Casting the Chosen

you never know if like I'm gonna shake your hands and you're gonna go me too we have sang me to you you had audition for the main character of the shepherd which is the short film about the birth of Christ well I won't tell anyone your secret's safe with me I liked you right away but I wasn't in LA he was cast with the casting directors and I just was looking at video and we ended up casting another actor in the role that's where I won't tell anyone secret safest name but when it came time to cast this show I specifically reached out and so you came in to audition for Simon yeah really yeah yeah oh yeah that tape probably he did Graham to see that theater I do not need a reason to celebrate my brothers and sisters so make sure I all let's get some cider can't handle the good stuff he'll be shot Oh Jason you will need some to drown out your sorrows after you lose this game and you I don't know your name you're new but Wow when I'm afraid you'll steal our fish we're afraid you'll steal our women oh my this is golden made like Absalom huh and then you asked me you know how's it feel I was like honestly like I feel like it'd be hard to cast me assignment but I love the show and I love the you know love the script yeah and I said to you I think a callback or in the first time no because I didn't see your callback because I had to come back as Matthew yeah are you ready ready oh yeah I do not find Simon reliable once when he was delinquent in his taxes to pursue remedy I discovered he spent an inordinate amount on games of chance at the local establishment I think I said to you you're you're gonna be in the show yeah but they didn't I have learned from my time in this business right that I can't I certainly don't rely on something like that but you had said I'm not exactly sure where you're gonna be on the show show and I just was like okay don't connect too much of that I obviously wanted to and then finally when when you had mentioned and drew a scene that I connected to right away was watching Simon fight that when I read the script in the beginning I was thing about Simon I was like I love that I love the guy who's not the one in the fight he's the one kind of in the background helping and the way more intellectual maybe than physical and so then you said Andrew and I was like I hope so you know and that but but just quickly about the where I was before I had had a rough year I was feeling very bad so then this came up and I watched the Shepherd and I was just really moved you know afterwards and that's when I was like oh it's the thing that I had that should work because they didn't tell me you would ask specifically for me Oh interesting so I went in and Dallas was like Noah thanks for coming in I was like yeah man ha ha ha he's like I asked specifically for you and I stopped him I was like I gotta stop you I'm so sorry like I think you think I'm someone and you're like no it's you but that that was how I was feeling I was like very in not a good place and then getting it I was just like unbelievably grateful and I still am every every time I'm like I'm staying in the hotel like a van comes and takes me to like it's just yeah I was it really was a definite turning point for me [Applause] [Music] we talked a little bit where you earn your life you got it yeah well I had just fired my team in LA and I was like let me there's something about saying quitting that's so permanent to me that I I knew I wasn't gonna quit I just knew I just needed a break because it's a hard year my brain was fried and I was like I don't so then I you know I went home just you know go back to my hope you know with my family just hang out and then a friend of mine at the casting office sent this and said I think you could do a really good job with the character and I read it I was like okay let me give it a try you know I've had these kind of characters come up for me before with just being on the spectrum and things so I just dug up some notes I had and just kind of felt it through and knew auditioned the escape because I'm yeah man you couldn't you were I think I was still home and I would visit weren't you visiting your parents on the floor yeah yeah but visiting flash for five weeks you're going yeah it's just you know it's crazy coming on this set hearing there's so many similar stories you just how hikes need a detox and just a hard career in our environment you know so yeah then he auditioned like that's a laptop auditions are on the desk in the casting office and someone's reading to him and I'm just watching this computer and it was it was it was glitching to a buffering was glitching so I kept repeating my lines over and over again and then when it moved I'd move forward I question Simon's connections to the merge into class I was like I'm like I'm not gonna get this and there's one read and those like grayed out and I was like okay I don't I don't actually say things that I don't mean so we're not used to the Arab in and I found that that's more rare than I thought it was you also said we'll be in touch that's what I was like okay I couldn't get this one I never heard back Oh a week like forever that only took up a long time if the whole process was pretty because strong is not a puzzle piece I mean yeah so you're going I don't want to fully commit to him as Andrew yet until I know we have assignment on our Matthew anyway because I may need to have him for something else I thought you'd here to talk about miracles I've told David this David amido who plays John the Baptist I had auditioned for Matthew and was our number one choice for Matthew and I kept saying she