Delayed Reaction: Casting By

Premise: A documentary specifically about casting director Marion Dougherty and about the role of casting directors more broadly.

 

The truth is, very few people understand the movie-making process. It's hard to separate an individual job from the final product. A great script with poor actors sounds like a poor script. Beautiful production design can look awful with bad cinematography. A great score is nothing if the sound mixing is off. Of the main title roles, Casting and Film Editing are perhaps the most discrete. In both cases, they are generally credited to the director and when they are done well, they are almost invisible. Casting By is an attempt to make people realize just how valuable proper casting is. It's like building a sports team. Just signing the best players isn't always the key to success. Sometimes there's a star who the team needs to be built around. Or maybe there's a player oozing with potential who just needs the right role. Maybe there's a specific system they have to recruit for. The same challenges are what a casting director faces. They have to know who to even suggest for certain roles or how to populate a world that fits together. I came away from this movie with three thoughts:

 

1) I have a better idea what the value of casting is.

2) Marion Daugherty is a titan who deserved more industry recognition.

3) The DGA kind of sucks.

 

The first two I expected going in. The last I did not. I can tell this movie isn't impartial, but the DGA rep sure came off like a dick. Basically, it looks like the Director's guild and branch of the Academy are pompous and don't want anything diminishing their reputation. Personally, I suspect film director is the most overinflated role on set. The cinematographer gets the shot. The actors deliver the performances. The writers come up with the words. The editor figures out the best takes and order. The director is an administrator in a lot of ways.

 

Whatever. There should be a yearly Casting Oscar and Marion Daugherty should have an honorary Oscar. The movie makes a good case for that. That is all.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend