And Vice Versa - The Actors

It's amazing how everything happens at the last minute on my movies. I'm either always missing an actor or a location the day before we shoot. This time, I was missing my lead actor! I had seen an actor on Wednesday for the part of the photographer/prince. He was very good, very convincing and actually looked very prince-like. The only problem was that he was SAG, and I hadn't filled the paperwork for it. But I offered him the part anyway. The day after I was meeting my friend Staas, to go over his lines as Malcolm. I had offered the part of the prince to him at the very beginning, but when he told me his hair was very short, I was afraid he wouldn't look like a prince anymore. So Malcolm he became. Until I saw him. His hair was not short at all. Well, not shaven short like I had imagined. He looked perfect! I called Mark and told him Staas was really what I was looking for. Handsome, good actor and most importantly, he has an accent. A Russian one on top of it! Mark thought it was a good idea, especially when the other actor was SAG, and kind of a risk to use a SAG actor without the paperwork. I now had my new prince. And now came the hard part: tell the old prince he wasn't a prince anymore. I called him and told him I had two other projects in the make and that he had the part for one of the characters. He didn't even have to audition for it!
With Staas now being the Prince, that left me with one uncast character: Malcolm. I had seen an actor at the audition who looked terrific and how was very good. So I called Roston Friday afternoon, after the marina shoot and offered him the part.
My cast was finally in place ...