Casting Directors Behind ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘F1’ and More on Finding the Perfect Fit

Damson Idris captivated audiences as Franklin Saint in FX’s “Snowfall,” and this past summer, he did the same in Joseph Kosinski’s “F1.”

He also impressed casting director Lucy Bevan, beating out thousands who auditioned for the part.
In “F1,” Idris plays Joshua Pearce, a rookie driver for the Formula 1 racing team Apex. Brad Pitt plays veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who’s lured back into racing and mentors Joshua. Bevan needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with Pitt but also bring their own unique energy. She auditioned thousands, but Idris went above and beyond in his process.

Here, the two talk about the casting and audition process.

Damson, this has been quite a year. The film has grossed over $631 million worldwide, and everyone has been talking about your performance in the film. What has it been like going from the audition process to being out there meeting the press, doing Q&As and having everyone so invested in your journey?

DAMSON IDRIS: It’s been such a beautiful journey. Like everyone, I read about “F1” being made around 2022. A year later, I read the script in L.A. and signed an NDA. Then, on Jan. 6 at 1:30 p.m., at a hotel in London, I flew there from L.A. and met with Lucy, Joe and [producer] Jerry [Bruckheimer]. We read about three scenes. The character’s name was Noah. I remember there was construction happening outside the hotel, and there was this loud drilling. I thought, “I’m not going to get this part. They can’t even hear me.” But I read with Lucy, and they were just so welcoming. I think the energy was kind of good, too, because as I was walking in, it had been announced that Joe and everyone had been nominated for seven BAFTA awards for “Top Gun: Maverick.” That was my little luck. I flew back to L.A., and about a month later, on Feb. 17, 2023, at Bedford Palmer Sports, I had to do a driving test. That was the real test. I remember it was wet that day, and I drove different cars. It went amazingly. I had a bunch of fun, and they said I showed a lot of maturity and listening skills, which was great. I didn’t spin out too many times — probably spun about five times. I remember Lucy came, and I was so happy to see her. The fact that she was even there, in the cold, at this out-of-the-way, wet track, just really made me feel so comfortable and confident. After I finished the test, I encouraged Lucy to jump in the car with the stunt driver. She handled it like a champ. I said to myself, “If I don’t get the part, at east Lucy could play Joshua.”

LUCY BEVAN: I just remember thinking this is a now-or-never situation. I’m never going to get the opportunity again. It was so scary, and it was so good for me to realize what you had just been
through. But the chutzpah of it, the fact that you actually managed to get me in the car, was pretty impressive. Here’s the really smart thing about Damson: going back to Claridge’s Hotel, we were
doing the scene where Brad goes, “We call it participation.” Damson came in and did brilliantly. So much of the process is about making sure that the actor is comfortable and able to do their best. When he made me get in the car, I was like, “That guy, he’s got chutzpah. We’re going to need that.”
When I first read the script, I thought, “This is a young actor who’s got to be going toe-to-toe with Brad. That’s an enormous ask.” But what was really clear to me about Damson was how he prepared himself. He knew the material inside out. He really thought about the character. He was asking Joe questions, listening and adjusting.

IDRIS: I downloaded the F1 game and won a championship with a fake character’s name. So that was like my manifestation period. Then I also [found someone on the West Coast who] had a simulator and a bunch of cars in a garage. He was able to download the track into the game, so I could kind of memorize what the track was like at Bedford Palmer Sports. This is what actual F1 drivers do, they mimic the tracks and constantly train in simulators. I was really immersing myself in the role even before I had it. The thing I love about Lucy’s whole process of getting the gang together is that by the time we got to Silverstone [race track in England], me and Brad had trained so much.

Lucy, what was your “yes” moment for Damson, given you auditioned so many people for this?

