country. He was playing a husband. He was kind of signing on to play the girl part., As to King (she and Abdul-Mateen II are nominated, along with costars Jovan Adepo, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeremy Irons and Jean Smart), the Oscar winner and three-time Emmy winner who worked on Lindelofs The Leftovers wasnt a slam dunk precisely because shed worked on Lindelofs The Leftovers.. Jeremy O. Harris was cast in a small role in FXs What We Do in the Shadows. Co-showrunner Jemaine Clement then wrote an episode just for him. I had the highest hopes and no idea that he could sing as well as he could sing. Producer: Indecent Proposal. Its also a thriller. She works constantly in New York, but she was this undiscovered gem to the rest of the world, and now everybody knows who she is., To populate Luca Guadagninos vision of an American Army base in coastal Italy, casting director Carmen Cuba knew she had to build her cast out from the kids at the center of the story. We knew her, but I wouldnt say that a lot of people knew her, Greenstein adds. And as a casting director, it feeds my soul to get to go through the whole collaborative process of finding that person who just pops in a role. If you have one weak link, it becomes obvious. According to Ashley Ingram, who also served as casting director on the show, an added challenge of populating the struggling Mississippi Delta strip joint was the desire for authenticity over recognizability. Theyre opposite sides of a coin., Skyler has an exuberance that is hard to describe, Ingram says. Thats how we kept bringing up Natalie Morales. She cites the scenes with Mark Proksch as energy vampire Colin Robinson in his workplace. I think Mindy had said she ran into him at a Vanity Fair party and said something to him. Five seasoned entertainment journalists predict the shows and performances the Television Academy will honor with Emmys; do you agree with their picks? We would give a little context of the tone. To see somebody with natural comedic timing who really got the nuances of the scenes and really got the multidimensional character she wasnt just reading lines. Robin Bartlett, we have cast many times and she is, kind of in my brain, there was nobody else for it. Natalies name came up at the very beginning, and she is someone who Liz liked but we were originally told she wasnt available. Three if theres one in there that you just want to give it a shot. Better Call Saul, were not even allowed to give you anything. Thank God. Everything was requested self-tapes, so we would discuss ideas with them for the series regulars, our main players in the piece. Sign up for emails from Casting Networks News. I mean, that had to have been completely It was all brand new. Get to Know the Casting Director: Sherry Thomas, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. This is my first experience with Luca, so the process involved me figuring out how he defines a lot of the things in the script. The Commander that Christopher Meloni played [Commander Winslow] was challenging because often times the first script doesnt tell you what the journey is going to be. Then he went to dinner with Regina and came back and said, Why didnt I just I feel so ashamed. Because here, on a plate, is this great actress. . Were lucky., I was a giant fan of Janes for many, many years, from Suburgatory, Robert J. Ulrich says of the lead actress whose Zoey can see and hear what others are feeling via fantasy musical numbers. By Vinnie Mancuso 12/30/15 10:00am. The Emmys may be in September but its never too early to look out for potential nominees, including Succession, Schitts Creek and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. A lot of times in these teenage parts, you have 20-year-olds playing 15, and that wasnt the case, says Cuba, who wanted the coming-of-age roles to be occupied by fresh faces. Alphonse is truly an incredibly skilled actor, Ingram says. Big titles like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and The Handmaid's Tale may first come to mind. Sherry was born in Chicago and pursued an acting career after graduating from Northwestern University. Sherry Thomas: Fortunately, I feel like everybody did a little bit of research, which was interesting. And sometimes the sides are fake. I think we got to try. And she says, You feel really passionately about it. Hes like 6-foot-5, hes got this huge fro. Once the lead was in place, the other puzzle pieces of this ethnically and neuro-diverse cast started to land. A naturalistic performance, I think, is what was required in The Shrink Next Door. He was a great audition, for sure, but he also really interested Luca as a person. Sharon Bialy: I think theres going to be a hybrid. Shifting gears again, I have a true get-to-know-you question. Its OK because now youll get great volume when you blow dry it. Sherry Thomas Says Casting Directors Are Therapists, Too Heres what to know, From Chris Rock to the SAG Awards. So, you have to just be mindful of the process or the questions and anticipate what theyre going to ask, the producers or the director. Unless it is really not Theres a couple things going into play. We all miss it. Thats me, Thomas says. And one of the first things that we did together as Bialy/Thomas was The Unit with Shawn Ryan and David Mamet and Eric Haney. Casting Networks uses cookies to analyze our traffic and to personalize content and ads. [Laughs] Sharon always says that she spends a lot of money to get her hair done for special events like the Emmys, only to ultimately wind up at my house so I can fix it. And then they would audition and then we would present the people that we really felt were the most right for it. All rights reserved. And Sherry was like, Shes so smart. She has been nominated for eight Emmys (The Handmaid's Tale, Barry, Breaking Bad) and 19 CSA nominations. So theres some benefits to both. Im getting goosebumps right now just thinking about it. The testing was very rigorous and I think production did such an amazing job with what they had to accomplish in the way that they had to accomplish it. And then we pulled from that to go and seek out the right people for the roles. Were just gonna have a great time.. Casting Yvonne Strahovskis mother, we needed someone who could be formidable. Matthew Dodsons father is not a role he typically plays. We were so touched that people were really moved by the show and actually watched it. (photo: Mark Seliger/FOX) Welcome to tvDownload's " Ask a Casting Director ," a new series in which we talk to the men and women . And thanks for sharing about the magic of working with the person who not only co-created the show, but who also produces, writes, directs, and stars in it. Were in a very different time and our priorities are a little different, but it doesnt take away from the pride of it and the love and passion we have for it. It was a surprise to us. We checked in on her, and the challenging part was convincing producers to take a chance on an actor that youre very familiar with but they might not be. Every actor that comes in, even if they dont get the job, we keep a lot of notes . Well often write notes like, Remember for BCS because theres a naturalistic approach to the acting on the show; its not showy at all. He is so wonderful. Luca was intrigued [by Alice] and it seemed like a great match. That has been nice because so many of these shows are aged for younger women. It has this sense of urgency that I love and the tangible aspect of running a business, but then theres also the creative side of it. Im pretty sure Im the loudest, so I think whoevers the loudest wins, joked Thomas. We talk about what hes looking for, and I like to ask if he has any prototypes dead or alive for the characters. As continuing shows, all three series have established universes and tones, says Thomas. Sherry Lansing - IMDb John Lithgow, for E.B. She even officiated when my husband and I were married. Thomas called Sweeney wise and mature beyond her years. Everybody knows he is a wonderful actor. Closing out the conversation we were joined by their casting partner Sharon Bialy to discuss their second nomination of the year for their work on The Handmaids Tale.