Lets say a Hollywood casting agent is looking for a part for a movie such as the lead character in Precious. I know that regulations cover minutiae such as the size of the text onscreen and who’s billed first, so I was wondering if there are any regulations that cover how a casting agent might ask for, say, a fat person. Do they have to say “person over XXX lbs” or can they simply ask for “fat or overweight person”?
I’m assuming that laws which cover discrimination are less strict when it comes to movies needing a certain type of person (ie. body type, race, height) so as to allow selective choosing. Then again they cast the Kingpin as a black guy in the movie Daredevil so maybe the laws are just as strict
Since movies and TV have a wide range of characters, what about something that seems solely at the discretion of the production team? Would they ask for “ugly person” in a casting call? Or “Mexican drug lord”? Or is the description from the screenplay or source material made available for potential actors to read and they themselves would self eliminate if they don’t fit the profile?
Well, as an example, I heard Ron Shelton talk about casting the movie Cobb. He shot the baseball scenes in an old ballpark in the south, and did an open casting call for extras.
The thing was, he couldn’t hire black extras. Blacks were not allowed at ballgames at the time when Cobb was playing (it wasn’t illegal, but they’d get harassed if they tried to go) and he needed to have the crowd all white. He made this clear in his advertising for the jobs: that, unfortunately, they couldn’t hire black extras (Shelton wished he could, since there was high black unemployment in the area).
There were no legal repercussions.
In general, the rules for discrimination have exceptions that exclude people for legitimate reasons. You could, for instance, refuse to hire a blind person to drive a delivery van. For movies, if you could show that the part required a certain type, you’d be in the clear.
The Kingpin casting has nothing to do with regulations; they just wanted Micheal Clarke Duncan.
How did he define “black”? I’m sure there are people who consider themselves to be ethnically black but wouldn’t look out of place in a white crowd scene.
I was curious so I did a quick google search and found a casting call looking for “Plain Janes and Ugly Bettys”. I found another one looking for someone who is “Huge/Fat/Big” and over 5’7, and another one looking for “proud fat families” that contained the line “Are you loud and proud about your family’s unhealthy lifestyle?”
So apparently they are pretty blunt and if they want a fat or ugly person they just ask for a fat or ugly person.
No matter what they say, damn near everyone looking to be casted in anything is going to show up. The casting people choose who they want to see and tell the rest to leave. But yes, they agent pretty much have carte blanche to reject anyone for any reason.
If Hugh Laurie had shown up all proper British instead of movie role scruffy when he auitioned for House, I wonder if he would have been seen?
He submitted a video audition that he’d shot in his hotel bathroom while on location for Flight of the Navigator, and he thought he was auditioning for the part of Wilson.
Hugh Laurie auditioned for House while filming Flight of the Phoenix (not Flight of the Navigator). He originally planned to audition for both House and Wilson but then read that Wilson was supposed to be youthful and charming, and only auditioned for House. According to his interview on the Actor’s Studio, Laurie thought that Wilson was the lead part since he couldn’t imagine someone as gruff and grumpy as House being anything but a secondary character.