… (let’s see if I can ask this right)… such as the recent Tom Hanks movie, how much of the blame goes to the casting director (s)?
It doesn’t seem to me that any of it should be borne by them, but I think we have some folks here in the business and maybe you can enlighten me as to what goes on behind the scenes, as it were.
Thanks
Q
There’s no one answer, since movies fail for different reasons. But in general, there would be no reason to blame a casting director, since they are not choosing the stars of the movie. The principal cast is assembled before production starts by the producers. Casting directors are for finding actors for relatively minor roles (and extras.)
Thank you, friedo. That’s something I didn’t know. I was always under the impression that they read and studied the script, then made suggestions as to who should play the major roles.
So with my tiny little brain here I was thinking, “Oh-oh. Somebody chose the wrong actor, the part didn’t “go over” well, and the movie flopped.”
Thanks again! 
Quasi
I’d say the progression of blame typically goes Director-Producer-Writer-Actor, which makes your hyphenated folks kinda vulnerable: If The Avengers had tanked, it would have been Joss Whedon’s fault as he wrote & directed (the movie also had seven Executive Producers, so the failure of any one of them wouldn’t likely have had that much blame associated with it); if Henry V had tanked, it would have been very bad for Kenneth Branagh, for writing (adapting), directing & starring in the movie. Casting directors are way down on the list and have to fail fairly colossally in order to shoulder the blame (nobody said anything about mis-casting the role of Aragorn for LOTR, for instance, since they were able to sign Viggo Mortensen at the last minute).
The casting director goes looking for actors that fit the requirements of the director, and since they don’t usually pick the stars, they don’t get blamed. No one thinks that having a different actor play “the Man in the Bus” would have made any difference.
Casting directors work on finding extras and small roles, which are hardly ever crucial for the film’s success.
Their “field of expertise” (for want of a better term) sure does come up early in the credits for what they do, doesn’t it? Somewhere right around where the producers are listed?
Q
I would assume that if a casting director did make some noticeably bad choice, like casting a 19 year old to play Retirement Home Resident #2 or someone who truly could not act at all in a minor but noticeable role, then it would be the director’s responsibility to notice this and have the role re-cast. This presumably wouldn’t be good for the casting director’s reputation, but the problem would be fixed before the final version of the movie was released.
They’re usually in the middle of the credits, which is an undesirable position. For opening credits, the most prestigious credits are before or just after the title. Actors go next. The last group of credits are producer(s), writer(s), and director. Anything between the actors and producers are less important.
I used to work at a movie studio.
When a film is a hit, everybody tries to take credit.
When a film is a flop, everybody throws the blame.
When a film is a hit, bonuses fly through the film studio, some people get promotions (who don’t deserve them) and there is money to invest in more projects.
When a film is a flop, there are cutbacks - some people get fired (who don’t deserve to be fired) and depending how big the financial hit, some studios have gone belly-up.
The honest answer is that everybody is responsible - hit or flop - but it isn’t easy to explain why something is a hit any more than it is to explain why something is a flop.
One thing is sure - no studio WANTS to make a flop/bomb film. Oh sure, in retrospect it is easy to say, “What the hell were they thinking when they did that?!” But if it were really that easy to only make hit films, studios would never lose a nickel.
Top box office stars are no guarantee of a hit the next time around; popular books do not always make for popular movies; Oscar winning directors can also direct world class bombs; a combination of errors can turn a successful film into a huge flop anywhere along the line.
Sometimes the blame can be pointed towards one person/group.
One example of a hit film that turned into a financial flop: Thelma and Louise.
When releasing a film, you have to decide to open big (on thousands of screens) or open small (in big cities/college towns) to build up word of mouth. The Marketing Department thought Thelma and Louise should open wide - lots of screens. It didn’t do well the first week and then didn’t do well the second week - theaters were turning the film back in. Then a miracle happened. Word of mouth started to spread that this was a great, fun film! Suddenly it was on the cover of Time Magazine! That should have been good news, but by then it was only being shown in a very small market and they missed the window of opportunity by a mile. When people were suddenly dashing out to see this film, they found it was no longer showing in their area and couldn’t find it.
So, while Thelma and Louise has a nice reputation as a good film, it was considered a financial disaster that could have made a lot of money, but didn’t. It did do well on DVD and cable, but by then it was too late.
Not too long after that, most of the Marketing Department was fired.