Get to Know the Casting Director: Natalie Lyon

When you’re one of the casting directors at Pixar Animation Studios, it follows that your casting credits are nothing short of impressive. From Ratatouille to Inside Out to Coco to the currently Artios-nominated Lightyear, Natalie Lyon has some big titles to her name. For those wanting to get to know the casting director behind the stacked résumé, though, we’ve got you covered. Lyon made time to virtually sit down with Casting Networks and give insights into everything from how she works — including a window into casting the Artios and Oscar-nominated Turning Red — to which voice actor she’d cast as the lead in a hypothetical animated feature about her life.

It’s great to virtually meet you, Natalie, and I’d love to kick things off right at the beginning of your career journey. When was the moment you knew that casting was the job for you?

I remember being in junior high when I first found out that casting was actually a job. Growing up, my friend Rachel and I would read books and then decide who we’d cast in an on-screen adaptation. Or if we watched a movie, we’d discuss who we’d pick if we were to recast it. But, I’d never thought before that moment in junior high that it could be a real job. It was also hard to wrap my mind around the fact that you could review film/TV for a living because that’s also something I wanted to do. So, I ended up getting a degree in film studies with a minor in journalism. I did freelance work reviewing series and movies while I was still in school, and then my first job out of college involved doing the same type of work for a website. Then a few years later, I transitioned to being a development PA [production assistant] at Pixar. I discovered that the development producer, Kevin Reher, also did casting. I was like, “Wait, hold the phone.” From then on, I continued progressing through different levels of development but helped with casting whenever possible. I’d always see if there was any way I could help with that department so I could at least be remotely near the work. And eventually, I switched over to casting full time for Pixar.

That leads us to present day. Congrats are in order for your work on Turning Red, which is currently up for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards and also garnered you an Artios nom. What can you tell us about the process of assembling the cast for the film?

Pixar movies generally take between four and seven years to make. Brave, for example, took seven years. So, for context, it’s a very long process. After a project is greenlit, its scenes go through various stages of refinement before they’re ultimately approved for the final version of the movie. During the early stages of that process, the scenes will have temporary music, temporary sound effects and temporary voices. Regarding the latter, that means we haven’t cast the actual voice actors yet. Because, it’s the worst thing if you cast too early while they’re still working on the story, and then the character ends up getting cut before the final version of the movie. So, we’ll often use internal folks, such as people on the story team or people who work in the Pixar café, for our temporary voices. If we can’t find someone within the studio, we’ll try to bring in a local actor. And sometimes the person we have doing temporary vocals ends up actually being cast in the role for the final film.

Really?

That’s what happened with Rosalie [Chiang], who voices the lead role of Mei for Turning Red. She’s a local actress who we’d originally brought in to do temporary vocals. With kids, it’s rare that they’ll make it through the process to the final film, purely because their voices often change during the years it takes to make the movie. But, in Rosalie’s case, it worked! It was really special to see Rosalie involved with the project from the beginning and then see her eventually lead the film. And regarding the rest of the casting process, once you have the lead, it’s a matter of building out the rest of the cast bit by bit. As you go, you want to make sure that your voice actors don’t have similar voices. It’s shocking how many people sound alike.

That’s a fascinating insight into the process.

And one of my favorite things we do is that we only share audio clips when presenting casting options, removing any names or faces of actors from the equation. Because, it doesn’t matter what someone looks like — we only care about their voice. We’re not casting based on who’s the most famous or has more Instagram followers, and in general, we want to remove any kind of bias to make sure everyone’s on an even playing field. It’s also really nice that people at Pixar are onboard with that kind of blind casting. For example, [Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer] Pete Docter doesn’t know who he’s listening to when he’s approving final casting either. It’s a matter of listening to the audio clips while looking at the art for the character and determining which voice genuinely seems like it would be coming out of the character.

Thanks for sharing that window into how things work with casting at Pixar. And now, it’s time for my favorite question. If someone made an animated feature about your life story, which actor would you cast to voice the role of Natalie Lyon?

That would be the most boring movie! [Laughs] It would need to be some sort of ‘90s indie film that also followed a bunch of other people and all their storylines to keep it interesting. As far as the actress, Janeane Garofalo comes to mind. Why not? I mean, I’m not that cool, funny or rad. But it’s a movie, so you can adapt my character to fit. Janeane voiced the character of Colette for Ratatouille, which was the first animated feature I cast. But, she had a French accent for the role, so it’s fine — nobody will make the connection…

[Laughs] That’s a great choice. And before we wrap, I’d love to hear about the source from which you draw creative inspiration when it comes to casting.

As casting directors, we try and keep an eye out for people everywhere. We may attend an improv fest or find a short film on YouTube. We’re constantly watching films and series, which includes looking up the actors and seeing what other projects they’ve been in. And I’ll also do the same for casting directors. If I watch a movie and think that the cast is amazing, I’ll look up the casting director and then explore their filmography. That happened with Victoria Thomas the other day. I started looking up all the different projects she’s cast and my mind was just blown. It’s unreal — her work is amazing. The same goes for Allison Jones, and those are just two examples off the top of my head.

Before the interview’s conclusion, Lyon shared one more insight into her work. “We don’t hire jerks,” the casting director noted. “We’re looking for people who are generous and nice to be around that will also bring something special to the project.” So, from Lyon’s early interest in her chosen career path to her appreciation for the work of others in her field to the value she places on kindness when casting, this has been a window into the person behind all the credits. Those interested in learning more about the impressive list of titles on her casting résumé can find them listed on IMDb.

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This interview has been edited and condensed.

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