I wrote Maid’s Room with an eye on being able to shoot it myself in a house, because it doesn’t have a lot of locations. But, it has big ideas in it and I want some powerful, charismatic actors who really know how to deliver a big performance. It honestly has nothing to do with budget, because I’m sure I could shoot this for less, without stars, and the film would look great. And I probably would have shot it already. But it wouldn’t have the power or the appeal of stars. And also, the maid is going to be an unknown, so I want to surround her with big personalities so the audience will be impressed when she stands up to these huge, powerful characters. That is a moment that I can’t wait to see, and I need some stars for that moment to really sing.
So right now, I’m waiting for a couple of stars to get back to us. And they’re in no hurry to commit to this when they might be offered MI4 next week with 10X the salary. Who knows? Right now, I’m not their problem. If they say yes, then I am, so it’s a big commitment, for this and a thousand other reasons.
Casting for stars is fun and scary. It’s scary because sometimes you have to make decisions that you never thought you’d make and they are the exact opposite of what you’ve always thought you wanted. When you are casting, you have to pick the right star for the right part. Suddenly, some actor who you’ve always loved suddenly wants to be in your film – and you have to say no. It’s incredible. There’s this great actor who wants to do your movie! The producers are pressuring you because that means financing. You’ve always thought this guy was a great actor. But he’s wrong for the part and it will ruin the movie. And you say no. It’s a weird feeling and not a good one, but it happens.
Watching a star act while you’re looking through a camera is watching magic happen. It’s hard to describe what happens to a shot when the stand-in steps out and the star stands in. There’s a great commentary track on GET CARTER where Mike Hodges talks about the first shot he got of Michael Caine in the film. It was the first time he ever had a star in his film and he wasn’t used to so much charisma beaming into his camera as Caine stepped into a close up. I can only imagine. It’s a great film, and his thoughts on that moment are interesting.
