The surprising, never-before-told tale of the indispensable yet unsung Casting Director - Iconoclasts whose keen eye, exquisite taste and gut instincts redefined Hollywood.The surprising, never-before-told tale of the indispensable yet unsung Casting Director - Iconoclasts whose keen eye, exquisite taste and gut instincts redefined Hollywood.The surprising, never-before-told tale of the indispensable yet unsung Casting Director - Iconoclasts whose keen eye, exquisite taste and gut instincts redefined Hollywood.
Videos1
Wallis Nicita
- Selfas Self
- (as Wally Nicita)
Gretchen Rennell
- Selfas Self
- (as Gretchen Rennell Court)
This documentary focuses on the role of the casting director in movie making and particularly on Marion Dougherty. She began work in the late 1940s sending up and coming young actors to be cast in the then new medium of television. It wasn't until the 1970s that the contribution on casting directors was recognized in film credits and even today there is no Oscar awarded for that role in filmmaking. —garykmcd
Top review
Exceptional Film
Prior to seeing this exceptional documentary, directed by Tom Donahue, I don't recall ever having viewed a film devoted exclusively to the work and accomplishments of casting directors. This extremely well presented movie centers on one of the trailblazers of casting for movies and television Marion Dougherty, who passed away in 2011. We do hear from and see the work of other casting directors as well, such as Lynn Stalmaster, Juliet Taylor, and Ellen Lewis, among others. Taylor, who was hired by Dougherty has been casting Woody Allen movies for several decades now.
It's really great fun to see many of the superstars of today in film clips as they were beginning their careers, and how they were noticed and cast in some of the most famous movies and TV shows ever. You see that Dougherty possessed uncanny instincts to know what actors and actresses belonged in what roles, and her ability to convince the directors of such, and the results of all of this is truly amazing.
One aspect of the documentary that I never thought about but which surprised me when it was presented was the refusal of filmmakers to recognize and appropriately credit casting directors for their work on a movie. They had to fight to even get separate credits for their work on screen, and it remains the only separate line credit in movies that doesn't have an Oscar category (the Emmys have such a category now). You see some directors in the film especially Taylor Hackford, showing their arrogance and egos decrying that he the director is the final say so why should there be a category for casting. It's ridiculous, in my opinion, and needs to be changed now, if I may editorialize a bit here.
In summary this is a special movie that I truly believe anyone who likes films will enjoy.
It's really great fun to see many of the superstars of today in film clips as they were beginning their careers, and how they were noticed and cast in some of the most famous movies and TV shows ever. You see that Dougherty possessed uncanny instincts to know what actors and actresses belonged in what roles, and her ability to convince the directors of such, and the results of all of this is truly amazing.
One aspect of the documentary that I never thought about but which surprised me when it was presented was the refusal of filmmakers to recognize and appropriately credit casting directors for their work on a movie. They had to fight to even get separate credits for their work on screen, and it remains the only separate line credit in movies that doesn't have an Oscar category (the Emmys have such a category now). You see some directors in the film especially Taylor Hackford, showing their arrogance and egos decrying that he the director is the final say so why should there be a category for casting. It's ridiculous, in my opinion, and needs to be changed now, if I may editorialize a bit here.
In summary this is a special movie that I truly believe anyone who likes films will enjoy.
helpful•60
- larrys3
- Nov 1, 2014
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
Is Casting By (2012) known by a different name in Canada in English? If yes, what is it known as?
Answer
Recently viewed
You have no recently viewed pages