Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting by Amy Cook

Abstract

Reviewed by: Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting by Amy Cook Jim Williams BUILDING CHARACTER: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CASTING. By Amy Cook. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018; pp. 198. In theatre, the ultimate dilemma for any director at the beginning of the creative process is the casting. How is it possible to determine which actor is "right" for a role, as opposed to why another actor is "wrong"? Are there theatrical similarities to how we "cast" people in our everyday lives? With a plethora of information to sift through, how does casting eliminate that which is not needed while building the essential traits and qualities that define the character? In her book, Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting, Amy Cook proposes using tools from the cognitive sciences to examine the casting process in theatre and film. She asserts that the cognitive sciences are a useful means to comprehend that process, and argues that cognitive studies in the research of perception and categorizations provide a better understanding of the art of casting. To that end, Cook asks how do we make sense of an unstable reception process that is complicated by culture, gender, history, heritage, and so on? She seeks a cognitive methodology to better understand "theatrical character and a theatrical understanding of a central component of cognition—categorization—as casting" (15). In her lengthy introduction, Cook contends that if literary and performance research utilized cognitive science, particularly the theories it has developed around perception and categorization, scholars would have a greater understanding of how the casting process works. Each chapter of the book includes a brief abstract along with an eclectic selection of examples, from Dr. Dre's rap song "Bitches Ain't Shit" to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are to Michelangelo's Pietà. In her opening chapter, "Building Titus: Compressing the Complex into the Essential," Cook addresses the rudimentary cognitive processes involved in casting scenarios, as well as what happens when those processes are challenged. She argues that a character does not exist until the spectator unconsciously constructs it by compressing and compartmentalizing an influx of stimuli in tandem with existing associations and memories. Compressions are essentially short cuts that reduce the amount of information in order to be manageable and categorized. Cameo casting capitalizes on this process by introducing celebrity actors who embody associations with previous roles and so provide quick information to the spectator about what types of characters they are now playing. Cook offers the example of Billy Crystal's playing the Gravedigger in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996): the spectator may not completely comprehend Shakespeare's language but assumes the character is funny because it is that actor from When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers. Names and facial recognition are other forms of compression that give the spectator enough cognitive associations and information to quickly assemble a character. Film trailers are also effective examples of cognitive compressions. Trailers are constructed to give the spectator a thumbnail preview of the film's highlights in under two-and-a-half minutes. Cook points out that trailers for Shakespearian films tend to be more challenging for spectators thanks to the unfamiliarity of Shakespeare's language and the absence of shrieking car crashes and explosions. Celebrity [End Page 537] casting therefore offers a compression strategy to anchor the spectator within familiar context and associations. In the trailer for Titus (1999), Anthony Hopkins, playing the title character, is shown baring his teeth while wielding knives over the hanging bodies of Chiron and Demetrius (43). Regardless of the spectators' unfamiliarity with Shakespeare's play, Hopkins's face evokes both "his" celebrity and his Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991). The image implies another Lecter performance, this time in ancient Rome, so that even if a spectator cannot follow Shakespeare's dialogue, the "celebrity" becomes a shorthand to communicate character. In chapter 2, "Building Characters: Seeing Bodies," Cook asks why some actors seem to disappear into their roles while others do not. She reminds us that an actor's supposed disappearance in a role is typically attributed to their talent, reinforced by the actor...