THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION: EVE BRANDSTEIN...LOS ANGELES CASTING DIRECTOR.

 Eve Brandstein is a casting director who has been working in Los Angeles for over twenty years. Her credits include the television series 'Doc', 'Mysterious Ways', 'Sue Thomas: FB Eye', and the 1984 hit mockumentary, Rob Reiner's 'This is Spinal Tap'. She has also cast two series shot in Australia, 'Beastmaster' and 'Ponderosa'. AUSUS Magazine spoke to Eve about casting Australian productions, auditions for 'Beastmaster', and her plans for the future.

Q: How did you become a casting director?

 I didn't come out here to be a casting director. I'm a transplant from New York via Chekoslovakia. I came out here to be a film maker and study at the American Film Institute. I also wanted to see what LA was like. I actually had no interest in television. I'd been a theater director in New York. When I got here I needed a job. Eventually I got one, at Norman Lear's company, Tandem Productions. It was a six week assignment but, literally, the woman who was the head of casting, two days after I got there, quit and recommended me for her job. I was bewildered. Within a half an hour I was in Norman Lear's office with him and the production team, and I was told '...take over'. And I thought, this is really a Hollywood story. The show was very unique and exciting, very outside the box. It was a spin off of 'The Mary Hartman' show called 'Fernwood 2 Nite'. It was renamed 'America 2 Nite' in it's second season. It was a very, very clever format, very tongue in cheek, very hip.It was a spoof on talk shows. Very quickly I ended up seeing tons of actors. I had to be a quick study on the whole industry and all the ways that television is done, because I knew nothing. We'd do production on six to ten shows a week. It was huge. We were knocking them out daily. Eventually I just fell in love with television.

Q: How did you get to cast 'Beastmaster'?

 Beastmaster came about because I was working for a company named 'Alliance', which has since been renamed 'Alliance Atlantis'. That was their project and they asked me to cast it because I was the head of casting for the U.S. This was one of those projects that needed a big talent search to find a star. It was a Canadian - Australian co-production.

 Q: How did you find the Australian lead, Daniel Goddard?

 He was a teenage soap star in Australia but had lived in LA for the past five years, trying to find work. The minute he walked in, as they say, I knew it was him. And then when he turned out to be Australian that was really incredible because they could keep it a pure Canadian - Australian content picture. We did, however, use some American guest stars.

 Q: What accent did he audition with?

He used American I guess. But it's not a verbal role. It was more of a physical role and the accent was not really an issue. But because it was set in a time before time it was kind of a more romantic type of voice, kind of North American. Even the Australian actors who were hired down there were asked to speak like this.

Q: What did the audition process involve?

Well there was a script and there were lines and there was a physicalization of those lines which had something to do with experiencing nature. Each person had to show that they were sensitized to the surroundings. A little bit of mime. It was a very physical role so we needed somebody who was well built, attractive. A lot of the actors came dressed so we could see their body. Daniel took off his shirt at the audition. He had that kind of comfort. But he also knew where the emotional life of the character was. He really got it. He demonstrated a sensitivity, physically, to the nature of the character. He set up the world so you could sort of be with him. You could see him hearing nature. He was very zen like in his performance. He read for me twice. Then he came back for the producer who was really wild about him. In that reading there were some writers in the room. The we had another call back with some executives. Then we did a testing with Daniel and two other actors that we were considering. We did this at a studio with costumes and make up and with the director. Those tapes were studied for a day or two and then we made our decision. The secondary lead also had to be Australian or Canadian. We ended up with someone from Australia. All the audition tapes from overseas were sent here. We also looked at a lot of actors in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The female lead ended up being Canadian and, again, when she walked in, she was it.

Q: What contracts were negotiated?

 You negotiate everything at this point. From the pilot to first year, all shows, and then up to five years. Some times you negotiate up to seven years. They bump up the fees each year. Sometimes ownership will kick in after a few years. Or, if you have a hit show, everybody comes back to the table.

 Q: Was the Australian side involved in this process in the U.S?

 One of the partnerships in the production was a Canadian - Australian production, Coote Hayes. Jeff Hayes was in town for the auditions and he would send the audition tapes back to his partner to look at. Then Jeff left town after casting was complete and Steve Feke began as the writer and show runner. He ran the show out of LA with a team of writers here and went over from time to time, Melbourne, I think it was. The show eventually became an Australian production. After about six months it became mainly local casting. I was able to send over a few stunt actors, including Grace Jones who was in Europe at the time.

Q: Why is production booming in Australia?

 The ability to make production happen for the right price is still very possible as well as being able to work in a community they can understand. You know, the language is the same and the culture isn't radically different. And people like going there. It's also attractive to go to Canada but I think the prices are now better down there. And very good actors, some of the best.

Q: Why do you think Australian actors are so popular these days?

 I think it has something to do with the fact that the film makers started to happen over there. Once you have film makers you can start getting the films out. The talent is then noticed. If you go back to when Mel Gibson first appeared it had to do with the great film makers who introduced us to them, such as in 'Gallipoli'. 'Shine', with Geoffrey Rush, is another good example. When the movies became popular the actors became popular. The actors are then also able to perceive themselves outside the local market. And I think the training there is very good. I think the Australian actors are so interesting. There's something very unique and individual about them. There's a sense of quiet truth about their work as well as there being something more secretive about them, a presence. There's a dedication and commitment to their work which you don't really see that often here. For them it's a calling. For many actors here they seem to look at it as a career choice, a way to get rich and famous. Particularly with all these reality shows that exist now.

Q: How did 'Ponderosa' come about?

I was working at Pax TV and they decided they wanted to do it. I was assigned to the casting. We took over five Americans for the show. I'd become pretty knowledgeable about co productions and casting their low budget productions. The actors make less money working overseas but the contracts are usually longer.

Q: Tell me about bringing over the Australian actor, Marcus Graham.

 It was for 'Sins of the City' on USA cable. We'd done a search that had gone pretty far and wide and eventually we started talking about Australian actors for the role. We needed someone like Steve McQueen, someone original. We had actors put on tape and we found Marcus just so interesting. It was a dark show and he'd played this type of part before. He was the only actor we brought over the role. We took him straight to the studio. He was very present, very charismatic.

 Q: What do you look for when an actor auditions for you?

 Whether or not they're right for the part. Even if they don't get the reading right, if I get a sense that they're what the producer is looking for then I'll give them some direction and try to get them closer to that. Sometimes if someone has done an incredible reading, but they're not physically right for the part, I'll bring them back to meet the producers. I look for an exciting performance. I prefer someone to do something I can remember that's really fresh, over sort of thinking they're hitting every note the way it was written. Somebody who tries to find that extra piece of behavior. To go beyond what's on the page.

 Q: What you like you people to say about you at the end of your career?