casting

angelito's casting process was a rather long one. we did many casting sessions, but we do not regret it. in the end we have casted amazing actors, that delivered such strong performances. we were lucky to have such dedicated, talented artists diving into this experience with us. and all for the love of art, since our budget was... well, lets leave that for another post.

maggie's character was the first role to be filled. julia smyth came to one of the first sessions and quickly won vitor's heart. when i came to see the call backs, she naturally slipped into the role, and i had no doubts about it.

we were struggling to find danny and luisa. it took us many months of intense search.
one day, angela carrizosa saw an add on craigslist. she had just arrived from colombia, where she was starring a feature film (karen llora en un bus).  she came to our casting session, and she was physically so different than the luisa i had in mind. but at the moment i saw her expressive eyes in action, there was absolutely no doubt about it.

it is very hard to direct children, but it is even harder to cast them. child actors sometimes come trained, and have the reactions very planned ahead. we didn't want anyone too trained but we also didn't want anyone completely raw, since we had a tight shooting schedule. john benson had worked with a friend on a short film, and came with great references. we met john one afternoon, and had him improvise many moments with vitor. he was perfect.

for jose's character, we wanted mainly someone that had good intimacy with luisa. so why not try out angela's brother in law? that is how josé ramìrez came into the game.

the only last step was to get this cast together, and check out the chemistry between them. which, as you can imagine, worked out so well.