When casting director Jessica Ronane came on board to cast her second feature film, “After the Hunt,” for filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (the pair had previously collaborated on “Queer” and will next partner on his OpenAI film “Artificial”), she had the benefit of some major star power already in place: Julia Roberts was signed on to play the film’s central character, the inscrutable Yale professor Alma, caught in the midst of an abuse scandal that threatens every part of her life.
For a casting director, having such wattage attached from the outset could have proven complicated to the rest of the casting process, but Ronane found it actually freed her up to have some more fun (unless, of course, Guadagnino got there first). During IndieWire’s recent Crafts Roundtable discussion, presented in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Ronane shared a bit about her process assembling a relatively small cast around such a huge star.
“With Julia already attached, you know, it’s quite a small cast actually, so there were a few roles that we could be playful in our thinking, for just a moment before the whole thing would grow and they would need actors [in place],” Ronane said. “We started talking about the role of Maggie, and I had a chance to sort of demonstrate the landscape, what that could be.”
The role eventually went to Ayo Edebiri, who is remarkable in the tricky role, one that requires her to repeatedly face off with a formidable Roberts.
Ronane also noted that the ever-busy and always-working Guadagnino is also constantly seeking out possible performers for their collaborations, which makes her eager to show her work to the filmmaker. “Luca is also always meeting actors in different ways across his body of work and within his world,” she said. “So I always know there is a slight race against time before somebody he’s getting into wins the role and I’ve not actually managed to do my job, so I kind of have to really push at that time, with each of those roles, to analyze everyone, and also trusting the instinct of the director as well, because sometimes they have a very strong feeling and you need to support that.”
This conversation is presented in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios.