In casting FX’s “Shōgun,” Emmy-winning casting directors Laura Schiff and Carrie Audino literally searched the globe to find the right actors for the Emmy-nominated period drama. “It meant gathering up choices from all over the world,” Schiff tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “We had casting directors on to help us in Japan obviously, in Cadan where we shot. Also at one point in London, also at one point in Portugal.” Their extensive work on the project has earned them a nomination this year for Best Drama Series Casting, an award the pair previously won in 2013 for “Mad Men.”
Audino takes a moment to clear up a common misconception about casting directors: that they are the ones to choose the actors. “I think one of the major misconceptions, especially for people that are not in the business, is that we are the ones that do the picking, that we’re the ones that are in charge and are the gatekeepers of actors getting jobs,” she explains. “The truth is that it’s super collaborative and we work in conjunction with the directors and producers and showrunners to choose the cast. We don’t have the final say, but we certainly get to curate who they see.”
For “Shōgun,” Schiff and Audino had great partners in series creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo. “Justin and Rachel are very, very knowledgeable about Japanese actors,” argues Schiff. “That was one thing that made it much easier and also meant they had a lot of strong opinions. So that was great in terms of deciding who they’re going to see. Sometimes Justin would say to me, “Oh, what about this guy that was in that movie?’ And I would have to track that person down. Sometimes it was someone I didn’t even know because they had never worked outside of Japan.”
One of the hardest roles to cast was Lady Mariko, played by Emmy nominee Anna Sawai. A number of factors made the right actor difficult to find. “It was hard because she has to speak flawless Japanese, but she also has to speak English well enough to speak Japanese fluently and be understood by our audience.”
Schiff and Audino also want actors to understand that casting directors are always rooting for the person that auditions to be great. “We want every single person to be good, to come in and be great and show us something special,” says Schiff. Audino adds, “Actors think that it’s scary with us, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s not on our end. We’re trying to support you. We’re trying to make it great.”
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