50 Actors Who Were Swapped Mid-Film And The Reasons It Happened

Casting an actor for a role can be a long and tiring process as it involves a lot of moving factors and decision-making. And it’s up to the casting director to find the missing piece that will fit with everything else together to create the right picture for a movie or TV show. 

If you ever wondered how this process goes, you’re in luck, as we’re going to discuss it today in brief. The casting for specific roles usually starts immediately after a pilot (a short film serving as a prototype to sell it to producers) is picked up by a network.

Then, casting directors start thinking about actors who might be suited for this specific role. Casting veteran Victoria Thomas, with more than four decades of experience, shared how she begins her casting process.

“You kind of start out with certain ideas you might have, and you make a list for producers in the studio—kind of see where they’re coming from in terms of what they want to get out of casting a lead or a couple of leads. They may be going for some name value, or you may be allowed to cast some unknowns.”

She delves deeper to understand the director’s vision and works closely with the creative team to make it come true. “Talking to producers, the studio—figuring out what you’re all going for. Making that list or putting that breakdown out. Talking about the characters and just motivations and who these people are. So in that sense that’s the creative conversation I kind of like to have.”

What Thomas is describing here is known as character breakdown in the movie industry. It’s a description that highlights the most important attributes of a character, which is often used to cast movies, plays, and TV shows. They routinely include information about physical appearance (age, race, height), skills, and personality traits.

Once this is done, as Thomas already mentioned, casting directors may have initial ideas for actors that could play that part and contact them to audition for it. If they want more options or are simply lacking inspiration, then they advertise these roles to casting agencies. After receiving the character breakdown, agents submit the actors who fit the role. The submission usually includes such information as the actor's headshots, showreels, and CV.

At this point, the casting director is flooded with actors’ headshots and has to make a decision on which ones to invite for an audition. After they decide who they want to see, they contact their agent and share the material needed for auditioning. The actor prepares for it, comes and (hopefully) nails it. Lastly, all that’s left to do is pick the best ones and present them to the director and producers who make the final decision and offer the role.