Casting By

An entertaining, informative documentary, Casting By details the invaluable and surprisingly intricate role that casting directors play in the production of movies and television shows – with the movie placing a specific emphasis on the life and career of one such individual, Marion Dougherty. Filmmaker Tom Donahue offers up an all-encompassing look at the casting process and its evolution from the earliest days of cinema to the 21st century, which the director accomplishes through a series of fascinating clips and interviews. In terms of the latter, Casting By features appearances by a number of well-known figures in the casting profession – including, in addition to Dougherty, Ellen Lewis, John Papsidera, Ellen Chenoweth, and Lynn Stalmaster. (This is in addition to the myriad of sound bites from familiar faces like Woody Allen, Jeff Bridges, Glenn Close, and Clint Eastwood.) It’s clear, too, that the proliferation of interesting (and often funny) anecdotes plays a key role in perpetuating the movie’s engrossing atmosphere, with two notable examples a story of Jon Voight almost losing his Midnight Cowboy role to Michael Sarrazin and Jeff Bridges’ tale of his very first on-screen role. The film even boasts a “bad guy” in the guise of filmmaker Taylor Hackford, as the director offers up a series of sound bites downplaying the efforts of casting directors (and even their right to call themselves casting directors!) Really, though, Casting By‘s success is due primarily to the inherently compelling nature of Dougherty’s story – with the unexpectedly poignant final stretch confirming the film’s place as a superior documentary.

*** out of ****