Certain casting directors raise the bar of the project they’re working on just by being involved. You see their name on it, and immediately you think, “I want to see that.”
Rachel Tenner is a perfect example. The regular casting director for people like George Clooney, Ethan Coen and Ben Stiller, Tenner is one of the best in the business, and has the honors to match. She’s been nominated for an Emmy award seven times, with one win, for the first season of Fargo.
Tenner is nominated again this year for season 2 of Severance (she was also nominated for the first season), which she helped cast alongside Bess Fifer, casting associates Aaron Schoonover and Rick Messina, and several other members of the show’s casting department.
It’s her fourth time working with Stiller, who is the primary director and executive producer of the Apple TV+ series, which scored 27 Emmy nods, more than any other show. The series follows a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
Severance stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and Tramell Tillman, all of whom were nominated for Emmys themselves, which is about as high a compliment as a casting director can get. She spoke with us about the show from her home in LA.
Insights From Rachel Tenner
- Embrace both established and new talent to create dynamic, memorable performances.
- Cultivating a strong sense of comedy can enhance your versatility and bring added depth to dramatic roles.
- Be patient and persistent during casting decisions, as finding the perfect fit often requires time and multiple auditions.
How did you first start working with Ben Stiller?
I first worked with him on [The Secret Life of] Walter Mitty, but before that, I met him for another movie that didn’t end up going anywhere. I think that was in 2011. When this came around, it was a no-brainer.
Both Dan Erickson and Ben have talked about how they each thought of Adam for the lead role of Mark S., but that they had to fight for him.
It’s the business you have to do. I think everyone in their heart was like, “Oh, it’ll be Adam. Adam’s gonna be great.” Still, it took about a year for the full approval.
One of the things that’s fascinating about the show is the mix of acting legends like Turturro, Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette, alongside less well-known actors like Zach Cherry, Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman. Was that by design? Or was that something that kind of happened as the process went along?
It was a little bit more organic than that. A lot of it always depends on what the directive is from a studio. Do they feel like we have to have a certain number of names in it? Or can you just do an entirely unknown cast? Or can you mix it up?
I think once we settled on Patricia and Turturro, we didn’t feel the need to keep trying to make everything at a certain level. Also, Ben loves new people. He loves the opportunity to bring somebody to the forefront who might not have been in that position before. Once we felt like we could open it up, we just did a big casting process across the board, trying to find some fresh faces.
A lot of these actors come from the comedy world, too.
Exactly. They have a good sense of comedy, which I think was important for this show, to understand the humor. That elevated a lot of the performances and just brought another dynamic to the characters that I thought was important and made it stand out more.
Is it true that Turturro brought in Christopher Walken himself?
Yes, totally. We had a budget around this role from the studio, so we were seeing a lot of great character actors out in New York that we love.
John was like, “Well, what do you think about Chris?” Ben and I were like, “Well, I mean, sure. What? Yeah.” (Laughs) So that was a really exciting piece to get to add to the puzzle.
We talked a little bit about Zach, Britt and Tramell. Did they just come through the audition process?
We opened this up to a big casting process. I think their auditions speak for themselves. They were so good. They stood out in their respective roles and brought qualities that were unique to them.
When you start something, you think, “Oh, my God, there’s going to be a million people who can do this.” Then, when you get into it, and you start honing in, as you start hearing it out loud and working with actors and getting into it more, you start realizing the special little qualities that people can have that elevate it and make it distinct.
By the end, you realize there are only five people who could do this role. There are a lot of people who I think could do it well, and then a tiny group that can do it spectacularly.
What about smaller parts, like Dichen Lachman, whom I wouldn’t have thought of for the role of Ms. Casey, aka Mark’s supposed-to-be-late wife.
That role was so hard. That was our hardest role, because it’s the most mysterious role.
We were trying so hard to find someone, not only acting-wise, but also who brought a sense of mystery and is so physically enigmatic. When we finally found her, you’re at the end of such a long journey of trying to find it, and then you see it, and you’re like, “Oh my God.” It’s just this great feeling.
We had her do a little scene Dan wrote just for the process, where it showed her as Mark’s wife, because everything she was doing was so stylized for Ms. Casey. We just needed to see something else to know for sure she could go wherever needed her to go. That was a hard one.
When awards like this come along, and almost everybody who could be nominated gets nominated for an award, how do you respond to that as the person who put them all there?
I have to say, I think it’s incredibly rewarding. It is such a competitive world out there. There are so many amazing shows, so many amazing casts, so many amazing casting directors. For this show to get that many nominations, it was incredibly rewarding.
I can’t lie, I did have a moment where I thought, “That’s very exciting. I’m so excited for them to have gotten the recognition for just killing it.” Even the guest stars who came in and brought it all to life in such a brilliant way. They say it’s an honor to be nominated, so for all of them to get that honor is very rewarding.
That leads well into my last question. When you do a job like this, and you cast the hell out of it and hit a home run, do you allow yourself to enjoy it, or is it more, “Okay, on to the next job?”
Oh, that’s a good question. I think for Severance, I have been able to take a moment and be proud of the work that we’ve done on the show.
I have to be honest, because I watched it and I loved it. I loved watching the show.
By the time it comes out, I’ve read all the scripts, and I know what’s going on, of course. When you see it actualized in every part of it, this is such a group of artisans who are all at the top of their game. When you watch it all come together, you do take a moment to say, “Okay, this is great. You should be proud of your contribution to this big picture.”
It’s hard to stop sometimes and say, “Oh, right. You did that.” When you get a moment to do it, it is important to take a step back and recognize your contribution, regardless of whether it’s a huge hit or not.
At the end of the day, if you can finish your job and say, “I did the best I could do,” then that’s pretty good. When everything comes to fruition in the way Severance did, it’s just exciting to be a part of it.
Final Takeaways
Working with top casting directors like Rachel Tenner shows how important it is to bring something unique to the table. Whether you’re a fresh face or an experienced actor, standing out is about more than just talent — it’s about fitting the role in a way that feels authentic and memorable. Here are a few takeaways for new actors navigating this competitive industry.
- Focus on developing a strong sense of timing and humor, even for dramatic roles, to add an extra layer to your performance.
- Be patient during the audition process; sometimes it takes time for the right people to see your potential.
- Don’t be afraid to bring your own unique qualities that make you stand out from others auditioning for the same role.
- Understand that casting directors value versatility, so keep honing different aspects of your craft.
- Remember that big opportunities often come through persistence and building relationships over time.
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