Tales of a BB Girl

Chapter 4: Casting Director

We were back in London to meet the casting director. It had been  about  a month since the last meeting; I was told it was normal for things to move slowly at this stage. Mum had to pay for her own flight, but she didn’t mind.

‘Honestly, Gabi, it’s probably the best thing I could be flying you abroad for. Chill.’ She bought me Jelly Tots after that, although she ending up eating most of them. She’d been a lot more mellow lately.

We met in the same building as last time, although this time there was a big screen on the wall, surrounded by speakers.

The casting director introduced himself as Oliver. He had an American accent that I found hilarious.

‘I’m Oliver,’ he said. ‘Nice to meet you at last. I’ve read the book.’

I laughed. ‘Well, that’s what it’s there for. Thanks.’

Landy called the meeting to attention. ‘Oliver, for those who didn’t receive your memo, could you please go over your progress with choosing the cast?’

‘I had a couple questions, actually.’ There it was again. A couple questions. Were Americans allergic to the word ‘of’ when it wasn’t between the words ‘Declaration’ and ‘Independence’?

He smiled at me and I immediately felt guilty for making fun of his accent – even if it was only inside my head.

‘The novel is set in Ireland. Do you have any preferences for the actors?’

I hesitated. ‘Um… I presume the actors would be able to learn accents. I mean, there is a voice coach, right?’

‘Sure. What about the male lead?’

‘Eli? He’s meant to be English. I always imagined him as having one of those posh English accents, you know the ones.’

Oliver grinned. ‘I do have someone in mind, if you’re looking for that. Let’s go over his appearance. Keeping in mind that we have hair dye and coloured contacts available, what is it important for us to keep?’

‘I want him to be smaller than one of the two female leads, and pale. Although, of course, you have make-up. It’s more important for them to have his character down, his movements and everything.’

He nodded and showed something to Landy, who said ‘Quite possible. Have to see if he’ll take the role, though.’

‘True.’

‘Sorry, what?’ I said.

‘Oh, I was just showing Landy an option,’ Oliver said.

‘Can I see it?’

‘Well, I don’t really want to get your hopes up before he even gets the script. Tell you what. We’ll send it out to some established actors who seem to suit the character, and if that doesn’t work we’ll hold an open casting call.’

‘That’s fine.’ I said. ‘About Eibhlin, I’d like her to be Irish.’ I started to pull the book out but before I got it on the table he had folded out sheets with a grid of character descriptions. He was looking at Eibhlin’s.

‘Will do,’ he said. ‘Are you alright with them all being closed casting calls?’

I hesitated, thinking back to my frustration seeing all the movie roles that weren’t open to me without an agency. ‘Not really. I’d … I'd rather see at least some of them open.'

Oliver pursed his lips for a second but straightened, smiling. 'That can be arranged. That's a great book agent you have there, I'm telling you.' He shook his head. 'She was impressively tenacious.'

Good old Mel. I yawned. It'd been a tiring journey. I pasted a smile on my face. 'What do I have to do?

He handed me a sheaf of paper. 'Don't look at that until you're on the plane, will you? There are some options here. Landy, Production and I have executive decision, of course, but we'll definitely consider your input.'

I took the sheaf, put it in my bag carefully and stood back up to shake his hand. 

'Probably the next time you're here will be during the actual casting process, during screen tests. I hear you're nearing an exam year in school, so we wouldn't want you flying in and out all the time. You know where to reach us if you need us.'

He ushered us to the door and we caught a taxi to the airport, itching to open the packet and see what was inside.