Casting Panel | London Contenders 2025 - video Dailymotion

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00:00As I said at the beginning, and this is the first time the Academy is going to award an award for

00:05casting. I mean, why do you think it took so long? Des, you look like you might buy this.

00:09I have no idea. It was only recently, I think, BAFTA. Yeah.

00:17Actually, I was in America a few years ago and I went to a casting director's house and

00:22they had all these awards. And I thought, where do you buy these from?

00:30Great to be here for this casting panel. My name is Melanie Goodfellow. I am Deadline Senior

00:39International Film Correspondent. As you may or may not be aware, the Academy of Motion

00:44Pictures, Arts and Sciences launches its first ever Academy Award for Achievement in Casting

00:49this year. This move was seen as something of a... Exactly. I think it was hard fought.

00:55This move was seen as something of a milestone moment for both casting directors and the

00:59Academy when it was announced to come into force for the 98th Awards. Now, it may seem

01:04surprising that it's taken close to 100 years for the contribution of casting directors to be

01:08recognized by the Academy, but better late than never. So on this basis, it gives me great

01:13pleasure to be moderating the first ever Deadline Contenders panel devoted solely to top casting

01:19professionals. And what a lineup we have for this historic moment. I'd like to welcome to the

01:25stage. Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockman, casting directors for Joseph Kaczynski's F1, starring Brad Pitt,

01:33Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem. Next, we have Des Hamilton, who's just coming back onto the stage,

01:41and Joe Harris, who are the casting directors for Nia Da Costa's header with Tessa Thompson, Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman,

01:49Nicholas Pinnock, and Nina Hoss. And last but not least, Jessica Ronan is coming back onto the stage as the casting

01:58director of Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Aya Edry, and Andrew Garfield. So, thank you so much.

02:06I'm sure I've managed to knock my papers off already. Thank you so much for coming. I was sort of thinking

02:11about this, reflecting about this before I came on stage, that deadline breaks a lot of casting news.

02:17But we never talk to you about it, because obviously you can't tell us actually what's going on, or any

02:21of the secrets, as you've already just told me behind the scenes that you're not going to tell me

02:26anything. But let's see where we get. So I'd like to start with Lucy and Emily on F1. Can you just

02:35explain, at what point did you come on board? I think Brad Pitt was already attached as the lead.

02:41So what was the main challenge for you when you, when did you come on board, and then what

02:45was the main challenge in casting the film?

02:49Thank you for having us. It's lovely to be here. We, as you say, Brad was on board, and

02:54we read the script and saw that this role was a huge undertaking for a young actor to play

03:00a leading part opposite Brad, go toe to toe to Brad, and play the arc of that character

03:06and have to drive. So it was a big challenge. And we auditioned and auditioned, and Damson

03:12did brilliantly. And then for his final audition, we took him to the track to make sure he could

03:17handle the driving. And being the smart, brilliant young actor that he is, he'd done loads of

03:22practice. So he was ready. And he, he, you know, he got the part. He did brilliantly.

03:29So that was a, that would have been a deal breaker, because Brad didn't want to do anything

03:33against them.

03:34They're both driving in the film.

03:35Yeah, he wanted real driving, didn't he?

03:37Yes.

03:37Was there anybody who you looked at who couldn't drive? I know you can't tell me.

03:41I don't have a driver's license.

03:44Well, I mean, I think as, you know, Des and Joan and Jess will say as well, every casting

03:49job has its different challenges. And this was just a particularly interesting one that

03:52took this physicality into an equation. And other actors, the engineers and mechanics we

03:58cast, Callie Condon and Abdul, we took them to the garage to make sure Callie could like

04:02change the wheel with the gun, and all of that stuff, which is a really interesting and

04:06unusual part of a process. Every film is different.

04:10Were you into Formula One beforehand?

04:15I was a little bit, but I mean, it's, as Lucy says, like, each project's different,

04:19and you end up becoming a sort of expert, and you're diving into a community that you

04:24don't necessarily always know much about. I knew a little bit about Formula One, but

04:28by the end, you know, you can, you really understand the world, hopefully, if you've

04:32done your research, and so you can really, you can cast actors who can seamlessly fit into

04:37that world.

04:38And, yeah, by the end, I knew quite a lot about it.

04:41Because, I mean, you have to have, in the film, you have to have people who've got that

04:45authentic look of being on the racetrack. It's not very glamorous, the bit behind the

04:49scenes, is it?

04:50Well, Joe had given us lots of references for specific people in the Formula One world

04:57to reference for the casting. So, he was, Joe is brilliant at being incredibly specific.

