On Casting Actors Like Gerard Butler

Actor Gerard Butler at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival

"I ran into Berkoff in the coffee shop downstairs and said, 'I'd love to read for this.' He said, 'Sure, why not?'-- I gave it everything. Afterward, the casting director came up to me almost in tears. She said, 'You're the best he saw in two days!'

Walking home was probably the happiest moment of my life, when there's an energy in you that can't be put down. I'd gone from handing out pages (as an assistant) to getting the lead role." - Gerard Butler on landing his role in playwright Steven Berkoff's production of Coriolanus.

This quote has me thinking about the casting process -- more specifically, a reminder to make sure to cast actors who put all that they have mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically, into their performances. What producer or director in the world would want to work with an actor who is only half-way in with regards to how they treat the roles that they're given?

Actors who show partial interest in the material and/or do not showcase their best efforts, abilities and talents during the audition become a liability to the overall quality of the film -- if they are selected for said role. Actors like this also create an imbalance within the flow of the production environment, especially when their fellow cast and crew members are working to the best of their ability to make the greatest film that they can, in the highest capacity they are able. When an actor gives a lackluster performance, the whole project suffers, for everyone involved. 

The part of Gerard Butler's statement that goes "...when there's an energy in you that can't be put down" is also worth noting with regards to approaching any career of interest. If there is something pulling us towards a particular position, shouldn't we give it everything we have in us, be it in the field of entertainment, law, medicine, hospitality, travel, fitness, the list goes on. If I don't put forth efforts to move my filmmaking pursuits forward, then there is no reason for me to do it. We shouldn't half-ass anything -- a task, a friendship, a project or a job.

There is no reward in being involved in something with one foot in and the other foot out the door. Just imagine if Kobe Bryant and LeBron James only put in 50% of their efforts during the London 2012 Summer Olympics -- the Gold Medal for Men's Basketball category would have probably went to Spain. You risk a loss when taking the half-way route, which is something I experienced while writing the first draft of my new short film script.

I've also realized more times than none this year, the importance of devoting all of my time, energy and attention to a cause that I believe to be just or a project that I want to witness come to fruition. That said, as I soon approach the casting stage of the short film that I finally finished writing, I'm seeking actors who can make a role their own and who will (as Gary Vaynerchuck says) bring the thunder by putting their very best foot forward.

If I'm giving this movie my all, then you better believe I'd expect cast and crew members working on this project with me to do the same. That is not to say I expect their best efforts to look like mine, but rather, I require -- at the most basic level, an effort showing themselves in the greatest light they've ever been in or at least matching their last "best" performance among the previous films that they worked on.

The concept sounds so simple and should come as second nature to any filmmaker making a movie. I didn't always cast for ability, however, nor did I adopt the practice of casting for passion. I would often cast for accessibility and budget, even going so far as to hire a total stranger someone else noticed on the road, sans audition due to scheduling restraints and mostly...impatience. That is one of the reasons why things have to be different this time around because it's better to go for the Gold (even if you end up with less) than go for the Bronze and get a bunch of wooden nickels. I want the Gold -- I want actors who give performances that movie casting directors to tears the way Gerard Butler did.

Do YOU think there's a difference between a good actor and a great actor...or are they synonymous with each other?

Can anyone define bad acting or is it something that YOU just know when you see it?

Is requesting or even expecting people who YOU work on a project with to be at their very best, too much to ask?

Also, here are a couple of Announcements…

Since I skipped the King Dong series in July and August, Idris Elba has upgraded from the June 2012 King to the Summer 2012 King, just so we can keep this thing rolling without any missing months. Elba's throne has now passed to Gerard Butler, who is the September 2012 King Dong. 

It's official, I am now a LAMB! -- On Wednesday, August 29th, I found out that my blog received membership into the Large Association of Movie Bloggers, otherwise known as The LAMB. So, be prepared to see additional blog posts about specific actors and film mash-ups published here at The Madlab Post. 

'Prometheus' Actor Idris Elba on Popularity, Power and Prince's Trust

Idris Elba accepts the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV movie for his performance in "Luther"

“It’s important to know who you are as an actor or you’re bound for failure. In Hollywood, power is when someone does not have to green-light your projects. I have popularity but not so much power.” - Idris Elba

For all of the power Idris Elba says he lacks in Hollywood, this British actor surely makes up for it by having major influence -- which he uses for good, in underserved communities throughout England.

Elba is currently an anti-crime ambassador for Prince’s Trust, a U.K. based organization that provides career training, employment, mentoring and personal development skills to at-risk, disadvantaged and offending or ex-offending young people aged 14-30.