was passionate about it like if she liked him and then she kept saying we should see parson Dave is a really interesting actor and really like he's very quirky and does all these kind of unique you know kind of odd things and times which are all cool and we thought of Matthew as odd you know and you were in your first read for Matthew you weren't playing and overly OCD or anything so I just thought okay that's a safe choice David's kind of quirky choice and that's what I like to do so I sent her this guy you know which doesn't work because they're so awkward and she's just like it needs to be for us and what she she told me the story about my skype video that you sent I guess and it just opens with me just doing this all sounds like you know I feel like I have you to think no I mean you just know she plays a big part I do yes so same was it that you I mean she was like I mean he was a medium I sent her the tape I'm like I think this Tabish is like really good and she's like done yes because she was the most passionate about Mary Magdalene I mean I've been to Magdala in this you know in Israel last year and I felt this wait spiritually and intellectually and emotionally like don't get this character wrong cuz again these people are real like you guys are here right yeah regardless of whether you are a believer in Jesus as the Messiah or in the Bible as the Word of God whatever very few people dispute that these people actually existed so you still want to get them right yeah and so we just had a tremendous pressure in the casting process to get it right which is why it took long and action where were you kind of in your life you mentioned a few times that you were considering quitting yeah something just wasn't working and I was living in Austin and I could not afford it anymore I moved in with my mom and she's like just take a breather you know just like just you know gave yourself some space to figure things out so I called my agent I was like stop submitting me I can't take the the rejection and the hope and then the dashing of Hope over and over um he submitted me to this without telling me we just thank God thank God and he sent me the scripts for the audition and I read them I was like I was expecting something much easier honestly I was not expecting to have the emotional reaction I had and just reading through I was crying and I connected to it in a really specific way I was like this isn't just I can play this it this is me this is this it was like a very strange connection and since I was a kid I always loved Mary of Magdala that there was just like this this is what I've been wanting to play my whole life excited perfect the fear of course is is going up for it auditioning for it and like not getting anyone you know so I went into that first audition with the heartbreak of not getting it big ones have something valuable and I don't need it anymore I was just I think in this state of Lilith I was actually like Lilith in that moment and then you know I left I was like okay again don't get your hopes up don't you know and then I didn't hear back for it to call back I think for a couple of weeks and I was like that's which is a long time yeah yeah but again it's that's that feeling of like oh and then you get it you're like ah that that's the roller coaster of Y itself but then again I'm just like you go in for the call back to you something that your manager calls you and says he represents you for what you a call back and so I was actually booked that day for like a an industrial commercial and I told them I'm like I'm not going to that I'm going up to Dallas and like I earned down work I was like I just I have to be here I can't do it like I have to be here I think I told you how really good I did I tell you we're casting you know but you did say after you're like I'm looking forward to working with you I was like yeah because this was one of those like please just don't show up and do something really well you never know if I'm gonna shake your hands and you're gonna go me too we have said me to just like I'm gonna be very let's just have a like are you and then I wanted to I had I had some notes about the third scene he had the human eye as I said yeah you played a little heavy last time I wanna I just wanted to make sure you can do Lane and I think I think I stopped halfway through the scene I think I said you know what I don't need to say anything yeah and I was just like you walked out yes yes yes it was so great so yeah casting he was one of the fun fun joys of the process not in my car I drove back to Austin this never happens I got a call from my agent I think it was like an after the cop really I mean are you still driving I was driving it was like you god I'm like that's so cool I never had yeah yeah like a week or something like that that was no we're waiting hey it's Dallas in the crater of the chosen and if you liked what you just saw and you want to see the episodes of the first ever multi season show about the life of Christ you can do so right now for free yes if you get the chosen app you can watch these episodes for free right now you're gonna go to the chosen TV or the Apple Store or Google Play download the app and you can watch immediately episodes one through four hope you enjoy it and thanks so much

Channel: The Chosen

Views: 192,558

Rating: 4.9727659 out of 5

Keywords: casting office, casting, casting call, audition, behind the scenes, bts, interview, the chosen, the chosen tv series, BingeJesus, actorslife, actors, filmmaking

Id: KfSilfMdaJs

Length: 11min 41sec (701 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 05 2019