The Vision Coming Into Focus

The great director, Mike Nichols, once said that directing was 90% casting. If one casts the right actors for the various parts, most of the work of the director is done. But as Yogi Berra would say, if 90% of directing is the casting, the other 90% is hard work.

Our slate of actors is taking shape, and it's looking good so far. We have the one of the most respected dramatic actors (the Tom Hanks of Haiti) in the lead male role as Carl. He's the wealthy single parent of our teenage rebel, Lorraine. Carl meets Elizabeth, a self-made independent woman who is quickly becoming the first significant relationship for Carl since his wife died. Negotiations are still underway with the actress to play Elizabeth and we should know more by later today. Since our wage offer can't be increased much at all, she wants a piece of the back end. That isn't as obscene as it sounds: she's asking for a portion of the production company's share of the profits. Her request is a whopping 1%, but Edner hasn't budged from his offer of 0%.

When Carl and Elizabeth look to be getting serious, our heroine Lorraine doesn't like the fact that there's another woman in Daddy's life. She's been his center of attention and doesn't plan to be #2. She begins to act out (a euphemism for sex and drugs) and starts heaping tons of abuse on Elizabeth to discourage whatever designs she may have on Dad. Our lovely and talented 17 year old star-to-be has officially turned down the part. She has too much going on at school, she's in the home stretch of her senior year, and she doesn't want to miss her senior trip planned during the middle of our shoot. C'est dommage, que sera sera, c'est la vie-c'est la guerre, and all those other French sayings. It's on to option #2.

Option number 2 is a 21 year-old woman with very little acting experience. She's done a lot of modeling and is very attractive. She looks a bit older than 17-18 (Lorraine's age) but her face has some baby fat that helps sell the fact that her character is still a girl and not yet a woman. Like every other actor we've offered roles in the film, she complained about the money. But Sacha managed to convince her that this role would be well worth the time--if only just for the experience.

NOTE HERE: The given for all independent (read low budget) films is the producers must convince ALL cast & crew that their project is potentially life altering. You play the hand your dealt, and indie producers usually have no cards at all, so they must use the most useful tool in their bag: bullshit. I'm not saying 100% bullshit because indie filmmakers wouldn't be making films if they didn't have true passion for their work. But for most crew members and cast, any film gets down to one thing: damn hard work. If the pay is good, the hard work is less of a factor. If the pay is crap, the indie producer attempts to convince the potential cast/crew member the work will be so wonderful --it won't even seem like work! That's the part of the sales job that's bullshit. I gauge the percentage to be about 90%.

It's very important for all collaborators to feel that the casting decisions made by the director were all his #1 choice. Even if they know the truth, this should never affect their work on the film. I don't want to hear any, "See, I told you so-and-so would be better." That infects the attitude of the entire crew and undermines the confidence of the actor. Whomever is cast, they are our absolute best, tip-top, #1 choice for the role. Confidence is the actor's the actor's best friend. The lack of it is our worst nightmare, because no matter how great the rest of the film's elements are (picture quality, sound, music score, etc) the performances remain the most critical factor in any film's success or failure.

Last night we were very fortunate to reach agreement with the most popular comedian in all of Haiti to play the part of Carl's butler. Much of the action in PITIT MWEN takes place at Carl's home. The butler is constantly eavesdropping on the conversations and behavior of our characters and commenting on it. It's like a Greek chorus, and this thread will add considerable comic relief to a mostly dramatic story.

I'll be giving you the names of our cast once contracts are signed. You'll be able to find out about some of these individuals on the web through various sites. One where you can get started is

Tequila Minsky's Haitian Film Database at
http://www.haitiforever.com/fora/film/curvers.html

Also check out Windows On Haiti at
http://haitiforever.com/windowsonhaiti/welcome.html

and Haiti Global Village at
http://www.haitiglobalvillage.com/

Stay tuned for more pre-production updates as we get closer to our shoot start date on 4 March 2005.

Bonne chance et á bientot - Ken