Meeting Hal Hundley comes with a warning: he’s a real piece of work. He’ll say so himself! A former actor and former agent who has spent most of his 50 years in the business directing major theatrical productions, Hundley sees casting as a lost art. He is attempting to revive this lost art through working on low-budget SAG films using “good, solid actors.”
From his history-filled Old Hollywood office, Hundley expressed his desire to direct another musical and shared his sometimes unpopular opinions on how casting should be done. “I’ve been told, ‘Oh, you’re a bastard,’ and my response is, ‘You’re right. I am!'”
First Casting Job
Hundley’s background as a theatre director gave him much experience in casting. He had a major voice in casting each of the plays he directed (36 musicals in eight years, to be exact). Isle of Lesbos, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, was the first feature film he cast. Since then, he’s cast a dozen films, including Dumped, Eating LA, and The Black Rose.
Coolest Casting Gig
“I don’t have a favorite project,” Hundley said, noting that the coolest gig is always the one he’s working on at the moment. “Then I go on to the next one.”
Key Things He Looks for in an Actor
“Professionalism,” Hundley summarized. “And I can’t tell you how little I see it. Two-thirds of the actors in Hollywood aren’t ready yet.” In fact, Hundley has taught a workshop entitled “How Not to Piss Off the Casting Director.” He doesn’t agree with the idea of casting director workshops. “This isn’t paying for an audition. This is a seminar on the biz,” he explained, “and something every actor needs to learn.”
An actor should always look nice and neat. “You could get an audition standing in line at the post office,” he said. “I want to throw actors out when they come to an audition all grungy.”
He looks for that spark, that level of energy so many casting directors describe. However, “don’t give me attitude,” he continued. “And don’t let your agent be a pain in my ass.”
Hundley continued, “I look for theatre on a resume. If theatre’s not on there, I wonder!” Also, on a resume, you send to Hundley, be sure to get the exact name of the production right and, c’mon, do a spellcheck! “People think I’m being picky, but it’s not that. It’s simply attention to detail,” he continued.
Pet Peeves
Photo postcards. “Don’t send them. I’ll throw them away,” he insisted. “A picture is an 8×10 with a resume attached. Period.”
A pet peeve regarding directors: “I wish young filmmakers would keep the damn cameras still. Let the actors do the work and just keep still!” Hundley begged.
Advice for Actors
“Don’t pick your own picture,” he advised. “Let your agent choose it for you. If they’re working, they know what they’re doing.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Him
Get into his file. Okay, how do you do that? “If your resume strikes me, I’ll call you in.” What about inviting him to your shows? “I go to theatre, but not to showcases.”
Once you’re in his file cabinet, he knows what you can do and he’ll call you when he knows you’re right for a project he’s casting. “I work so that I can pick up the phone to the actor directly, and I won’t call them unless I have something for them,” Hundley stated. “People may not agree with my approach, but I know what the actor can do, and I don’t need to see 1000 people for one role.”
His Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
“I like to handle the picture, or go to the Academy Players Directory,” he said. “I don’t even own a computer.”
His Operating System
“I do it the way I bloody well want to,” he summarized with a laugh. He won’t work on television shows or with major studios. “I’ve been my own boss too long,” he concluded.
Trends He Has Observed in the Casting Process
“This will make me sound politically incorrect, but I do not believe in [the current trend of] colorblind casting,” Hundley said. “There are times when ethnicity doesn’t matter, but when it does, [the casting] better be done right,” he explained. This is most important when casting pieces we’ve seen before. “I don’t believe in revising the material. But, with an original film, you’re creating the history of the story, so the characters can be anything.”
What He Would Change About the Casting Process
“Actors are afraid. Casting directors have scared them into thinking they can’t control their own destiny.” When Hundley was an agent in Denver, he’d go on auditions with his actors. “We work for the actor, not the other way around.”
Most Gratifying Part of His Job
“That’s easy. The director saying to me, ‘You were right!'”
This interview was conducted on November 22, 2000, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.