"The truth is, we're rooting for actors. It serves all of us if they do well," says Juliet Taylor, center, with (from left) Laura Rosenthal, Jennifer Euston, Patricia DiCerto and Ellen Lewis, who were photographed at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn on Nov. 15.
"It's evil and reductive. We are really, really important to the process." Rosenthal, reacting to Taylor Hackford's comments in the documentary Casting By, in which the former DGA president says casting directors "don't direct anything" and therefore aren't deserving of Oscar consideration.
"It's definitely a challenge in independent filmmaking," says DiCerto. "You're casting for a budget as opposed to casting for the film. That's the craziest thing: These buyers actually break down the value of an actor…"
Lewis on auditions: "I was once offered $3,000 from an actor [during an audition] so he could meet the director. I said that wasn't the way to do it. I later heard that he actually had a gun with him that day, which also wasn't a great idea."
Euston on casting Orange is the New Black: "I can just cast the best actors. I mean, I cast a transgender woman! They wanted an authentic, black transgender woman. I looked everywhere. I'd auditioned Laverne Cox before — she was gorgeous, had such a great attitude and could really act. As soon I read Orange, I said, 'Laverne has to do this.' But the whole Orange cast is amazing. They are all 'character women.' They are minorities; many are older women who never got opportunities to have an arc on a TV show. They would play like 'Nurse No. 1' in Law & Order, and now they have 13 episodes to develop the story."
"I think the job also requires a high tolerance and appreciation for people who might not be very likable," says Taylor. "You have to be able to think, 'That person's really talented' and not let the fact that they aren't nice get in the way — whether it's the director or an actor. Women are better at that." (Laughter.)