By Cara Daniels 2-24-2013
Casting Director Victoria Burrows can spot talent a mile away. So when it came to the Oscar nominated film “Flight,” she was more than up for the challenge of creating on-screen chemistry.
Step one is picking the right movie. Burrows always looks for quality content when picking a film and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find. Burrows told WEBN Boston, “Not a lot of scripts have a lot of meat to them. When you get something that’s really meaty then it’s really exciting… We have to connect with the material emotionally..”
“Flight’s” biggest star is Best Actor nominee Denzel Washington, who was immediately picked for the lead before the casting team even began to work its magic.
However, discovering new talent is one of Burrows’ favorite parts of her job. According to her, James Badge Dale originally came to audition for a role that later went to Don Cheadle. Instead, he requested to read for a small day player role simply because he connected emotionally to the character. His audition blew Burrows away and he was immediately given the role. And that, she calls “the real fun of casting”
She might make it look easy but Burrows admits a career as a casting director is not always easy. If the chemistry in a movie is off, the entire thing will fall apart.
So what keeps Victoria Burrows going? Passion,” she says, “If you love something you can usually enjoy every bit of it when it gets crazy sometimes. But I’ve been doing it for 33 years and, knock on wood, so far, so good… Haven’t gotten fired that much!”