On the Verge: Amber Havard
When writer/director Annie Silverstein was casting her independent film, Bull, she wanted a mix of professional and non-professional actors. The script, which she co-wrote with Johnny McAllister, is about 14-year-old delinquent girl, Kris, destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps to prison. Caught trashing the home of a neighbor — an aging bull rider barely scraping by — the teenager must make amends by helping him around the house and at work. In the process, she discovers a passion for bull riding, but bad influences still lurk in the shadows, tempting Kris back to her old ways.
Shooting the film in Texas, Silverstein enlisted the support of rodeo communities, which lent authenticity to the film by letting production shoot at their events, with members even appearing on screen.
With only three professional actors in the film, Rob Morgan (Stranger Things), Yolonda Ross (The Chi), and Troy Hogan (Friday Night Lights), the hiring of non-professionals was given to local casting directors Vicky Boone and Chantel Johnson.
One day, 14-year old Texan middle schooler Amber Havard was called out of class for a video interview with the casting directors.
“They’d spent time at Amber’s middle school and made a list of girls they thought could fit the part of Kris, and then asked permission to do interviews with them over their iPhones,” Silverstein said in an interview with Casting Networks.
“Annie saw the interview and told them she wanted to audition me,” remembers Havard, now 16, of that time.
Except the video Silverstein saw was not quite what was originally intended. Boon accidentally forgot to hit “record” during their interview, so when she pressed the button to stop recording, that’s when recording actually began.
“All I saw of Amber was her listening to Vicki wrap up the interview, saying, ‘All right, thank you so much for your time, the director will get in touch if she wants to go further,’” the filmmaker remembers.
That was enough to grab Silverstein’s attention.
“The way Amber listened, she was so present, and her eyes were so active,” said Silverstein. “This character keeps a lot inside and is very internal. It was so important to have the person playing Kris express themselves while listening, so the audience could see her thoughts across her face.”
Intrigued by what she saw, Silverstein wanted to see Havard in person for an audition. After that round of casting, Havard emerged as the top choice for the lead. However, the director needed reassurance that the young girl would indeed be up for the task of carrying a film.
“Working on a movie is a lot of work, and it’s a lot of pressure; not everybody understands that if they’ve never done it before,” she said.
Silverstein and Havard spent time getting to know each other so the director could be confident that her potential lead actress knew what she’d be getting herself into.
“There is mature content in this film, and I needed to know Amber would be comfortable taking it on. I didn’t want this to be something that would turn in to a bad experience for her, only positive.”
Once the role officially became Havard’s, the two met regularly to help familiarize the soon-to-be actor with the process of filmmaking.
“We’d do exercises to introduce directing to her, so Amber would see that I’d be asking for multiple performances from her,” said Silverstein. “I’d show her how I would be making adjustments. It was about learning this language together and have her know how it would be used on set.”
Havard, who had never even participated in any theater locally or at her middle school, found the experience very rewarding.
“I have nothing to compare it to, but it was a lot of fun,” said Havard. “I loved meeting new people and learning new things. I’d never been to rodeos before making this film; I’d never even been on a horse before this film either.”
When Bull was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival last year in the Un Certain Regard section, Havard also experienced another first. “I’ve never been out of the country before; I was there for a week and really liked it. I’m not one to get dressed up and have my picture taken, but now and then, I don’t mind.”
Now the Texas-based actress is hoping the film will help her land an agent so she can continue to pursue her craft.
Bull, initially scheduled for a theatrical release on March 20th, was moved to a May 1st release on VOD only, due to theater closures as a result of COVID-19. As much as she would have liked to see Havard’s debut performance get a traditional rollout in movie theaters, Silverstein acknowledges that there are more important things to worry about.
“People are losing their loved ones right now; people are losing jobs and their businesses. I spend time worrying about my family more than anything else. But, we will get through this, and we will keep making films.”
Silverstein would still like to do something special for the cast, crew, and rodeo communities — all of whom worked so hard to bring the film to life. A big theatrical premiere may not be possible now; there could be other ways to make it happen while complying with social-distancing rules.
“Maybe we can have a drive-in,” she said. “They seem to be making a comeback these days.”
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