What Dan Levy Looked For When Casting His New Netflix Series ‘Big Mistakes’

Emmy Award-winning creator Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) returns to streaming with Big Mistakes, a comedic family saga wrapped in a high-stakes crime thriller.

The Netflix series centers on gay pastor Nicky (Levy) and his failed actress sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega), whose attempt to pull off a small theft for their ailing grandmother goes sideways, landing them in the orbit of organized crime. As they try to dig themselves out, they only sink deeper into chaos.

Ahead of the show’s release, Levy, Ortega and Laurie Metcalf, who plays their mother, spoke at a press conference attended by Casting Networks, where the conversation turned to building the ensemble.

After six seasons of what he called a “warm, fuzzy, cuddly show” like Schitt’s Creek, Levy said he was interested in exploring similar family dynamics through a very different lens. “I thought about myself in relation to the world of crime, and I realized that I would not fare well if tasked with any kind of criminal [activity].”

To bring that world to life, Levy worked with casting director Gayle Keller and her team, whose credits include What We Do in the Shadows, The Big Door Prize, Bros and The King of Staten Island.

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“This ensemble [we have on the show] is so spectacular that it made me feel instantly at home just being around unbelievable actors who are bringing everything to the table,” said Levy.

When it came to casting his on-screen sister, Morgan, Levy described the character as someone with a lot to prove, someone whose pride and ambition can blur the line between right and wrong.

“And then you hire Taylor Ortega to come in and take that character, throw it against the wall, break it open, and rediscover all the parts of it that were most exciting to all of us,” he said. “To find Taylor in this moment in her career and watch her step into this role, it felt like the clouds kind of parted, and everything was right in the world a little bit.”

For Levy, that transformation gets at the heart of casting itself. “When you write a character, you have an idea of what that character is. Then an actor comes in and shows you a side of that character that you had no idea could exist. If you do the casting process right and you find the right person, that actor will revolutionize your own idea of what the potential for a character could be.”

He credits Keller and her New York-based team with a number of discoveries across the show, including Canadian actor Jack Innanen, who plays Morgan’s boyfriend Max. Levy called him a “fun discovery,” adding that as a Canadian, he loves hiring his fellow countrymen. He also singled out Abby Quinn, who plays his younger sister Natalie, the more put-together and favored sibling, calling her “an amazing find.”

“Abby’s read of this monologue that happens at the end of the season was so jaw-dropping, I knew as soon as I watched it, that we had to hire her,” Levy said.

Ortega agreed.

“I would not have read that character the way Abby read it,” she said. “When you saw Abby do it, you went, ‘Oh my God, I guess that’s probably who this [character] is!’”

Levy also highlighted Turkish actor Boran Kuzum, who plays Yusuf, the gangster the siblings become entangled with.

“This is his first American role. I believe he’s one of the first actors from Turkey to ever make the leap to American television. There’s a lot of pride for Boran.”

More broadly, Levy pointed to the scope of the casting search, which extended beyond New York City to New Jersey and Miami, with an emphasis on finding actors from a wide range of backgrounds, including Russian and Brazilian performers.

“It was a big ask,” he said of Keller’s team. “I feel very lucky that we found the people that we did. You get these moments when you think, everything is happening exactly as it should, and the casting process is the first indicator of [that]. Even the small characters. There’s not a false note in the entire season, casting-wise.”

Still, Levy considers landing Laurie Metcalf as the show’s mother his biggest casting win. The character is an erratic, overcritical woman who pits her children against each other while running a local campaign for mayor.

A longtime admirer of Metcalf’s work, particularly her portrayal of Jackie Harris on Roseanne and The Conners, Levy said that character shaped his own sense of comedy. He also cited Metcalf’s Oscar-nominated performance in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird as another standout. He decided to reach out to her directly for Big Mistakes.

“I wrote her a letter, I sent a script, I said a little prayer, and I hoped for the best,” Levy said. “When you send something out to somebody that you revere so fondly, you have to let it go. But I remember sending the script, and within 48 hours, we had heard that she was interested. I screamed.”

Metcalf was equally enthusiastic about joining the project.

“I can’t believe I was on Dan’s radar,” she said. “I am such a fan, as is everybody in the world, of Schitt’s Creek and of Dan specifically. The fact that I got asked to be a part of this ensemble, it has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

Levy said the role called for someone who understood the character enough to instinctively be the gravitational force that the siblings would be orbiting around.

“So the minute she said yes, I knew that we had the chance of making a really, really great television show.”