ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a variety of circumstances that have determined an independent project’s casting success that should hopefully demystify the process somewhat. Usually, before an animation production can properly begin, not only will the casting need to have been sorted, but also, the basic dialog track should already be laid down. The initial plan when it came to the casting of the full-length film was to use placeholder voices in anticipation of redubbing the dialog with bigger-name actors down the line, something that ordinarily would not work given the specific timing traditional lip sync requires. Once one has seen the performances Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette deliver in the finished film, it is impossible to imagine the characters played by anyone else. With Elliot Cowan ’s performance as Roundhead being a nasal, New York drawl, Boxhead needed to be the straight character that could be played against effectively.
