In After the Hunt, a college professor (Julia Roberts) is pushed into a moral crisis when a top student (Ayo Edebiri) accuses one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), cracking open a secret from her own past. To ground that tension, director Luca Guadagnino turned once again to casting director Jessica Ronane, a longtime collaborator who helps shape the emotional DNA of his films.
In our interview, she talks about assembling Guadagnino’s “company” of actors (like Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny), discovering Will Price and Thaddea Graham, and why self-tapes, even imperfect ones, can open doors for emerging talent.
I read that Luca called your work on this “astonishing.”
Jessica Ronane: That’s amazing to hear, and I mean, I’ve said a few times, but I think when you get to work repeatedly with a director, you just get better at it, because you understand a little bit their process and, their taste to some extent, although I wouldn’t limit Luca in terms of his taste, because as you can see from his body of work, it varies, and I’m sure with actors, he’s surprising as well.
But definitely, I know what I’m getting into, and I know I trust my instincts when I’m working with him, and that’s a really good thing.
You guys must have a kind of shorthand now?
Jessica Ronane: Yeah, to some extent, yeah.
I mean, even on a call today, Luca cracked a joke and there’s a shorthand even in being able to find the ridiculousness of some of the situations we find ourselves in and be able to ride on through them.
Another thing I really know with Luca, in terms of the casting process, is, it’s inherently, by nature, a very private process, but I think with him particularly, there’s a really intimate nature to when you’re assembling the company, before the project grows, and the crew grows, and it becomes kind of unwielding in the size… you look at the crew list on any film, and there’s so many people, and I think something in terms of the casting is that it happens at the very start, when there’s really a handful of people starting to put it together.
And I think that because Luca’s so trusted, and respected. He gets to have that process in a particularly intimate way. Like, it’s private. He’s not doing what anyone else says. He is doing what he wants and needs to do, and I think that’s a really incredible thing to be able to support him with.
This film felt like it could have been a play at times.
Jessica Ronane: Yeah, I agree with you. I also think the writing kind of lends itself to that. There’s a theatricality, but there’s a lot of depth as well. There’s a lot behind the scenes that you don’t get to see, and I think that’s so fascinating.
How did you get the main cast together?
Jessica Ronane: Julia was already attached and then when I began, we were immediately talking about the role of Maggie, because we were aware that this is a young role, and we could really analyze who the actors were out there. So, Ayo was very much in the conversation and once they met, I think, it was a very clear thing for Luca.
But we were talking about Maggie, we were talking about the role of Hank in detail, and then Frederick came next, fitting into the kind of jigsaw puzzle and the balance of it all. And the minute we’re talking about Michael Stuhlberg, then you understand the psychology of that relationship within the context of the script, and their marriage, their world, his job. As you start to kind of get to know them as characters, that becomes even clearer.
It takes a little while on any script to feel the world of it. I think particularly for those of us coming onto it after the director, you’re always trying to catch up and understand and sort of appreciate the world they’re building, the texture of it. And the texture of it, requires certain ingredients from the cast, so I think these things have to all work together.
You mentioned something about assembling a company and I feel like Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny are kind of part of his travelling company because they’ve been involved in a handful of his projects. How does casting them work? Cant imagine they have to audition.
Jessica Ronane: No, they don’t audition. Luca is so familiar with those actors, it would be wrong. I think the discussion is this whole thing about the world. And I think, again, when you referred to it at the beginning as feeling a little bit like a play, that’s so cool to hear, because I work in theater and film predominantly, and I think they really do relate. The projects go hand in hand that we tend to find ourselves attached to.
Someone like Michael Stuhlbug, it’s no surprise, he’s also a really, celebrated theater actor, and he knows how to find a character and embody them.
And Chloe is just extraordinary, she transforms in every project we see her in, and she’s very beloved, and I think Luca finds it really exciting to explore each transformation with Chloe, and this particular film, I think she’s unbelievable.
She transformed herself. I had to look on IMDb to make sure it was her.
Jessica Ronane: I know, and you’re not the only person who’s said that.
The scene where they’re in the bar, and the Morrissey song is playing, I actually look forward to that scene whenever I see the film.
The last line of that scene had me rolling.
