Auditions

Just finished auditions for Donnacha and Audrey. The actors for Cary couldn't make it for today but I'm hoping to interview one of them tomorrow.
The experience was wonderful. It was great to work with actors and bounce off ideas. Especially if the actor wasn't suited for the film, I can name three other things I'd use some of them for.
The idea was to talk to the actors for a bit, then have a monologue that they brought, then a scene from the movie, the a script excerpt from an episode of the US version of the Office.
I felt this covered every side of the actor nicely. They could come in give a personal touch by talking about themselves, then give what they think is their best acting skill in any genre, then see how they would do as a character from my film, then some fun at the end to see how well they improvise and their comedy timing.
Usually, the exciting warm up of wrestling (the scene from the Office) would be done near the beginning for everyone. I felt for the Audrey character it was important to see if should be do it to catch her playful side, but that it should come after the intense scenes with Will where their relationship is ending.
As for the actual auditions, I'm pretty confident we couldn't find a better Donnacha out of the process. He nailed it, and I wasn't even 100 percent what "it" was. He didn't even need a monologue because the feeling of who he was came off very friendly and calming. Also, one of the major things I was looking for, he understood the humor and the creative vision. The people that came in with ideas of films like Eternal Sunshine and Lars and the Real Girl definitely knew the pacing of the character. Hopefully he is 100% because he will definitely add what this film needs.
As for Audreys, overall all the auditions were very tough. There were a lot of good choices so I think we'll have to make some tough calls this week. The monologues were very important for this section, as one of the actresses captivated me by her bit. Also it was a nice balance of seriousness to then see them attempt the wrestling scene. That was Caitlin's idea as I had just wanted to have their monologue but it was very beneficial.
All in all a great experience and it definitely gets me excited for the film now. Seeing certain people just NAIL the role.