Meet Caker Folley
Early in the casting process Cynthia Gibb had come in, read for Bonnie Adult, and blew us all away. It was love at first sight. But casting for Beautiful Loser wasn't so easy. Even if we found the right actor for a particular part we still had to find an actor who could pass for their adult or teen counterparts. I wish I could do the math to illustrate how much harder this made things with a number, but I suck at long division.
So, we don't say anything to Cynthia because it seemed pointless to even discuss it until we found someone to play her as a teen. In the meantime, I'm terrified Cynthia might get another job and we'll lose her, and we're seeing dozens of Bonnie Teens. Some of these young women were very talented but I'm guessing my wanting Cynthia prejudiced me towards anyone who didn't resemble her.
I was also extremely picky about this role. Who I wanted was a 19-year old Margot Kidder; someone endearingly off-beat with a huge personality and very pretty -- as pretty as Tracy. My main concern was always that the audience would think Reggie fell for Tracy because of her looks -- and in order for the whole hook of the film to pay off people had to see it was much deeper than that. So, my thinking went: If Bonnie's as lovely as Tracy and Reggie didn't go for Bonnie then he's seeing something special in Tracy; something more than the physical. Anyway, that was my thinking...
So, by this time we're already shooting and making casting decisions at the same time; sometimes casting the day before we needed someone. It was all quite intense and strangely exhilerating. Christmas was coming, we were about to shut down for a month, and all we had left to cast were the Bonnie's... And then in walks Caker who completely lit up the room, read, left, and the casting director and I dared to dream.
Something I learned early in the process was that who you meet in person doesn't always transfer well to screen. Someone could come in to read, knock us out, and then fall flat on video. But Caker's personality was only enhanced on screen. We had finally found The Bonnie's.
Caker's absolutely wonderful in the film; better than I had hoped for. She's also very sweet to me. I talked to her the other day lamenting the fact that I'll be turning 41 on Wednesday and she told me I didn't look a day over 40 3/4's.
So, we don't say anything to Cynthia because it seemed pointless to even discuss it until we found someone to play her as a teen. In the meantime, I'm terrified Cynthia might get another job and we'll lose her, and we're seeing dozens of Bonnie Teens. Some of these young women were very talented but I'm guessing my wanting Cynthia prejudiced me towards anyone who didn't resemble her.
I was also extremely picky about this role. Who I wanted was a 19-year old Margot Kidder; someone endearingly off-beat with a huge personality and very pretty -- as pretty as Tracy. My main concern was always that the audience would think Reggie fell for Tracy because of her looks -- and in order for the whole hook of the film to pay off people had to see it was much deeper than that. So, my thinking went: If Bonnie's as lovely as Tracy and Reggie didn't go for Bonnie then he's seeing something special in Tracy; something more than the physical. Anyway, that was my thinking...
So, by this time we're already shooting and making casting decisions at the same time; sometimes casting the day before we needed someone. It was all quite intense and strangely exhilerating. Christmas was coming, we were about to shut down for a month, and all we had left to cast were the Bonnie's... And then in walks Caker who completely lit up the room, read, left, and the casting director and I dared to dream.
Something I learned early in the process was that who you meet in person doesn't always transfer well to screen. Someone could come in to read, knock us out, and then fall flat on video. But Caker's personality was only enhanced on screen. We had finally found The Bonnie's.
Caker's absolutely wonderful in the film; better than I had hoped for. She's also very sweet to me. I talked to her the other day lamenting the fact that I'll be turning 41 on Wednesday and she told me I didn't look a day over 40 3/4's.
Sometimes I think she really is Bonnie.
posted by Contributors at 7:22 AM
2 Comments:
Even though I'm unfamiliar with Caker's work, I am quite interested in seeing her in the role of Bonnie. Something tells me she's a fiesty character, so I can't wait to see that on screen.
She's a very pretty girl!
And happy birthday early, because I'm certain to forget to tell you later. :-) Have a good one.
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