Casting Part I: The Lead

Darren and I wanted to start a series on the casting of the film. Each part in this series will focus on a different character and a different actor and how we ended up deciding to bring that actor on board the project. This, the first installment of said series, will be on our film's lead: Mr. Jeremy Strong.

Jeremy played the part of "Peter" in "Humboldt County" - our protagonist extraordinaire. It was a difficult part to cast because the character was deliberately under-written in the screenplay. The part of Peter called for an actor who could react to the often outlandish behavior of the other characters and, without saying much, bring the audience along for the ride.

It took us over nine months to cast the role. It was a grueling process and there were many times Darren and I were unsure we would be able to find the right person. We started by scouring the Los Angeles actor landscape. We brought in hundreds of actors to audition and, though a few were better than others, overall they just weren't right. Part of the problem was that Hollywood likes to populate its television and film projects with actors that do not resemble normal people. They are mostly too pretty, too put together and a little too...well, let's put it this way: they all have nice haircuts. Incidentally, this is yet another reason why Darren and I are such big fans of the American cinema from the 1970s. Finally, films began to show up on screen with actors like Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman that looked like how normal people look. I can relate to them. I have a hard time relating to Tom Cruise. I find it difficult to empathize with Tom Cruise in a movie when he's TOM CRUISE for god's sake. How troubled can his life really be? He's TOM CRUISE.

So anyway, after months of searching, our esteemed casting director Mr. John Jackson (ABOUT SCHMIDT, SIDEWAYS) was frustrated with us. There were doubts that Darren and I knew what we wanted. We knew, of course, we just hadn't seen it yet. Finally, after scouring the LA landscape we decided to look elsewhere: New York City. Surely there, away from the land of constant 72 degree days, we would find what we needed.

We called a few casting directors we knew and described what we were looking for. One such CD said to us: "Well, I'll send you ten names of actors I know but I can tell you now - I have your guy. His name's Jeremy Strong and he's never been in a film before." Suffice it to say, we were skeptical. Sure the kid was a Yale grad with a bunch of great theater under his belt, but we had turned down offers from big talent agencies in LA for "name" actors to the play the role. Would we be committing independent film suicide by hiring some unknown theater actor from New York?

We figured it couldn't hurt to watch the kid's audition, so we had him put himself on tape and send it over. The minute we saw the tape, we knew he was right. He displayed vulnerability, pathos, a deep sense of self and killer instincts. We flew him out to LA, had lunch with him at Tom Bergen's on Fairfax (a favorite haunt of ours for daytime meetings) and hired him immediately afterwards. When you meet someone as talented as Jeremy Strong - it kind of hits you over the face like a hammer. Although the experience bloodied our faces, we couldn't NOT hire him.

Jeremy, we are proud to say, is now flowering like a young newbile pup recently released upon the world. A couple of months ago he shot M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, "The Happening," opposite Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel which will be released into a gazillion theaters worldwide in the Summer of '08 and he is now in rehearsals for the lead role in "New Jerusalem" at the Classic Stage Company in New York. Opening night is January 13. Go see him. And say "hi" for us.

Peace,
Danny