Some movies are difficult to put together. Others, like A24’s upcoming horror flick Opus, come together rather easily. Or, as casting director Angelique Midthunder puts it, “serendipitously.”
Written and directed by first-time feature director Mark Anthony Green, the film stars Emmy winners Ayo Edebiri, Murray Bartlett and Tony Hale, as well as Oscar nominees John Malkovich and Juliette Lewis. Opus is one of the spring movie season’s highly anticipated films. It just so happens that the film also stars Midthunder’s daughter, Amber, who is a rising star. Angelique chatted with us about the film from her home in Los Angeles.
Insights: Lessons From Angelique Midthunder
- Network locally to uncover casting opportunities.
- Embrace projects with first-time directors for unique roles.
- Always engage through your agent for professional representation.
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How did you come to be on the project in the first place?
They were looking at filming in New Mexico. I’ve owned a home in Santa Fe for 20 years. It’s a big part of my lifestyle and influence. One of the locations that they were looking at was north of Santa Fe. I do both lead and local casting, so I just pushed it.
I was happy to help with their lead casting if they didn’t have that in place yet, and they didn’t. I ended up doing all of it alongside Victoria Cadwallader, who did the local casting under the Midthunder Casting umbrella.
When you heard that they were coming around looking for stuff, you just kind of put your name out there?
I did. I had worked with one of the producers before and I wanted to meet this director. It was a first-time directing project, but he had a reputation that precedes him as just a super cool guy. It was one of those projects that I already knew that I wanted to be involved with. I jumped on it early.
That was one of the things I was curious about. Mark Anthony was directing his first feature, and working with a first-timer is not always easy.
I love working with first-time directors. I find them to be particularly invested in the process. They pour their whole heart and soul into their projects. They’re passionate and they typically have been thinking about it for quite a while. Years, often. I find it to be rather enjoyable.
Were there particular challenges with this project? Casting for a first-time filmmaker, going to actors and their representatives, what kind of reaction did you get?
That is one of the challenges of working with first-time directors, but with Mark Anthony and this project in particular, I don’t feel like we hit those types of stumbling blocks. I mean, it’s A24, and everybody loves working on A24 films.
I feel like actors find the opportunity to do something unique, most often, or to spread their wings in a different direction. And also they trust that A24 projects are going to be unique and something that they can sink their teeth into. I have to say the A24 aspect made it less challenging than you might expect.
Let’s talk about the cast, which is spectacular. What was the process like?
Ayo and Malkovich were both attached when I came on board, so I can’t take credit for either. The truth is, this project came together so serendipitously that I feel like it’s hard for me to take credit for much of it. With Ayo and Malkovich attached — and an A24 project, just going off of that alone — actors were chomping at the bit to work on this.
Mark Anthony is just so smart, so easygoing. He has this magnetic personality where people just want to work with this guy. We could all see that he was going places before even a frame was shot. It was a dream.
This might be a difficult question to answer because I’m sure it’s complex, but how did you get the star of Prey to be in the movie?
(Laughs) You know, again, it was one of the serendipitous things. The first time I met with Mark Anthony to talk about the project, we were talking about tone, the horror-thriller genre, things like that. These are the kind of conversations I like to have when I first meet with a director, so I know creatively where they’re coming from.
Prey came up in the conversation, and I said, “As a matter of fact, my daughter starred in that.” He didn’t know that and asked if he could meet her. He felt that it was important to represent and incorporate the local/indigenous population into the storyline, so that’s how both Amber and Tatanka Means came up for consideration in roles that were not originally scripted as indigenous.
I’m curious about the process of working with your daughter. Did you give her the script? Did you go through her reps?
I went through her reps, set a meeting and told them I thought that a different role might be more interesting for her. At the very least, it’ll just be a general meeting for down the line.
Sometimes we’re just introducing directors to actors, even if there’s not anything for them on this project. I’m always happy to set up these meetings, and if something pans out for this show, that’s great. That’s just part of what I do in a general sense. We set that up and he thought she would be cool for this character.
I’m a little fascinated by how this works with you two, that in this kind of situation, you’re actor and casting director, and it’s not a line you cross. Is that the case?
To be honest, I didn’t even think that she was necessarily right for this and told her reps that. (Laughs) After he met with her, they came back and said she would love to do anything with A24. She did a cameo in Dream Scenario, and all actors — Amber included — are looking to work with interesting projects and interesting filmmakers. They pitched her, and I knew that she had had a good meeting with Mark Anthony because his feedback was also positive. We go through the proper channels.
It sounds like this project was, I don’t want to say blessed, but certainly, the wheels were well-lubricated for success on this one.
Just starting from the script, and then when you look at the people who were involved in bringing it to life, you knew that this was going to be an interesting project. Honestly, there was this other part. One of the first reps that we called was on the phone with me, and she said, “Did you just say John F-ing Malkovich? Say no more!” (Laughs)
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