Patrick Rush: Casting "The O.C."

The man behind the casting of "The O.C." previously discovered the once unknown casts of "Party Of Five" and "Dawson's Creek." Check out what this L.A. native has to say about the gig and all the casting 411 in the 949..

Let's go back briefly to the beginning. I can't imagine that kids grow up wanting to be a casting director, so how did you first get into such this line of work?

PR: I grew up here in Los Angeles, and when I was in like first grade I did a couple of commercials and I guess the kids at school weren't really receptive to seeing one of their classmates on TV, so they were mean to me. And I think that's when I decided that I didn't want to do that and I quickly got out of the "wanna be an actor" mode [laughs].

Eventually I got a job in the food services at Universal Studios, then at the Universal mailroom, then as a Production Assistant on a film there and I just started watching all the various departments to see what everyone did. And I thought, "That casting gig doesn't look too bad; they're on and off early [laughs]." I've always kind of watched actors-and I've always known their names and their credits-and for some reason that kind of stuff always stuck with me.

So that's when you made your career decision?

PR: Well, after drinking my way out of college I had to do something [laughs]. So I ended up working with these two great casting directors-Sally Dennison and Julie Selzer. I offered my services for free, so that I could learn the gig. I went to work for them for two weeks and ended up staying there for eight years. And because of them I got to work on things like "The Accused," "Heathers," "RoboCop" and "Throw Momma From The Train," so I was able to build up a good resume and then I was fortunate enough to cast the first four season of "Party Of Five" and that's where I really found my footing professionally.

With "Party Of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," you also had the difficult task of discovering unknown talent. Did that prepare you for "The O.C." or was it a different process this time around?

PR: Well, before I read "The O.C." I was actually wanting to get away from teenagers. I wanted to cast a "Golden Girls" pilot. Ya know, bring in a couple of talented old tomatoes and you're done, right [laughs].

Because when you're casting a show like "The O.C.," you're trying to find the new crop of talent every year and that entails meeting-and-reading with 250 kids on average for each of the leads on your show and you keep going until you unturn the stone and find the one. I gotta say that the past year has been rough. I also did "Jack & Bobby" and "The Mountain," so finding new kids every year is hard.

Sounds like you're casting different shows at the same time. Do you remember actors that end up not getting a role for one show and bring them back for others?

PR: Yeah, I do. On "The O.C.," there was a girl who tested against Mischa Barton for the role of Marissa-an actress named Olivia Wilde. After she didn't get "The O.C." role, I was hired for a week to find the girl for "Skin," because two or three other casting directors had quit or been fired and if they didn't find someone in a week they'd have to maybe shut down production. Anyway, I loved Olivia Wilde so I brought her in and she ended up getting the role on "Skin." Interestingly enough, she's now on "The O.C." this year in a big role.

With "The O.C." there just seems to be an endless amount of new characters rolling in and out, for either brief periods or extended periods. Does a majority of your casting take place during the off-season or does it continue during the season?

PR: Well, for example, before coming back for Season Two, Josh Schwartz called me to say that we would be looking for four new kids to populate the cast with and we'll need them all to be around for six episodes or so. And then depending on where the story arcs are leading or what they have mapped out, the actors may be asked to stay longer.

That's what happened last year with the Anna character [played by Samaire Armstrong]. Originally, she was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but they just loved her and she ended up being around for a good long time.

So you never really know what's going to develop with a particular character?

PR: That's right, you never know. And the audience response to a character can change the length of time. If the audience responds to a character, like they did with Anna, you keep her around.

Well, I gotta admit that I was glad to see "Oliver" finally disappear. He was driving me crazy...

PR: Ah, come on [laughs]. Oliver was played by Taylor Handley and he's a really good kid. He was supposed to drive you nuts, so he did his job very well, right? [laughs].

Is it true that Melinda Clarke who does a great job as the evil Julie Cooper, actually read for the role of the perfect mother, Kirsten?

PR: Melinda did originally read for the Kirsten role, because in the pilot I think Julie Cooper had like five lines. In the pilot, the Julie character was a lot like the Summer character, who also only had like five or six lines. We knew that those characters were going to be around, but while we were trying to establish the other series regulars in the pilot, it was a case where there wasn't a whole lot for Julie and Summer to do.

