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Chloe Finch Interview Part 2

Part 2 of the Chloe Finch interview is now up thanks again to our good friends at Living Dead Reviews!!

LDR: Casting is one of the most pivotal tasks in the film making process, how did you go about learning the tricks of the trade? Did you use an agency or did you forgo the conventional and handle everything yourself?

CF:Each one of the three main characters had to have something very distinctive and special about them, especially the lead role of Alexandra Rowen. I decided to take on the casting myself, I have never been a casting agent but I took the job on because I felt I would know the actor or actress who would be right for the parts. At the time I thought we would have a weekend of auditions and that would be all the time needed.

So an ad was put up on a casting website for the three leads and we received over 1,000 submissions. As the days went by, more and more actors submitted. I allowed three weeks before the auditions to be able to narrow all the submissions down; finally, it was close to two hundred people coming in for auditions for Detective McKay, Sheriff ‘Hayden’ Lynch and Alexandra Rowen.

The casting was going to be held over two days and at the time I thought I would be able to narrow it down to a few actors and then, at a later date we would do call backs. In reality we only did one day, due to the Los Angeles marathon, which made it impossible for people to get into Hollywood and park. With that one day we got our Detective Mckay, but, we still had the roles of Alexandra Rowen and Sheriff ‘Hayden’ Lynch to cast; the actors that were to come in on the second day were asked to send in audition tapes or online reels. There was not a doubt in my mind we would find the other two roles with this many submissions yet to be seen.

We did another very small call back and found Sheriff ‘Hayden’ Lynch. I was completely shocked that we still have not come close to finding the character personally closest to me, Alexandra Rowen. But, I should have known she would be the hardest, close to impossible to find, this was incredibly frustrating to me. It got to the point where I thought I might not find her. Alexandra Rowen is an extremely complex, emotionally and physically draining character, and very hard to take on as an actress.

We held one last audition with only twelve actresses coming in. I ended up placing a different kind of ad – more descriptive to Alexandra’s character and this time we drew in the best actresses we could have imagined, in just this micro casting call. I also knew I would know Alexandra Rowen from the moment I saw her. I did! She walked into the casting studio that day blowing me completely away. I had finally found Alexandra Rowen.

Tricks of the trade – I learned a lot of during the process. Never take on a casting call as a writer/director or producer unless it is a very minute one that you can handle. I suggest putting out an ad for online submissions and be very strict on who you choose to come in to the casting call. When you take submissions my advice is to make sure the actors and actresses submitted themselves. We found if the agencies submitted the actor, 3 out of 5 didn’t show up and why would you want someone to come in that didn’t take interest in the role personally.

LDR: Did you have a particular look or type for each character? Could you envision them in your mind’s eye? Or did the performances dictate who won the roles?

CF:Detective Mckay had to look like an edgy New York detective, with a tough exterior yet a soft side that would win the audience over.
Sheriff ‘Hayden’ Lynch had to have a small town look to him. But, there had to be something about him that you don’t trust.
Alexandra I first saw as character with dark hair and pale skinned, (Not like a vampire). Then, I saw her as innocent looking and angelic, which made me see her as blonde. Finally, it got to the point after seeing so many actresses come in, that I had no idea. I just knew I would know when I saw her. I had not seen up until our last auditions, a performance where I saw Alexandra.

LDR: Were there any surprises in casting? Did someone bring to their portrayal something that made you rethink aspects of a character as it was originally written?

CF:This is a question that I will have to unfortunately hold my tongue on.
I will tell you about the first audition day, because, in the last two small auditions, the actors that came in were all very professional.
Alexandra is a psychic. So, many women came in surprising me with their interpretations. I saw screaming, crying, temple rubbing and some things that I truly do not know how to explain. Some didn’t follow their sides and made up their own scene. Some actually really scared me at times. In my head I knew how I wanted Alexandra to act. But, it was interesting in the first casting call to see how other woman saw her. Up until the last casting call I had began to think – I written a character too difficult for anyone to take on.

The men that came in were straightforward and just did their sides. I liked the different interpretations that most of the actors brought to characters. By watching the guys I knew that the Sheriff had to have that untrusting, condescending way about him and perhaps, even be a suspect. I really found that out, at the casting call.

