05/01/2025
Question: I want to know a little bit more about how you found your cast and how all of you all got involved. I’m really curious in a smaller community how you all come together and kind of find each other and make something amazing.
Chris Reilly: Yeah, it really happened pretty organically. We were actually ready to go into production in 2022, but had some last minute casting issues. By the time we could have recasted and got a shooting schedule together we would be pushing into spring.
To still make use of our time we decided to do some pre-production on some of the harder scenes, specifically in the stone head, because it was such a logistical and creative challenge.
I think it was Justin Pellingra who suggested I should ask Amy Zubieta for the pre-production shoot. She did incredible with virtually no direction. So, when it came to casting a year later we of course asked her to audition.
We had probably 30-40 auditions all across the US. I think Amy understood this character even better than me. During her audition I forgot that I was even watching a performance. She embodied the character so well I didn’t even want to call cut. That was an easy decision to offer her the role.
Casting for the children is difficult. Posting on Facebook, “I’m looking for kids” is not a good look, but it had to be done. I think it was Charlotte Williams father who reached out to me and she did absolutely wonderful in her audition. We even pulled in her actual brother Aiden to play her brother in the film. It worked out way better than I ever could have planned.