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CASTING DOWN UNDER
Australian casting director, Ann Robinson, shares her thoughts…

To an actor, a casting director is the link between them and their next job. Generally, the agent will call the actor, email the script and instruct them to be at such and such an office to audition for such and such a part. To a director or producer, the casting director is the person they have hired to provide them with a number of actors for each part. So it should be just a matter of the casting director calling up the agents and asking to see x, y and z actors. Right? Well not always.

Ann Robinson, the principal casting director at Mullinars Casting Consultants in Sydney, Australia, has been in the business for twenty six years. Her credits include the Australian casting of huge blockbuster films such as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, as well as other foreign imports such as ‘Pitch Black’ (with Vin Diesel), ‘The Beast’ (with William Peterson), and ‘The Three Stooges’. Her local casting credits incorporate numerous television series and films, including ‘Swimming Upstream’ (with Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis), ‘The Hard Word’ (with Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths), and the recently released ‘Little Fish’, which won a swag of prizes at the 2005 Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards.

Robinson, a dancer and sometimes choreographer from the age of fifteen, leapt at the opportunity to get into casting, citing the ‘people’ side of the business as her reason for her longevity in the business. ‘I enjoy the long standing relationships I have forged with a number of producers and directors over the years’.

However, each project does have its challenges. ‘It can be the difficulty or complexity of a particular role, budget constraints, non availability of the actor their heart set on, child actors for complicated or demanding roles, pleasing everyone who has approval over cast, or even particular ethnicity requirements’.

‘Little Fish’, which starred Cate Blanchette and Hugo Weaving, was one such example of a project involving very specific requirements. The film is set in Sydney’s western suburbs and required a large Vietnamese contingent in the cast. ‘Research is part and parcel of many projects’, says Robinson. ‘With “Little Fish”, we made contact with as many Vietnamese organizations as possible. We enlisted suggestions from all the known Vietnamese actors, plus researched clubs and groups in the surrounding suburbs and placed ads in the local papers. Fortunately the response was enthusiastic and supportive of our desire for authenticity in the casting.’

Another challenge faced by Robinson is casting overseas projects. ‘On local projects it is usually possible to collaborate closely with the director. With some of the overseas films, however, that isn’t possible. But I do always endeavour to have a very detailed conversation at the beginning of the process so I can provide the very best selection of actors for each particular role’.

Robinson’s current project is a film adaptation of the book, ‘Romulus My Father’. It’s a story told through the eyes of a young boy who is raised in country Australia by his immigrant father. It incorporates themes such as mental illness, poverty, betrayal, love, friendship and honesty, and what it means to survive as an outsider in a remarkably foreign land. The film will star Eric Bana (‘The Incredible Hulk’), will be produces by Robert Connolly (previously directed ‘The Bank’ with Anthony LaPaglia) and will be directed by Richard Roxburgh (‘Count Dracula’ in ‘Van Helsing’). For this project Robinson has been scouring the country, searching for that ‘magical nine to twelve year old boy who is in nearly every scene. Now that’s an example of the difficulty of finding just the right child actor to fill what will be an incredibly demanding and complex part’!