11.16.17 • BACKSTAGE.COM FOR YOUR SAG CONSIDERATION OUTSTANDING�PERFORMANCE BY�A�MALE�ACTOR�IN�A�LEADING�ROLE DAN I E L DAY- LEWIS PHANTOM THREAD PHANTOM THREAD - BACKSTAGE - Final SAG FILM & TV ENSEMBLES November 9, 2017 11:35 AM PST COVER 1, 4C PT_Bckstge_11-15_Cvr1_2F STREET: 11/15/17 DUE: 11/8/17 BLEED: 9.5" X 11.25" • TRIM: 9" X 10.75" • SAFETY: .25" FROM TRIM PHANTOM THREAD Written and Directed by PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON FOR YOUR SAG CONSIDERATION OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE DANIEL DAY-LEWIS VICKY KRIEPS LESLEY MANVILLE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION GO TO WWW.FOCUSFEATURESGUILDS2017.COM © 2017 PHANTOM THREAD, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PHANTOM THREAD - BACKSTAGE - Final SAG FILM & TV ENSEMBLES November 9, 2017 10:12 AM PST COVER 2, 4C PT_Bckstge_11-15_Cvr2_1F STREET: 11/15/17 DUE: 11/8/17 BLEED: 9.5" X 11.25" • TRIM: 9" X 10.75" • SAFETY: .25" FROM TRIM 11.16.17 • BACKSTAGE.COM LEE UNKRICH ON GIVING A VOICE TO LATINO CULTURE WITH DISNEY PIXAR’S LATEST ANIMATED MASTERPIECE, “COCO” HOW 5 FAMOUS DIRECTORS APPROACH THEIR ACTORS ON SET AND: 13 PAGES OF THE CASTING NOTICES DIRECTOR’S ISSUE: The Oscar-nominated Noah Baumbach talks the importance of script with his star-studded cast for “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” CONTENTS vol. 58, no. 46 | 11.16.17 NEWS 8 L.A. cracks down on sexual abuse allegations 10 This week’s roundup of who’s casting what starring whom 12 Sarah Gadon on starring in Netflix’s “Alias Grace” ADVICE 15 NOTE FROM THE CD An audition refresher 15 #IGOTCAST Daniel Michael Crane 16 SECRET AGENT MAN “Like” is a flexible word 17 #IGOTCAST Christopher Hagen FEATURES 6 BACKSTAGE 5 WITH... Ito Aghayere 14 MEET THE MAKER Lee Unkrich, “Coco” 16 THE ESSENTIALISTS Daniel Patterson, cinematographer 17 INSIDE JOB Theresa Ruth Howard, MoBBallet founder 22 BEYOND THE CAMERA Here’s a brief breakdown of some of the most well-known directors and their approach to craft with their cast 40 ASK AN EXPERT Wendy Alane Wright on how to determine a child actor’s age range COVER STORY CASTING PAGE 18 26 New York Tristate THE BAUMBACH 31 California METHOD 36 National/Regional The acclaimed director and cast of his latest project, Elizabeth Marvel, Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, and Noah Baumbach photographed by Chad Griffith on Oct. 3 at the “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” Mandarin Oriental in NYC. Cover designed by Jessica Balaschak. reflect on the intersections of creative process CHAD GRIFFITH BACKSTAGE.COM 11.16.17 backstage 3 Executive Chairman Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Technology Vice President, Casting Peter Rappaport Joshua Ellstein Michael Felman & Product Officer Luke Crowe James G. Reynolds Chief Marketing Officer Corporate Controller & David Grossman Vice President, Finance Michael Madia EDITORIAL ART CASTING PRODUCT TEAM CUSTOMER SERVICE Editor-in-Chief Design Director Managing Casting Editor Lead Product Designer Customer Experience Manager Rawaan Alkhatib Jessica Balaschak Melinda Loewenstein Jeff Lilley Chris Knowles Managing Editor Art Director Supervising Casting Editor Engineering Lead Customer Service Manager Briana Rodriguez Margaret Ruling Veronika Daddona Noemi Millman Richard Burridge Digital Managing Editor Senior Casting Editor Engineer Lead Customer Service Associate Allie White Elijah Cornell Tom Achtemichuk Danny Camporeale PRODUCTION Stephanie Chung Senior Editor, Casting Production Manager Film & TV Casting Editors Full Stack Engineer Anna Szatkowski and Industry News Mark Stinson Riley Fee Sam Newbold Elyse Roth Lisa Hamil Associate Editor Theater & Performing Data Engineer Zac Wentzell ADVERTISING SALES Benjamin Lindsay SOCIAL MEDIA Arts Casting Editor Executive Director Film, Social Media Manager Anna Paone Awards Editor Television, & Theater Francis Ramos Jack Smart Regional Casting Editor Kasey Howe Associate Social Byron Karlevics Staff Writer Advertising Sales Director Media Manager Casey Mink Casting Specialist Stephen Lampshire Stephanie Hoffmann Kaitlyn Mills Senior Copy Editor Brandy Colbert Research & MARKETING Call Sheet Editor Copy Editors Senior Associate, Rebecca Welch Allison Boron Customer Acquisition Regan Hofmann Ryan Remstad Contributing Writers Marketing Associate Alex Ates Gail Cardozo Manuel Betancourt Arnold Wayne Jones Marci Liroff Allie Volpe Backstage was founded in 1960 by Ira Eaker and Allen Zwerdling EDITORIAL OFFICES CASTING DEPARTMENT CUSTOMER SERVICE PERMISSION 45 Main St. [email protected] 917-725-6367 For one-time use of our content, as a Brooklyn, NY 11201 [email protected] full article, excerpt, or production prop, [email protected] DISPLAY ADVERTISING contact [email protected] [email protected] BACKSTAGE, VOL. 58, NO. 46 (ISSN#53635 USPS#39740) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY (except the fourth week of December) by Backstage LLC, 45 Main St., Brooklyn, NY 11201, $3.99 per copy, $99 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY 11256 and additional mailing offices. Printed in USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Backstage, 45 Main St., Ste. 416, Brooklyn, NY 11201.Publication Mail Agreement No. 40031729. ©2017 Backstage LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Backstage LLC: Peter Rappaport, Executive Chairman; Joshua Ellstein, Chief Executive Officer. 