Casting By

Tom Donahue's 2012 documentary is about one of cinema's least discussed jobs, casting, and about Marion Dougherty, who made it what it is. Beginning in television and moving to Hollywood, Dougherty looked for actors rather than types; from James Dean to Jon Voight, from Al Pacino to Danny Glover, many careers opened because she insisted. The documentary is most interesting when it asks why this labour stayed invisible. In the film the director Taylor Hackford argues that casting directors add little to the process, and the documentary answers him with a weight of evidence to the contrary. The Academy still has no separate award for the craft. The film does at times become a pile of interviews. Who it's for: viewers curious about the unseen labour of filmmaking and about Hollywood history. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a story built around a single character, or tired of talking-head documentaries.