I was a fan of Melinda's and [co-executive producer] Stephanie Savage knew her from "Fastlane," but the thing was that there just wasn't a lot for her to read as Julie, so she was brought in and read for the Kirsten part. But Melinda even said at the time, "I really love that Julie character."

Any other mix-and-match instances in the casting for "The O.C."?

PR: Well, Adam Brody actually pre-read for me for the role of Ryan. But I asked him to come back and read for the producers as Seth, because he really didn't come across as that sort of "bad boy from Chino" guy [laughs].

Speaking of Adam, we've heard that he almost blew his audition for Seth because he went off-script during his reading and did quite a bit of ad-libbing. True?

PR: Well, the thing is that during pilot season, these kids are running around and auditioning for like three different shows on the same day. They're literally trying to remember where they are and which show they're auditioning for, and then they walk in the door and we tell them to do the first scene, which is like three pages.

Now, with Adam, he was....well, let me just say that he certainly made it his own [laughs]. And the truth of the story is that Josh Schwartz said, "I never want to see that kid again. What was he doing?" [laughs].

The thing is that I liked Adam and thought he was funny, and as we continued to look and continued to look and couldn't find Seth, I said to Josh, "What about seeing Adam Brody again, if we ask him to actually memorize the lines?" [laughs].

And Josh, who is the easiest guy to get along with, said, "If you can get him back here and he sticks to the page, okay." The funny thing is that it took a while to get him to come back, but we did. And the rest is O.C. history.

How would you say your search is affected by reality, in the sense that finding a real person to match the character on the page can be difficult...

PR: Well, when you talk to creators of the show about the concept of what they want in a particular character, the great hope is that you can go out and deliver all of those aspects in one package. But when you can't find exactly what they're looking for, it's your job to find the best actor who can incorporate all the qualities of the role. So maybe he's not exactly 6'2, but they inhabit the character in other ways.

I see and hear the actors first in a pre-read situation and if I have a feeling about them, I'll ask them to come back and read for the producers. And at that point it's up to the actor to be able to win over the room and change some minds and maybe some preconceived notions about a particular character.

What is the time element for you, in terms of the main casting for a pilot?

PR: I'm usually brought in 8 to 10 weeks before the projected shooting date of a particular pilot, so it's always my hope in that first four weeks to knockout three or four of those lead roles. With "The O.C." we did that with Peter Gallagher as Sandy and Mischa Barton as Marissa being the first ones cast, then I think we got Benjamin McKenzie as Ryan and Kelly Rowan as Kirsten.

Benjamin and Adam didn't come to you with extensive credits as actors, which is always difficult for actors trying to get that big break. How important is an actor's resume to you?

PR: Well, I've spent quite a few years looking for new talent for pilots and I think because of that it's my job to look for "potential." In the type of ages that we're dealing with on shows like "The O.C.," I don't judge a resume; you can't. Most of what you'd see would be what plays they were in during high school and college. I think Adam had a recurring role on "Gilmore Girls" and Benjamin may have had a guest role on "JAG," so those aren't huge resumes.

Now that the main cast of "The O.C." have been so well established, is there one key ingredient that you're looking for in actors hoping to join this phenomenon?

PR: What I love so much about "The O.C." is its sense of humor. I mean I loved "Party Of Five" but there was not a lot of humor in it or a lot of quick dialogue like you find on "The O.C." And I think one of the reasons that "The O.C." really works is that it has tons of humor and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

So my parameters are who can step into this cast, which is now a well-oiled machine and a family, and who can banter with that dialogue or hold their own with Adam when he's doing his Seth. We're obviously looking for attractive people who can step in and not be overwhelmed by-like you called it-this phenomenon.

When you're casting, would you say that your first impressions are usually accurate?

PR: It's funny. I think I've heard Josh say in interviews that "every person that Patrick said was right for the role ended up getting it." I don't quite remember it being that easy [laughs], but part of my job is to weigh in with my thoughts and opinions of how I feel. And I've been lucky and blessed that in my career I've landed in projects where the kids have taken off.

I mean a lot of these young actors haven't honed their craft on Broadway, so I just weed through it all and hopefully find the kids who have some sort of spark or promise or potential. And if actors get dismissed that I believe in, I will speak up and say, "Can we give them another chance." That's all part of the job.