Viva Brighton Issue #69 November 2018

THE LOWDOWN ON...
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Street-casting
Casting Director, Lucy Pardee
I’ve got a reputation as somebody who will
go and pick people off the streets to be in
films. People who’ve never acted before but
have something we’re looking for that matches
the role in the film. I work with a brilliant set of
female assistants and scouts. In our game, you
have to be able to talk to people. A lot of the
communities we work in are supposedly ‘hard to
reach’ because they are working class or BAME
- but usually because no-one is asking them to
be part of things.
I’ve worked with Andrea Arnold on three
of her films; American Honey most recently,
and Wuthering Heights and Fish Tank before
that. I spotted the lead for Fish Tank on a train
platform, shouting at an ex-boyfriend. I was
looking for a young woman with fire and she
was burning with it. When I spot someone,
something about them will strike me. It’s usually
about their energy more than their look. I’ll go
over and chat with them, ask them if they’ve
done any acting before and explain what I’m
doing. Surprisingly, I get very few people who
tell me to shove off.
I try to cast as authentically as possible. For
Perfect Ten (see pg 26) we needed a gymnast,
so we went to lots of gym clubs. For American
Honey, we stood on the beach in Florida for
weeks during Spring Break and went driving
around places like West Virginia and rural
Texas, looking for people who were also looking
for something in a way. The kids we cast were
amazing young people, all open to adventure.
That’s an important quality.
If I’m looking at schools, I don’t leave it up
to the staff to select who comes forward.
They aren’t looking for the same kind of energy
that I am. Quite often the kids that are perfect
for casting aren’t necessarily going to toe the
line in school. It takes a lot of guts.
When we were casting for Perfect Ten,
the Youth and Employability Service in
Whitehawk were hugely supportive. They
put it out on Facebook and encouraged people
to come and audition. I always thought that
Brighton and places like Peacehaven would be
interesting for casting. They have great energy
and great faces, and people are just outside a lot
more here, so it’s easier to spot them.
Conventional casting doesn’t take too long,
but street-casting is different. It’s a needle-ina-haystack
business. A lot of young people aren’t
represented in the mainstream media, or in
drama school. They don’t see people who look
or sound like them on screen. I’m interested in
filling that gap. We need to populate the film
industry, front and back, from all walks of life
because it’s still a very white, male-dominated
and privileged space. Everyone needs to have a
seat at the table. I don’t want the kids I’m casting
to only be in social realism. The hope is to blow
the doors off and let them tell the stories they
want to tell.
As told to Lizzie Lower
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