BEVAN: I think it was that day at Claridge’s Hotel, where we auditioned Damson with Joe and Jerry, and we read those scenes. I always watch everything back again and again, edit the clips and choose the best takes to make sure we got absolutely the best version. I just kept watching, and it was there. The fact that he made me get in the car at that point, there’s always that extra something that makes you go, “Yeah, he’s the right person.” But going back to the read-through, it’s really important to me as a casting director that every role is seen as important. When anyone has a line of dialogue or a moment, they are telling the story, in that moment, they are the lead. All of those actors were real team players and people who could really make something of their moment. All of those guys really felt like a team.

Was there another fun discovery in casting?

BEVAN:I didn’t realize that Damson and [“F1” actor] Samson [Kayo] were mates. I got Samson in to meet Joe and Jerry, and I said to Samson, “How much do you actually know about F1? Could you improv?” And he looked at me and said, “Of course.” We got in the room with Joe and Jerry. When you’re a young actor, you’re nervous, and we read the scenes a couple of times. Then I said, “Samson, should we improv one?” And he just went for it. Damson and Samson have this wonderful warmth that I think plays beautifully on screen.

IDRIS: Me and Samson are from the same area in London. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers. At the table read, I walked in, and he had been calling me, saying, “Hey, I got the part.”
The way we jumped and hugged each other in the room, I remember Jerry looking at Lucy. So much of this film works because this ensemble works so well together.

How do you build the world of “F1” and the perfect ensemble?

BEVAN: You start with the script, and Joe gives such great notes. He was so clear about what he wanted from every role. For Kim Bodnia’s role, he was very much referring to [former F1 team principal] Guenther Steiner. For the engineers, for Will Merrick’s role, he was referencing [F1 engineer] Peter Bonnington, [Ferrari driver] Lewis Hamilton’s guy. Joe gave us lots of references from the world of F1 to make it feel as authentic as possible. We wanted to make sure that people felt they belonged in that world.

Jacobi Jupe’s mother read Maggie O’ Farrell’s book, “Hamnet” and told her son he needed to do it.

But Jupe still had to audition. Enter casting director Nina Gold.

Her search for Hamnet, the title character in the Chloe Zhao film, was no easy task. Spoiler alert, Hamnet plays the young son of William Shakespeare who dies, and inspires the Bard’s play “Hamlet.” “Hamnet has to go through so much,” Gold says. Her challenge was to find a child that could do all that was required “in an incredibly natural, simple, non-child-actory way.”

She had met a lot of people, but Jupe had been on her radar. He was too young for “The Roses,” which she was also casting at the same time. But he left an impression that stayed with her. Jupe also almost came close to not getting the part of Hamnet when the team considered casting twins at one point. But Gold couldn’t find twins.

It took five auditions.

When Jupe eventually met Zhao, he recalls, “Chloe was just the most incredible person ever. I got in the room, and I saw this woman on the chair, and just her presence in the room was so strong.”

During the auditions, Jupe turned to Gold for assurance. “If she gave me the look, I would know that I’d done well. I don’t know whether she knew she was doing it, but she would just incline her head slightly, and it would give me a sense. I would go home feeling very happy that Nina was happy with what I’d done.”

Jupe admits to being nervous about meeting Paul Mescal, who plays Shakespeare in the film. “He was like my dad. He was throwing me around the room. It was very instant with Paul, and then Jessie (Buckley) too.”

Gold calls Jupe “super talented and brilliant.” “We met lots of good young actors, but it was an incredible stroke of fortune for Jacobi to be in the right place at the right time, at the right age… I mean, thank goodness.” – J.T

“The Smashing Machine,” “Marty Supreme,” and “Bugonia” all have one thing in common — casting director Jennifer Venditti.

In casting “Marty Supreme’s” Odessa A’zion, Venditti recalls fighting for her. She had first met A’zion during an audition for “Euphoria.” “I was blown away by her. She had a rawness and an authenticity that speaks to me, and I never forgot her. I’d tried her for things over the years, and then this came up. She had been filming something else and was in Budapest, so she had to tape [the audition],” Venditti explains.