Jessica Ronane: She’s brilliant. She looks amazing, the hair, the whole image that they have, the design of that character as well, I think is incredible. And she embodies her. I was astonished, she blew me away.
Being able to approach actors like Chloe, and like Michael, and know that again, testament to Luca and the people he puts together, because he collaborates time and again with the same people in so many ways.
I think one thing I’ve learned, and I love, is that if you bring a project to an actor who has collaborated with him previously, they are delighted. They can’t wait. That’s a call you want to receive. I mean, I feel that way, and I witness it when I speak to their agents. The Luca call is a powerful thing.
I want to talk to you about finding the two students. If I close my eyes and tried to imagine what two Yale students would look like, it’s Will Price and Thaddea Graham. How did you go about finding them?
Jessica Ronane: I remember at the beginning of my career kind of asking, what do you do when you’re looking for a particular role? And the answer is everything.
I loved this part of the process. When I talk about us going step by step, it was so gradual, working through the core company, and then finding ourselves on the students. And by the time we reached that part the crew has grown, and Luca’s busier than ever, everything’s gearing up, and my team and I got to roll up our sleeves, and instead of talking about the intricacies of actors we know and admire, we’re suddenly talking about finding people who we don’t know about yet, and that’s the thing that I absolutely love in what I get to do.
We knew we had to find students who could plausibly have been at Yale at this time, studying these subjects, which is no mean feat. That’s some serious, smart, and the way in which they’re written, they are provocative, they’re admired, but they are challenging and challenged. And we have to make up the fabric of the university.
Luca works with precision and detail, and he works, again, time and again, with a really brilliant researcher. So, we frequently are given a lot of references to wade through. And we’re making our own, of course, as you would. It’s very rich, the kind of tableau of what that world would realistically look like, and what Luca wants that world to look like, and how he wants it to feel. And so, we start off by covering our walls with imagery and inspiration.
Because we were shooting in the UK, we have to go to the UK universities, we have to go to the American schools to find the real Americans who are here. And yet, we also can’t ignore Yale. But if we’re looking at Yale, then we ought to look at NYU. Where are the programs that these students might be found?
Are also interested in acting. What are the acting programs where they’re likely to be? Where might we find these people, genuinely?
And then on top of that, you’re kind of thinking, who are the actors who have gone to drama school, who have come from a completely different world, and yet trained and can utterly understand how to dive into it and create this character? Because everybody deserves a chance when you have that kind of opportunity. So, we really, really went for it.
Will Price, I remember his first tape he made for us was funny, warm, vulnerable, and smart, and you wanted to know more from this guy, and it felt like Arthur will become a fully fleshed human being in the hands of this young actor.
And Thadia, I’ve known for actually a while because she had auditioned for me for theater before. I collect these people, and then when there’s a chance, and you can bring them into the frame for something else, then that’s wonderful. She just did an excellent, excellent, series of auditions for Luca.
And Luca liked them so much that they’re in his next movie.
Jessica Ronane: Yeah, which is a common theme, and I love that.
You’re introducing people who may collaborate across a long career with somebody like Luca, and if we can get the tone and also the company, the personalities who are going to really work well with him, and be right within that environment, within that group, it’s a fascinating thing. He’s brilliant with actors and with casting, so he knows.
You mentioned tapes. Do you have any self-tape tips? What do you like to see or not like to see?
Jessica Ronane: I really don’t like to say that, because I think it’s really hard for actors.
I think generally, there’s no rules. People say, ‘Oh, have a plain background, and shoot yourself really well lit, and blah blah blah’, but I’ve loved tapes where somebody’s against the kitchen dresser, and it’s covered in crockery, and they’re poorly lit, but they’re just doing a great job.
I think researching the script, getting to know what you’re doing, discovering about as much as you can about the characters, know who you’re auditioning for, and then just have a few tries.
The brilliance of a self-tape is you can do it again and again to really find your best version, and then we will note if we think they’ve not quite got it, but they’ve got something, we’ll note them and let them have another try, for sure.
Also, it cross-fertilizes. We’ll see someone’s tape for one thing, we’re working on something else, and we’ll just squidge them along into another lane. That is the brilliance of being able to audition globally for these amazing projects.
