Although KVIFF Talks are one of the traditional parts of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, they rarely address the art of casting. Tuesday’s talk with one of the world’s most respected casting directors, Francine Maisler, hosted by renowned journalist Marta Balaga, was bound to be exceptional. And it was quite special for the director herself to appear in front of the audience: “In addition to films, I’ve also always liked theatre but I never wanted to be on stage. It’s strange for me to be here, in my work I’m always behind the camera, not in front of it.”
The woman, who has won numerous awards including an Emmy and has overseen casting for films such as The Revenant, Birdman, Dune, The Big Short, as well as The Bikeriders presented at this year’s KVIFF, then talked to the audience about her profession. She even described how new talents are found: “Our first route is through agents. We say what we’re looking for, and agents around the world send their client information. And then we go through it. But we also do our own ‘homework’. For example, recently we were looking for an Indian actor, so we used not only a local casting director, but we also conducted our own search, via the Internet.” And they even used social media, something Maisler says she was a bit reluctant to do until recently. “Younger people may not always have an agent, but it is our job to find them.”
Of course, the number of people that a casting director can see in person is limited, so various recordings and similar tools are often used. “But we always try to be sensitive in our selection. It’s never like: Cut. Good. Next. We would never do that. Casting directors are always on the actor’s side,” she added.
