I’d bet that Mary Jo Slater remembers the name of everyone she meets. Considering she’s logged over 30 years of casting, that’s an impressive task. From Broadway to features to MTV, Slater has cast hundreds of projects, and she’s not stopping there.
With her tiny dog curled up in her lap, Slater and I discussed the usual Casting Qs material, plus runaway production, while soap operas aired on a muted TV nearby in the temporary office space next to the production office for MTV’s Undressed.
First Casting Job
Neil Simon’s Chapter Two on Broadway. Slater was working as an agent but wanted to get into producing, so she took a job as a receptionist in a producer’s office. “I was a rotten receptionist. The producer said, ‘I’m firing you, but I’m giving you a job casting Chapter Two,'” Slater recalled.
Coolest Casting Gig
The feature 12 Angry Men. “I felt like I was in a world of extraordinary human beings,” Slater remembered fondly.
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
Three qualities top Slater’s list: charisma, depth, and education. “If you attended Yale, ACT, North Carolina School of the Arts, NYU, Carnegie Tech, I know you can act. I know you have certain credentials that help to hone your abilities. Usually you can tell the difference in someone who’s had a college training experience and someone who’s just come in from class here,” said Slater.
Her Favorite Audition Tale
“When I was very young, I was casting Hair on Broadway – the revival – and Treat Williams and Peter Gallagher came in and I had to tell them to drop their drawers,” Slater laughed. She saw it as a strange, controlling experience that just happened to be a part of the job. “The requirements were very specific,” Slater shared with another laugh.
Pet Peeves
Slater doesn’t want to see actors who are unprepared or who will apologize for their audition. “Come in, do your five minutes, you own those five minutes, and say thank you and get up and leave. That’s your time. The part is yours during that process. You don’t come in trying to get the part, you have the part,” Slater advised. “I think acting is instinctual. You either can or you can’t. I don’t think it’s something that can be trained in. You can learn a craft, but it’s the level that’s instinctual. It’s a gift,” Slater indicated. So, while training is essential, an actor must have that gift if they’re to impress her.
Advice for Actors
Slater provided a non-traditional piece of advice for those who want to be in this business. “Marry into it. That’s the truth! Give birth to it. Look at the kids who are famous and who their parents are. Nepotism does pay off. That’s the reality of it,” Slater – who is actor Christian Slater’s mother – admitted.
She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated with Danny DeVito and Clevon Little, who introduced her to her first husband, Christian’s father. “He was an actor. So, I know how hard it is to be a kid, starting out, and wondering where you go from here. So, take my advice: marry an actor. That’s a way to be in the business to start out with. That’s how I wound up here!”
Slater knows that it takes something very special to be an actor. “You have to have something very unique. I knew I wasn’t one of those ‘special’ types. I just didn’t have the chutzpah to stick it out. I certainly respect those that do. I have great admiration for the people that hang in there. It’s an unbelievable task. I couldn’t have done it.”
Her Thoughts on Runaway Production
While Slater felt the commercial strike was a “horrific situation for everyone in this industry,” she wants to see runaway production addressed. “Everyone who’s reading this article, do they realize that their work is going to Canada? My first co-producer feature shot in Canada, and I had very mixed emotions about that. They said, ‘Look, to shoot it here is $18 million. To shoot it there is $12 million.’ I’m now working on something that’s shooting here and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I get to cast everything!’ It’s so rare,” Slater lamented. When she cast ThirtySomething and other shows at MGM, the shows were cast and shot locally. By 1994, when she returned to MGM, each pilot went to Canada. “All that work, for a kid getting started, getting an opportunity to do a day player role, is not here for these kids. We have to do something to change it. If I become a successful producer, I’m praying that I could have the weight to move production back,” said Slater. “But, if you want to package a film these days, sit at the bar in the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto or Vancouver. Every actor you ever dreamed of meeting is sitting there, and that’s a shame.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
Slater doesn’t have time to do generals, but she loves meeting new people. “If there’s a role and your agent is a good agent, he’ll pick up the phone and say, ‘Meet this person.'”
“One person shows, Off-Broadway theatre, I do that. I see everything in New York. I have an apartment there, so I’m back and forth all the time. I cast in both places. I really want to expand that,” Slater revealed.
She really enjoyed working with MTV. “That was an opportunity to see the new crop of kids. I had a ball with Roland Joffee’s Undressed. I loved the kids because kids are so unjaded, so excited to be there. I would go on the set and hear, ‘Oh, I loved it!'” For Undressed, Slater looked at every headshot that came in. “Everyone who’s 20, was in to see me! And I got job offers because people wanted to know where I found all these hot young kids,” Slater revealed. “We cast kids from open calls who’d never done anything. I call it embryo casting! They’re so fresh and so new, I feel like I’m giving birth to most of them. It’s so much fun. It’s a whole different level from having done the classics like Inherit the Wind and 12 Angry Men to doing Undressed. Talk about eclectic! I feel like the queen of eclectic casting,” Slater shared.
Her Opinion Alternative Submission Methods
While Slater joked that she lives in the 12th century, she does intend on taking a course in computer use, just to catch up. She wants to take advantage of technology by have casting sessions in Los Angeles that folks in remote locations can see live, in real time, via webcam.
Her Operating System
“I use The Film Actors Guide a lot because it has everyone that’s ever been in a film and their credits. I go to ScreenWorld when I have to make lists.” Beth Blanks, her casting associate, and Steve Brooksbank, her partner, are computer-savvy, according to Slater. “I am the brawn, they are the brains.”
Highlight of Her Week
Slater loves attending film festivals. At the time of our interview, Slater had just attended the Big Bear Film Festival. “It was charming. It was very provincial and quaint. I want to help out with this festival. It’s so good for young filmmakers. You don’t have to be somebody in order to get in there. There are student projects and it’s a wonderful venue for the up-and-coming filmmaker,” Slater said. She enjoys seeing people go for it. “You have to take your life in your own hands. You have to control your destiny. There’s just too much competition. You can’t expect someone else to do it for you. You’ve got to find your own road.”
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
“Being proud of what’s on the screen. That a lot of my fighting for what I believe in was worth it. Sometimes I lose the fight, but when I don’t, I’m very happy with the outcome. I have a good life. I love what I do. Life’s too short not to.”
This interview was conducted on September 18, 2000, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.