4 backstage 11.16.17 BACKSTAGE.COM “FLAT-OUT BRILLIANT... ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST.” “ADAM SANDLER “ ” “DUSTIN HOFFMAN IS A REVELATION.” ᗂᗂᗂᗂ IS IMPECCABLE.” “NOAH BAUMBACH’S WISEST FILM TO DATE.” GUILDS.NETFLIX.COM BACKSTAGE REVISION 1 NETFLIX THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES PUB DATE: 11/16/17 TRIM: 9” X 10.75” BLEED: 9.5” X 11.25” SAFETY: .25” BACKSTAGE 5 WITH... Ito Aghayere By Allie Volpe What has working on ‘Junk’ added that became a part of my crew. You to your acting skills? It’s one thing have these experiences with super to be a part of a play that’s brilliantly wealthy people who have no filter written, but it’s another to be a part and live in a completely different of a piece that’s eerily relevant, that universe than you do as an aspiring is prophetic in a scary way. [The actor. It’s humbling in some ways, script] gives you a sense of ease, as and in others it’s infuriating. though you’re watching something that has already happened. But What advice would you give your things change over the course of the younger self? It’s the advice I give play where all of a sudden, echoes of myself now: Honor your “yes.” the world we currently exist in start Whatever your “yes” is, whether to bleed through. You start to see it was a hard yes, one you’re not the beginnings of how we got here, excited about, or one that you are, and getting into that every night has honor it. I think there is something been edifying in a way that I’ve never lost when I forget how important experienced before. every part of the journey actually is, how it builds on [itself]. The How do you prepare to audition idea that one season might be for a play like this? You should particularly hard, whether it’s read the play before you go in working overnight and not getting for the audition—that’s pretty the auditions you want—that season obvious—but for this play I was won’t last forever. Neither will the a little intimidated even with my season where you’re winning awards background in political science. and on Broadway. I read it in two hours and five Set in the mid-1980s on the cusp minutes and I didn’t move. Letting Have you ever used Backstage in of the financial boom, the precipice the play wash over me, being the the past? Absolutely! One of the of when money became priority, is audience to the play—for me, things that I love about Backstage that’s the way I enter any piece is there is a level of authenticity to Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Ayad I’m auditioning for. When I did go the journey that I appreciated over Akhtar’s latest work, “Junk,” which into the room, it didn’t feel like I the years, reading stories about opened Nov. 2. In her Broadway debut, was doing the play, it felt like I was people who have landed that dream giving my interpretation of Jackie’s job but there’s still that thing that Ito Aghayere plays Jacqueline Blount, role in this world buoyed by the tethers them to when that was not an ambitious lawyer. Here, Aghayere different bits I was reading. even a remote possibility. I have reflects on the years she spent working friends even now who are like, “Ito, What was your most memorable Broadway, wow!,” and it’s just like, overnights in an upscale hotel and survival job? I worked overnights “You guys remember when I wasn’t showing an authentic story of her at a fancy hotel. I think I had some sleeping for three years?” It’s not past, “the stretch marks of progress.” of the fondest memories because like that story is gone now that I worked with a group of people something exciting happens. • “AS AN ACTOR, IT’S QUITE A GIFT TO BE ABLE TO LEAVE ASH IN THE AUDIENCE’S MOUTH.” ILLUSTRATION: NATHAN ARIZONA/PHOTO: JAMES LEE WALL 6 backstage 11.16.17 BACKSTAGE.COM BEST DIRECTOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BEST ACTRESS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR AARON SORKIN AARON SORKIN JESSICA CHASTAIN IDRIS ELBA KEVIN COSTNER 2017 AUDIENCE FAVORITE MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL US CINEMA 2017 GOLD BACKSTAGE - FP ISSUE DATE: 11/16/17 STX1001 DUE DATE: 11/10/17 MECHANICAL SIZE FINAL 11/10/17 1:39PM MK BLEED: .25” on all sides TRIM: 9”W x 10.75”H LIVE: 8.5”W x 10.25”H @BACKSTAGE FACEBOOK.COM/BACKSTAGE NEWS @BACKSTAGECAST HAVE YOU BEEN CAST IN A PROJECT THROUGH A BACKSTAGE CASTING NOTICE? Share your story with us and you might be featured in an upcoming issue! Just tweet @Backstage using the hashtag #IGotCast and we’ll be in touch to hear your success story! Federation of Actors released a statement through SAG-AFTRA saying, “The scandal involving Harvey Weinstein revealed problems that were all too familiar to women—and men— in our industry.