Out of the 'Shadows'

[Mysterious Benefactor]

While searching the 'Net to see if there has been any mention of any casting news for the WB DS, I just came across an article about the pilot's casting director, Mathew Lessall. It's an interesting article if you like to read about behind the scenes sort of stuff, but I can't say he has all that much to say regarding DS:

Current and favorite casting: Lessall is presently experiencing that initiation rite of L.A. casting directors: his first pilot season in the trenches. For a first-timer, he ended up with a none-too-shabby assignment: an hour-long drama from John Wells Productions for the WB, Dark Shadows (which Lessall is casting with Robyn Ray), which is a remake of the 1966-71 series, revisited previously in the early '90s. Helmed by its original creator, Dan Curtis, the show follows a vampire named Barnabas, who moves in next door to his modern-day descendants in Maine, posing as a long-lost English relation. What drew Lessall to the project was the script, which he describes as "wonderfully written drama" with "a lot of characters and storylines, flip-flopping between the 1700s and the present."

For the up-and-coming caster, current assignments and favorite assignments are one and the same. "I hope that I have more favorite things coming up," he says. "I don't know if it's about being favorite; it's just about being passionate about the work that you're doing and trying to complete it all in a timely manner so everybody's happy." He laughs. "So, Mean Creek looks great, and I hope that Dark Shadows turns out to be my favorite."

The full text of the interview can be found here.

[Philippe Cordier]

Very interesting article and insight into a casting director.  I was alarmed at first when I saw how young he is, but his own experience as an actor with training in England and casting for indie films is very promising.  Not the sort of background I'd expect for someone casting a typical WB type of show.  Let's hope this is an early indication that the proposed DS won't be a typical WB type of show with vapid acting and ... vapid everything.

I think you posted the casting call for Barnabas a while back.  I was a bit concerned there with the description given.  It seemed to be all about youth and looks ... nothing about the qualities I would associate with Barnabas:  manners, charm, tradition, intelligence, education, cunning, and so on.

[Gothick]

So... DC IS going to be producing the new series?

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but this is the first I've heard of his hands-on involvement.

I really really hope he doesn't do what he did last time, and rewrite the pilot script (call it large chunks of the hoDS shooting script plus bits and pieces he had lying around the house).

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DC is one of three executive producers - the other two being John Wells (of ER, West Wing, Third Watch, etc. fame) and Mark Verheiden (who wrote the pilot's script, and who has worked on the WB's Smallville). The WB is seemingly very high on the work Verheiden has done for them in the past as well as on the DS script, so I think in this instance DC may not have as much creative control as he has had in the past or that he might like. In a way, I can't say I particularly think that's necessarily a bad thing.