Casting By

Director Tom Donahue's Casting By shines a welcome light on a long-obscured figure in the American film industry: the casting director, in particular Marion Dougherty, who right up until her retirement in 1999 was the uncontested doyenne of American casting directors. Working her way up from a casting assistantship in TV in the very early 1960s, Dougherty quickly displayed an uncanny ability to discover new talent on the Broadway and off-Broadway circuits. By the mid-‘60s she owned her own casting agency in New York, and in the 1970s she was the go-to for legendary director George Roy Hill, among others. Dougherty also had a hand in launching the careers of big-name actors such as Al Pacino, Jon Voight, and Bette Midler, for starters. She would eventually become head casting director at Paramount Pictures and later at Warner Brothers. In addition to distilling over 12 hours of interviews with Dougherty herself, Donahue intersperses insightful interview footage with prominent casting directors who followed in Dougherty's footsteps: including Woody Allen's longtime casting director Juliet Taylor, Wally Nicita, and others. Casting By is not only an enlightening documentary but also a surprisingly emotional and nostalgic celebration of the end of an era in Hollywood. Most importantly, it does justice to an unsung behind-the-scenes movie-industry pioneer whose impeccable instincts led to some of the most iconic film roles in movie history. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)