Casting By Will Delight, Surprise, And Inspire

I have this problem where I think I am qualified to do jobs for which I have no training and in which I have no experience. At various times in the recent past, I have mused somewhat seriously about becoming a professional organizer, a civic code enforcer, and a roller derby name consultant. But even as I knew all of those were pretty silly ideas (I will still help you organize your home on a Monica Geller basis!), I have thought that, despite my lack of professional credits or relevant connections in the entertainment industry, I could be a pretty great casting director: I watch lots of movies and TV, I have a good memory for faces and names, and I (obviously) have lots of strong opinions. Having watched HBO's Casting By, though, I guess I have to admit that I'm not qualified for the job -- even though I seem to have been right all along that it's pretty fun.

The documentary profiles several accomplished casting directors, but primarily focuses on Marion Dougherty (the badass pictured above), taking the viewer through her career from her start bringing in character actors for TV shows like Route 66 and The Naked City, and then into films, including a career high of casting two Best Picture nominees -- Midnight Cowboy and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid -- in the same year. Meanwhile, we check in periodically with the state of the field in general: when Dougherty started, casting was treated practically as though it were just an assistant-level assignment. For a long while, it isn't even accorded the honour of an opening-credits slide, and once it is, the Directors' Guild has a shit fit about identifying the people who do it as "Casting Directors." Representing the dickhead point of view is Taylor Hackford, a past president of the DGA, who objects to the elevated title of "Director" being attached to anyone who doesn't do precisely what he does, as though anyone might see that credit and think that a Casting Director is also responsible for framing a shot or giving a line reading. Helen Mirren: control your man!

Most importantly, we get a walkthrough of the actual casting process -- how it changed from the studio system (when each studio had a few actors in each of the boxes they'd ever need to cast) to the era of the independent casting director, sussing out talent through instinct and nurturing performers even when they don't believe in themselves; several of the actors to whom Dougherty and her contemporary, Lynn Stalmaster, gave big breaks speak warmly about how important it was for them to cross the right paths at the right time.

The film also gets into the issue of how unappreciated casting still is, and that it remains the only title in the opening credits of a film that is not represented at the Academy Awards. Some film directors interviewed for the documentary, in fact, seem surprised to learn that this is the case -- but not Taylor Hackford, enemy to casting directors everywhere! If you want to know the spurious reasons behind it, he's happy to supply them.

Casting By does a great job of highlighting an element of filmmaking that is little understood and vastly underrated, and does so without making it seem as though anyone who has a legitimate axe to grind is just using the film to air grievances. Dougherty is a great storyteller, and all the encomia about her from the performers and filmmakers whose lives she changed with her work just make you love her more -- particularly as the case is made for how she invented the art of casting and how she nurtured so many other casting directors still working today (including her protégée Juliet Taylor, who cast the current Blue Jasmine). It's on HBOGo and still in the rotation on the channel; if you love movies, you'll be fascinated.