'Painting With Faces': Trade Secrets from Legendary Casting Directors

Two of the biggest casting directors in Hollywood shared behind-the-scenes insights from Goodfellas, Forrest Gump, and more.

Great casting is like finding a great relationship: it involves a rare synergy that often can't be described in words. Sometimes, you get it on the first try; other times, it takes 15,000 rejections to find the right one.

At the Tribeca Film Festival, esteemed casting directors Ellen Chenoweth and Ellen Lewis sat down with their mutual friend, theater and casting director Bernard Telsey, in a rare discussion of their casting careers. Between them, the Ellens have cast dozens of Best Picture nominees and winners, from Goodfellas to Forrest Gump to Gangs of New York to The Aviator.

"You don’t want to fully expose the rejection that people went through," Lewis said. "It’s private. That has [created] a shroud of mystery about what it is we do."

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from No Film School http://ift.tt/21cWDnM