LDR:Tell us how difficult it was do decide which actors finally won their certain roles.Were there any roles that the performance was so compelling you knew immediately they had the part or were they all hard choices?

CF:Detective McKay was an easy choice. The actor playing the role just walked in and blew us away. He was so compelling, that the producer forgot to turn off the camera as we all just sat there stunned by his talent. Not a hard decision there. He won us over in the room without a doubt.
The Sheriff’s that came in, in the callbacks left it very hard. The actor that got the role had intensity that I just knew he would be the one. We ended up getting the role of Mark Rowen, the husband of Alexandra, from a brilliant actor that originally came in to read for the Detective.
I was surprised to cast the sister in-law this early on, I cast her from her Audition tape, when I saw it I just felt she was right for the part.
Lastly, the actress that was cast the part of Alexandra Rowen, came in to the final auditions for Alexandra. She walked in the room and had this gorgeous presence all around. She simply put her sides down and did the scene exactly how I envisioned it and, had heard it in my mind. As she sat there and did her scene, I knew I had finally found Alexandra, and this actress was going to take her on, and simply blow the audience away.

LDR:Alright !! Introduce us to The main characters for “Skeletons in the Closet” and the Actors who will bring them to life.

CF:Dani Lennon is the lead in the film – Alexandra Rowen. She is best known for the Frank Miller (Sin City) series, Dead End City. Dani is the essence of pure talent, the body of work that she has done ranges from comedy to very dark. Dani will bring Alexandra to life with being able to play all of the complex levels from light to dark.

Zach McGowan is playing the role of Detective McKay. Zach, a born and raised New Yorker and a veteran actor, walked into the room, sat down on a chair, did his audition and we were all in shock about how amazing he was. When he finished we all just sat there hypnotized by him. Absolutely an outstanding actor! He can be seen in Terminator Salvation, Hunt for Eagle One and Crash Point. Also guest starring on series CSI MIAMI, COLD CASE and NUMB3RS

Actor David Laundry, who is one of a kind, is playing Sheriff ‘Hayden’ Lynch. He has this intensity to him when he is acting, that is perfect for the Sheriff’s Character and will penetrate through to the audience. His talent is just brilliant.

Daniel Kash is playing the role of Mark Rowen, Alexandra’s husband. Daniel has such raw talent that is just mind blowing. I feel honored to have him on board this production. He can be seen in such features as Life Style and Human Behavior. His television credits are as follows, Heroes, 24, Dollhouse, Cold Case, Entourage, Boston legal, The Unit and more.

British actress Alison Lees-Taylor is playing the role of Alexandra’s sister-in-law. We were not going to cast for the sister in law role yet, but Alison is such a rare talent, I just had to kidnap her into our film!

Detective Johnson will be played by Kenny Hardy, we originally had Kenny as the reader for the auditions, he impressed us so much that we knew we wanted him to be apart of the film… he is perfect for the role.

I am so excited that Leslie Easterbrook (The Devils Rejects, Rob Zombie’s – Halloween, Police Academy films) is very interested in playing the role of Eleanor Price; the creepy landlady of the house where Alexandra flees to.

Please visit the film’s website at https://www.skeletonsintheclosetfilm.com to check out the cast who also have links to their websites and all other things Skeleton about the film!

LDR:Things are progressing quickly now, do you ever get overwhelmed? If so, Who keeps you grounded while you tackle such a major undertaking?

CF:Overwhelmed!?!?! Never! All kidding aside, there are times when I become overwhelmed. That’s what you take on as a filmmaker. You have to be able to control loosing your mind in this business. But, surrounding yourself with people that can help is always a good thing such as friends and people you work with, or you’re other half. That’s who keeps me grounded.

LDR:I know you have much more to do before filming starts, but any indications as to when that will be?

CF:We start shooting, September 20th 2010 in Michigan. We will go for 6 weeks of shooting.

Mitchell Wells

Founder and Editor in Chief of Horror Society. Self proclaimed Horror Movie Freak, Tech Geek, love indie films and all around nice kinda guy!!

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