05:02Authenticity was critical for Joe, was key. So, Gunther Steiner for Kim Bodnia's part,

05:09for example.

05:09And Bono, Lewis Hamilton's engineer, was the kind of prototype for Will Merrick's character

05:16in the show, in the film as well.

05:17Right. And then, obviously, you did have Lewis Hamilton there, and you did have some real

05:22life people. We see them, I think. I'm not sure. Were they actually coming on set with

05:25you and, like, mingling with the cast?

05:28It was two worlds coming together and working alongside each other. The world of Formula One

05:32and the world of film really came, you know, closely together and worked together.

05:37Right.

05:37So, yes.

05:39And then the role of Kate McKenna, I bet there was a lot of competition in Hollywood for that

05:44role.

05:45Well, Kerry Condon is a brilliant actress. You know, she's a theatre actress, the youngest

05:50actress ever to play Ophelia at the RSC. She was Oscar nominated for...

05:56The Banshees.

05:58Yeah.

05:58Yeah. And she's a brilliant, brilliant actress and she could play that, you know, it was a

06:04hugely demanding role and she's just fabulous in it. We're delighted.

06:10And I'm just going to... I've got very little time and so many people on the stage. I'm going

06:14to scoot over to Jessica. We saw you talking earlier on the panel about working with Luca.

06:20And that's what I wanted to kind of dig into a bit more because from what Luca said on the

06:26stage, I mean, obviously, he was attracted to the project by Julia Roberts' interests.

06:30So, she was already in place, a bit like Brad Pitt was already in place.

06:33And then reading other articles, it feels like Luca had quite strong ideas already about

06:38who he wanted. Like, he wanted to work with Andrew Garfield and he wanted to work with

06:41IO. And so, what's it like for you? How do you intersect with that when you come on board

06:46and the director's already got very strong vision of who he wants to be in the top roles?

06:51Yeah, it's a good question. I think with Luca, he knows actors really, really well. We've

06:57all worked with directors who have varying kind of existing knowledge on actors and their

07:01body of work. And he's very, very, he knows a lot about actors and he knows who he admires

07:06at the get-go. That said, we'd very nearly worked with Andrew some years ago on a different

07:12project that hadn't come about. And it was by no means that Andrew was definitely going

07:16to play Hank at the beginning. That was certainly long conversations about the right way to kind

07:21of create the constellation at the core of the cast. And I think, yeah, I mean, of course,

07:28Andrew does such an incredible job and it was brilliant that he decided to play Hank. But

07:33there were other versions of that role that had to be played through and discussed and

07:37analysed. And similarly with IO, we actually had quite a lengthy process before IO was cast

07:47in the role. And I think that was really important. And, you know, I've worked with Luca a few times

07:51now. And I really love that about him because he's incredibly detailed and you're kind of in a

07:58race against the clock with any of it. We have to really deadline each role because there's so much

08:02that you can do before landing on an idea. And he really does have a great choice. You know,

08:09people want to work with him, which is huge privilege to then be able to bring those opportunities

08:16to actors. I mean, not so much stars, but I suppose further down the cast list when you get to, you

08:23know, bring the students together or really get into the world of the university for that particular

08:27film is really detective work. It was amazing.

08:31I actually, when watching the movie, I actually love all the secondary cast members. I mean, like Michael

08:36Stolbarg and Chloé Savigny. She's just brilliant. She's like transformed in that role. It's like, wow.

08:41Yeah, and he talks about those actors as his company because he's worked with them so many

08:45times. So it's always very, we always have to analyse the company and who might come from

08:50there. But also, you know, where else, where might there be someone to introduce that might

08:56bring another dimension to a role or, you know, something unexpected?

09:00And another great discovery I thought was Leo Miel. I thought that brilliant.

09:04Leo was a great, a kind of great ingredient in the cast and came out of a really detailed

09:13search into that particular world. And I think because we were shooting in the UK, but we

09:18were casting in many of these roles globally, it meant we had an opportunity to really go

09:24the distance. Leo worked hard to get the role. And, you know, and I think the performance is

09:33really something special.

09:35But, I mean, you're talking about building out all the cast, the young students that

09:39we see. I mean, I wanted to mention at the beginning that your kind of big break was when

09:42you did the casting for Billy Elliot for the musical, I believe. And I read somewhere that

09:47you saw 4,000, 4,000 kids.

09:50It went on for about 15 years.

09:52I know, but I just think it's interesting.

