“To put it simply, casting is a bit like putting people on shelves and classifying them according to certain criteria. And the criteria are very different”, – says actor, producer, and casting director Donatas Šimukauskas, head of “Actors Agency Lithuania”. He told Vilnius Film Office about what the job of a casting director involves, the key aspects of actor selection, and what may stand in their way to success.
“During casting, we must find an actor who would perfectly match the character described in the director’s script. Sometimes the actor does not fully correspond to the desired type, but make-up and costumes help to achieve the result we need. We often have to choose between someone who matches the required type and someone with superior acting skills. Sensitivity is important for a casting director, the ability to see the character the actor “carries” in his face, posture, and figure,” Šimukauskas begins the conversation.
The casting director admits that he often still encounters the opinion that only friends and relatives get roles in films, but this is most certainly not the case. The director also participates in the extensive casting process, besides, sometimes the producer and a specific television station can express their opinion. Nevertheless, the greatest responsibility lies with the casting director. He or she is the person who carries out the selection and sends the recorded video trials to the director.
“I’ve noticed that directors who have worked in Hollywood are less involved in the casting process, they trust that you will do it properly. Directors often consult with us and ask for our opinions on which actor would be a better choice. Indeed, not everything can be seen in the video material sent to the director – sometimes the casting director notices important details during the trials,” Šimukauskas explains.
According to the casting director, more and more curious applicants are contacting the acting agency, however, sometimes it happens that there is no suitable person in the database. Then the casting team searches everywhere for the right type and eventually they may find someone good for the role completely randomly, e.g., in a shopping mall. However, Šimukauskas points out that talent alone is not enough for the actor’s success. Teamwork skills play a crucial role as well.
“During the casting, you are responsible for what kind of people will get into the set. A major concern directors and producers have is that the chosen actor will have inadequate requirements, causing a “headache” for the makeup, costume, catering departments, etc.
Šimukauskas says that his most interesting work is on projects where his agency looks for actors for important ones.
“It is fun when you work with a project where you’re casting actors for not only small roles. Working with director Emilis Vėlyvis is always exciting because the types of characters he comes up with are very vivid. Foreign projects that require actors who, instead of saying a few words can develop complex roles are also interesting. The latest project like this was the TV series “Whiskey on the Rocks”, where our actors played some of the lead roles. For example, Kęstutis Jakštas was fantastic in the role of Brezhnev. The project was very successful – all the actors were clearly on the same wavelength, and the first reviews were positive. The series was popular in Sweden.
I must admit, I’ve noticed that after several large foreign projects arrived in Lithuania, the film industry is starting to burst at the seams – we need more people and film sets. On the other hand, I’m also witnessing successful experiments with artificial intelligence – I can see that many short shootings, for example, some commercials, will no longer require actors.
Our industry is improving. Many Lithuanians nowadays work abroad as specialists – I can only envy them, and I wish that as many professionals as possible could gain experience that would allow them to bring knowledge to Lithuania.