There were technical issues and scheduling challenges, but when it finally came together, Venditti says, “It was so raw, and it gives me goosebumps.”

Due to more scheduling conflicts, Young was unable to do chemistry reads. But when Venditti sent the tape to the team, the casting director got a response within seconds: “And this has only happened to me one time — but they all said, ‘Wow.’”

Venditti cast “The Smashing Machine,” director Benny Safdie’s drama that immersed audiences in the world of MMA fighting in the late 1980s.

She kept actors in her back pocket, but in the end, she chose authenticity and cast real-life MMA fighters.

“There was something about the authenticity that really lent itself to the experience of getting lost in the world. When we use non-professional actors, it really enhances the performance of the more experienced actor,” she says. “There’s a kind of magic that happens when one person knows where the scene is going and can really drive it.”

As for her process, Venditti puts her actors at ease. “The interview is the first thing. I see if they can do improv, I see how much they can play, then we bring words into it. We create comfortable situations for people where it doesn’t feel like this sterile, cold audition, where you’re being judged.” She adds, “You’re putting yourself out there to do something that you have no experience in doing, and have people watch you and tell you if you’re good or not. – J.T.

“Roofman” casting director Bonnie Timmerman credits its director, Derek Cianfrance, for the overwhelming number of calls and submissions she received for the true crime film. “They came piling in,” Timmerman says. “It’s because people work with him, feel comfortable with him, and open up to him,” she explains.

“Roofman” stars Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester, a man who hides out in Toys R Us after escaping from prison. For Timmerman, like many casting directors, the process begins with the script. “When I read a script, actors dance around in my head. I’m totally obsessed. I have pictures of actors in my mind of who I think should be in the movie.”

According to her, eight out of 10 times, she’s correct.

One person who immediately came to mind was Ben Mendelsohn, who ended up being cast as the pastor of the local church. “He was the first person that I reached out to,” she says. “I went to him personally because I really wanted him to be part of the ensemble.”

The casting process involved lots of one-on-one meetings with Cianfrance. One role that took a while to cast was Jeffrey’s first wife. “Melonie (Diaz) was someone Derek auditioned. We saw so many actors for that role, but Derek had auditioned her a long time ago. I’m not sure I remember exactly what the movie was, but he remembered her from that audition. After we went through a lot of people, even though it was a small part, he said, ‘You know, I think she’d be great — and a surprise.’”

As someone who has worked with Cianfrance before on “I Know This Much Is True,” Timmerman says, “If he trusts you to bring in people for meetings, he knows they’re good.” Even though he trusts her, she doesn’t take it for granted. “I usually put a presentation together where I include the actor’s face and some of the movies they’ve done.” – J.T

“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” actor Matthew Anthony Pellicano Jr. declares himself a big Bruce Springsteen fan. That was before the casting call came for him to play a young version of the musician in the Scott Cooper film.

“We had one audition to do, and I did the audition, but we didn’t hear back for a month or so,” Pellicano says. However, patience proved to be a virtue when he eventually got a call back, and Cooper wanted to see him. Casting director Francine Maisler wasn’t looking for a child who could simply play happy or show joy. “This was a different part of Bruce’s life, where there was a sadness in being a part of this family that was very tumultuous,” Maisler explains. She doesn’t know how many tapes she reviewed, but when Pellicano was called back, Cooper was given a set of prompts for him.

The young actor recalls, “I had to be really sad. It’s a certain point in Bruce’s life where he has a good connection with his mom, but he has trouble with his dad sometimes.” He continues, “He [Cooper] wanted me to be scared and really quiet, and he wanted me to not be connected to my dad a lot in the film.”

The film marks Pellicano’s feature debut. “I’m proud of myself, and it’s a little weird watching yourself on the big screen, but everybody said I was doing a great job with all the scenes. That made me feel so proud of myself.”

