Two of days auditioning down, and we’ve seen a wide range of people, some of whom we’ll definitely be seeing again. It was like a little Beacon reunion, with Geraint helping us out filming the read-throughs, and Josh and Sarah R reading parts against the auditionees. Dante was a particularly difficult character to audition, since he doesn’t have a decent run of dialogue anywhere in the film. Even using a scene from an older, more speak-heavy draft left us with the problem of the actors having to mime sword fights in the Art College room we’d hired. And James made lightsabre noises. I was also treated to the extremely rare (once every 14 years, it seems) sight of James shouting in someone’s face, as he read the Grim Reaper’s part against Joe hopefuls.
This audition process is a veritable epic compared with the rushed few hours of chats and read-throughs that constituted Beacon try-outs. What you’re always hoping for is someone to walk through the door who pretty much IS the character, without having to act that much. Failing that, you’re after someone who looks right and can take direction well enough that you can work with them to make the character what you want it to be. One thing we’ve found thusfar is that often an actor will nail one or two of the three audition scenes, but will be way off for the others. Ironically, the two people who have consistently delivered are Josh and Sarah, who sadly can’t be involved with the shoot due to university commitments.
Nonetheless, we’ll definitely have cast our Gary by the end of the week, and hopefully Joe and Heather too. The other roles may be left in limbo until after NY when further auditions can be held.