In film and TV, the actors on the screen stay in the forefront of audience members’ minds, but what about the people who make the magic happen? What about the folks behind the camera who choose the people who will be on camera? Enter casting director Jenny Jue, who first got her start working with film auteur Quentin Tarantino and has since made waves for API creatives in the industry with films like “Okja.” Her latest work, “The Brothers Sun,” which dropped on Netflix at the beginning of this year, features an all Asian cast and writer’s room.
Character Media sat down with Jue for an interview about her career thus far.
CM: For those unfamiliar with the entertainment world, can you explain what the work of a casting director entails?
JJ: We get a script and immediately start identifying who could be right for the roles. Usually, we work directly with producers and a director to narrow down choices, and on an independent film those can be absolute choices — the director has autonomy. On studio projects, you have to run it up the chain of command to see if they’re on board.
CM: When you first entered the industry, was it a goal to work on API centered projects or is that something that happened naturally?
JJ: When I first started, the casts that we put together were predominantly white. It wasn’t until ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ that I [thought] maybe this is the start of a new movement where studios will greenlight Asian-centric projects.
[It] opened up so many doors. But, at the same time, because there’s so much Asian centric content we’re under more scrutiny. We don’t want to ever get to the point where a studio says, ‘We tried the Asian thing and it didn’t work for us.’
CM: I get that. The more Asian projects come out it feels as though we have to be…
Read the full article here