Pellicano also recalls the first time he met Springsteen. “It was the first day of filming, and he’s a generous and kind man,” he says. As for the Boss giving him any advice, Pellicano remembers Springsteen did share some words. One memory stands out: “He would find a picture of himself when he was my age in the film, and he would put it up to my face and say, ‘Pretty darn close.’” – J.T

Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” chronicles the unique collaboration and friendship between a movie star (George Clooney) and his manager (Adam Sandler). So it’s fitting that the world of the movie would be cast by Baumbach’s longtime collaborator Douglas Aibel. Aibel cast the film with the U.K.-based Nina Gold, who also worked on this year’s “Hamnet.”

While Baumbach was able to reach out personally for some of the characters (such as Clooney and Sandler), Aibel and Gold were tasked with filling over 100 speaking roles for the sprawling, international ensemble in “Jay Kelly.”

That includes a lot of recognizable names, but also non-actors. “Noah takes every small role, every appearance, very seriously,” says Aibel. That includes people playing valets and a pool boy to help add authenticity.

Reasons Baumbach, “If you cast real people, they know their way around, they bring that authenticity. You’re getting something that’s lived in.”

One of the biggest challenges was finding two actors to play Jay’s daughters, each of whom has a different relationship with their father.

While they saw a lot of good actors, Baumbach says they also needed “to balance each other the right way.” Riley Keough was cast somewhat late in the process because she had originally said she wanted to take a break from acting. Once she was set, they decided the right counterpart for the younger sister was Grace Edwards. “It just became clear — they were the right grouping,” adds Baumbach.

Aibel also went above and beyond in some of his duties. Thanks to his 40-year collaboration with the Vineyard Theatre in New York, he not only was able to bring in some faces Baumbach wasn’t familiar with, but also helped land an actor in a pivotal role. Baumbach knew he wanted Billy Crudup to play a former friend of Jay’s, but the actor was currently performing in the one-man show “Harry Clark” in London. As it turned out, “Harry Clark” had premiered at the Vineyard under Aibel’s time as artistic director. “It was one of those rare moments where, as a film casting director, I can speak to the theater producer and see if we can thread the needle and make it work,” says Aibel. “So it was quite fortuitous.” – Jenelle Riley

Paul Thomas Anderson gave his go-to casting director, Cassandra Kulukundis, her marching orders in finding Willa for “One Battle After Another”: We know her DNA. She’s mixed race, so she’s got a white
parent and a Black parent. She’s a warrior and she kicks ass.

Kulukundis says everyone was on her radar. In her search, she was constantly looking at people and going to tournaments. “I attacked people on the streets. If you are a living human being, breathing, I might consider you.” She adds, “I’m that person.”

In the film, Willa plays Bob Ferguson’s teenage daughter. Bob is a former revolutionist, and when she’s kidnapped by a former nemesis, he sets out to rescue her.

Chase Infiniti eventually won the part. Says Kulukundis, “I’d seen Chase dancing, and I was like, ‘If she can act, I know I can teach her the martial arts.’” As it turned out, Infiniti also knew martial arts, and soared to the top of the list.

She had to read with the film’s stars, Regina Hall and Leonardo DiCaprio. Infiniti says, “I was so shocked, but I was really excited to get the opportunity to work with them in the scene.”

As for nerves, Infiniti says she gave it 110%. “I made sure to put my all into every callback, chemistry and camera test that I had, because I wanted to make sure that I felt like I was showing up for myself, and everybody else I was in the scene with.”

Infiniti’s first day on set was shooting the scene at the breakfast table with Bob. She recalls feeling a bit nervous, but more than anything, she was eager to get started. “I’ve been reading the script for so long. I had been having conversations with Paul and Leo about Bob and Willa’s dynamic.” She adds, “From day one, I was ready to go because I had done all that prep.”

As for seeing how audiences have responded to Infiniti’s performance, Kulukundis calls her “a completely unique human being.” She adds, “She is ‘A Star is Born,’ that’s what they made the phrase for.” – J.T