09:54But yeah, I mean, definitely in the beginning. And it was, it was my big break. And I'd come

09:58traditionally, you know, I was a classical dancer. So I'd spent a lot of time in the world

10:02of dance. And then strangely, having looked into casting, found myself in the world of dance

10:07again. And I think the serendipity of that was really not lost on me. And I was very comfortable

10:14in that world. And I kind of, it was a very fortunate set of events. But yes, it was a detective

10:22search. It was a kind of specific sort of casting when you're doing that. It's not

10:25in any way, like many of the jobs I do now.

10:29I suppose my point was, I guess, when you're looking for youngsters, that must have been

10:32good kind of grounding for that.

10:34Definitely. I think I'm, you become a dog with a bone, and you kind of don't want to

10:41give up until you feel like you've done every possible bit of work. And I think, although

10:47that drives people close to me really mad, I think it serves me quite well when it comes

10:51to those things.

10:52And just one last question. I mean, so where did you find these young students? Where

10:56are you looking for? Are you doing savage count? How do you say that? That's a French

10:59word, like wild, you know, on the street? Or are you going through agencies? What are

11:02you doing?

11:03I mean, what I learned back then is you do everything. And so you don't do one or the

11:07other. You have to do everything. And it's sort of, you have to work out the equation

11:11of how long you've got and how far you can go and what that requires. And so, yeah,

11:15without giving. I mean, it's a funny thing, because you can't really give everything

11:18where you just have to do a hell of a lot of work and not give up. And also, there's

11:24a responsibility of bringing that opportunity to as broad a number of young people as possible

11:28so they get a chance. And I think we're fortunate to do that.

11:32And Des and Joe, just, can you just explain where, I mean, obviously, Tessa was, I think,

11:39attached to the project very early. Can you just explain exactly when you came on and

11:43sort of put the big challenges for you on this, in this, in Hedda?

11:47So, yeah, Tessa was already attached when we came on to the project. I think Nia had

11:50always had her as Hedda in her mind. And so, yeah, that was an obviously brilliant

11:55place to start for us, casting-wise. It was like, you know, yeah, you can kind of

12:00build the world around her. And it's great when talking to other actors about, about

12:04the film. And so, yeah, challenges. Ooh. Yeah, I would say, I mean, it all takes place

12:14over one night. And so, finding, you know, and roles of varying sizes, but everyone was

12:19needed for the shoot for the whole, that whole time. So, I think, yeah, just bringing together

12:25that group and finding people that Nia really could see in that world. It's quite unique in

12:33that, you know, the very heightened, but also needed to feel quite real. So, I think people

12:39that could bring some kind of, well, particularly Hedda's Friends, like, mad energy to it, but

12:44also felt kind of, you know, had that, like, emotional truth. That was, like, really interesting

12:50for us. And, yeah.

12:52And she changes the gender of the lover. So, we have Eileen. Was that, when somebody does

12:59that in a film, does that, do people push back sometimes? Does that, or do people love

13:04it? Did that make it more exciting?

13:05Yeah, no, I think people were really intrigued by that. And it's just, I mean, it's such a

13:10brilliant script because of it. And those relationships, I think, are so exciting. So, I think it was,

13:15like, a huge draw. And, yeah, I think it just adds so many more layers to what's going on

13:22there. And, you know, how kind of trapped Hedda is, it adds, like, you know, it's another

13:27reason why she can never kind of live the life that she would want to live in that time. And

13:32I think that was, yeah, like, a really exciting opportunity for an actor.

13:38And, as I said at the beginning, and this is the first time the Academy is going to award

13:43an award for casting, I just wanted to get some kind of response. I think you've been quite

13:50involved in, were you quite involved in lobbying? Or was it something that was dear to your

13:53heart?

13:54We're all thrilled that casting is now recognised by the Academy. I think we can say that collectively

14:00for all of us. We're all delighted. And, I mean, why do you think it took so long, Des?

14:05You look like you might buy this.

14:08I have no idea. It was only recently, I think, BAFTA included us. And, actually, I was in America

14:19a few years ago, and I went to a casting director's house and they had all these awards. And I

14:24thought, where do you buy these from? Because I want to go and buy some for myself. You know,

14:32I just didn't know it was a thing. And now it's wonderful this year, you know, the Academy's

14:38recognised now. I think the job is worthy of that recognition alongside all the other heads

14:49of the department.

14:52Well, we've got 16 seconds left. So, I think, thank you so much for sharing. It's a big panel,

14:58a lot of films. I'm sorry I couldn't go into depth in all of the different films, but thank

15:01you so much for sharing a few secrets.

15:04Thank you for having us.

15:04Thank you. Bye.

15:05Bye.

Casting Panel | London Contenders 2025

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