Idris Elba supports the programs at Prince’s Trust through various activities including round-table discussions, film events and fundraising efforts -- as a way to give back to the very people who believed in his potential as an actor; and to inspire young people to believe in themselves.

When Idris Elba was a teenager, he won a place in the National Youth Musical Theatre (NYMT) based in London. A $1,500 grant from Prince’s Trust helped him further develop his acting skills at NYMT. It is at the National Youth Musical Theatre that Elba began to take acting seriously with regards to a career pursuit.

After successfully landing acting roles in his hometown, Elba saved up some money from working at his other job -- as a wedding DJ -- and moved to the United States. He struggled to find work here in the U.S. for three years, particularly the kind of roles that he wanted to play. So, Elba supported himself financially by working nights as a DJ in New York.

Even now as he sports accolades for stellar acting performances in major primetime crime dramas such as HBO’s “The Wire” and BBC’s “Luther,” Idris Elba still maintains a love for music -- DJing celebrity parties and releasing R&B/Soul/Pop albums under the name Driis. He also co-produced and performed on the into to rapper Jay-Z’s “American Gangster” album.

All music and acting aside, Idris Elba changes lives by being someone who leads by example -- going after his dreams full-force rather than wondering what-could-have-been while botching Ford Fiestas during a night shift at an auto manufacturing plant. His confidence is powerful enough to show young people the possibilities of what happens when you believe in yourself, and no green light in Hollywood can make or break that -- it comes from within -- although, a little nudge from community-centered organizations like Prince’s Trust doesn’t hurt either!

Do YOU think Idris Elba would play a convincing James Bond?

What were YOUR favorite fields of study during your teenage years?

Actors Like Idris Elba who Buck the Typecasting Trends

“It’s up to you to be who you say you are.

I have not done anything different from any other actor, but I don’t accept everything. I very rarely let color bound me. I mean, you can’t be Blacker than me” -- “I was born to African parents. My legacy in life is not led by the color of my skin and I don’t choose a lane because of it. I’m just me.” - Idris Elba

JET magazine calls “Prometheus” star Idris Elba “the actor’s answer to a NASCAR driver” because he has successfully navigated through all entertainment genres without sacrificing the quality of his image. Elba’s previous roles include but are not limited to a blue-collar working single father in “Daddy’s Little Girls,” a French priest who rides motorcycles in “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” a finance executive trying to save his family in “Obsessed” and a mythic warrior with superhuman powers in “Thor.”

After discussing complacency this past Thursday, Idris Elba’s quote featured above has me thinking about typecasting -- sometimes it seems necessary when it comes to casting directors or filmmakers trying to find the right actors whom they know will fit a role perfectly (you want an action scene with martial arts? you call Jackie Chan or Masi Oka; you don't call B. D. Wong) -- or when it comes to choosing a role based on strengths that as an actor, you know you possess more than any other person currently working in your field (Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn;" Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor in "Liz & Dick"). 

Other times, however, typecasting doesn’t always serve a useful purpose because it makes people think that one type of character is all you have to offer such as a thug or funnyman or jerk, etc. -- so it is important for actors to determine the direction that they want their career to go in or decide how they want to be portrayed and then choose roles that support that path -- whatever path that is. Still, for some actors, typecasting seems to be a double edged sword where landing roles are concerned. Action star Vin Diesel used to struggle to get selected for roles because casting directors often overlooked him due to his ethnicity (Italian, African-American “and a lot of other stuff”).

Diesel’s frustrations in trying to become an actor resulted in making a short film called “Multi-Facial” that is inspired by the many auditions he went on that led nowhere -- he was told that he wasn’t dark enough to play black roles, not Italian enough for other roles and not gangsta enough for some roles. In Vin Diesel’s short film, the main character is sent to an audition for a Latino character, despite the fact that he does not speak Spanish -- since casting directors considered him to be brown enough to play a Hispanic character. Legendary director Steven Spielberg was so impressed by Diesel’s “Multi-Facial” short that he cast him in “Saving Private Ryan” and the rest is history.

In “Hustle and Flow,” they said it’s hard out here for a pimp. Well, it looks like it’s also hard out here for actors who just want to live their dreams in an industry where your job prospects are either flowing or minimal depending on whether you fit certain stereotypes rather than how good your performance is in said role. So I say, cheers to actors like Idris Elba and Vin Diesel who take hold of the the driver’s seat, steering their careers in the lanes that fit the type of people they want to be -- influential, believable and as Chellebee once said -- Multifaceted!

Do YOU think that typecasting limits actors from reaching their full potential in a movie role?

In what circumstances would YOU accept the use of typecasting for a particular film?