The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has finally established a new Oscar category for casting for films released in 2025 and beyond, which is a big triumph for casting directors.
Opinion by Jen Rudin
1929 saw the inaugural Oscar presentation. In the 1940s, as the Hollywood studio system started to fall apart and producers were free to stop hiring performers on studio contracts, the position of casting director was established. In 1972, the first casting director was given credit on screen.
Why, therefore, did the academia take nearly a century to acknowledge our work?
Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden said to me, “The casting director is your first advocate.” And in this profession, god knows we need a lot of advocates. For an actor, casting directors are the first people to support and encourage them on their journey.
It’s wonderful that the academy is now recognizing the significance and vitality of a casting director’s job, Alan Cumming continued. It’s a credit to the complexity, consideration, and commitment to character and narrative that this subset of the film industry has shown time and time again that we only give casting serious thought when things aren’t going so well. It is now appropriate to honor them and give their contributions the credit they deserve in the creative process.
Casting directors can now vote for Oscar winners without actually winning any of the prizes.
Since 2001, the academy has not added a new category until the casting one. Tom Donahue’s seminal documentary “Casting By” focused on the life of famed casting director Marion Dougherty, who had long been an advocate for this category. “Casting By” ignited the flames to carry on the movement when it made its debut at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
The Academy created a voting branch for casting directors in 2013. We could vote, but we might not win, so this was a dangerous position to be in. The addition of this new category would require an additional ten years.
I had my first major break as a child actor in the 1980s when I was eleven years old and cast by the famed casting director Marcia Shulman in an off-Broadway play. My first enlightenment came at the age of twelve when I was at a final callback for a TV movie and was staring at the casting director through my trademark purple glasses.
She was taking the director and the ABC executives to see two groups of children. The casting director led the discussions among the creative team as they debated which group to select, creating a relaxed atmosphere. This experience demonstrated to me that the job involves both delving deep to find talent and filling the director’s vision by finding the actors who will bring the story to life while juggling a lot of egos and personalities. Add a photographic memory and diplomacy to the mix.
Image source: Castingnetworks.com
“Take in the world the casting director has created.”
Having worked as a casting director for movies and television for the past 20 years, I’ve discovered that the work is done behind the scenes, often even before the cameras start rolling.
Like the directing, costumes, sound, and cinematography, casting is an essential component of the movie.
Working with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich to cast his last movie, “She’s Funny That Way,” in 2014, I frequently served as his go-between when he and the producers needed to acquire actors quickly and get everyone on the same page to make the best movie possible.
Giving the creative team options makes you feel like a bartender. However, you have to give the director the impression that they have made the final choice, even if you know what is best. It’s your responsibility to realize their vision.
As we celebrate the nominated performances and watch the Oscars on Sunday, remember the efforts of Susan Shopmaker, one of my casting mentors, and Ellen Lewis and Rene Haynes, who cast Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” and found Paul Giamatti’s young co-star Dominic Sessa in “The Holdovers.”
In 2026, when it is finally our turn to triumph, we will finally walk the red carpet at the Oscars after decades of demanding acknowledgment for our profession.
Jen Rudin is the head of voice-over/animation at IAG and the author of “Confessions of a Casting Director: Help Actors Land Any Role with Secrets from Inside the Audition Room,” both published by HarperCollins.