Avy Kaufman Pulls Back the Curtain on Casting ‘Succession’
You may have heard of a little show called Succession. And by little, we mean widely popular and critically acclaimed — the series’ final season swept up a breathtaking 27 Emmy nominations this year.
We wanted to catch up with the casting director of the series that dominated this year’s list of nominees. Avy Kaufman — who’s also recognized in the Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series category — took time out to virtually sit down with Casting Networks and pull back the curtain on casting Succession.
Kaufman came onto Jesse Armstrong’s corporate saga about the Roy family after its inaugural season, and she’s won an Emmy for each subsequent installment that she’s cast so far. When we caught up with the casting director, we had to ask about landing Alexander Skarsgård, one of the actors nominated for Succession who wasn’t an original cast member. Kaufman acknowledged the challenge of finding someone who could keep up with the powerhouse on-screen family and revealed how she had strongly wanted Skarsgård for the role of Lukas Mattson because she knew he was up to it. “I couldn’t be happier he said yes and couldn’t be happier to see his performance,” she added.
We also wanted to know about the new players in the series’ final season. Kaufman first praised the excellence of the show’s writers, as well as the Succession creator. “Jesse [Armstrong] is the most wonderful person to work with — so gentle, so giving,” the casting director relayed. She went on to mention two examples of actors who came onto the show’s final season and were able to jump right in with the other established players. Kaufman noted Adam Godley’s performance in the season’s eighth episode — involving the wasabi-to-the-eye incident — as well as Annabeth Gish’s work opposite Kieran Culkin in episode six.
And considering the relatively recent end to the cultural phenomenon of a series, we were curious about what being a part of Succession has meant to the casting director. Her response started with an acknowledgment for the “brilliant job” done by Francine Maisler with the series’ original casting. Kaufman also revealed that Succession was her first experience joining a show after its inaugural episode/season. “I felt like I was being invited to be part of a family,” she recalled. “And that’s how I took it — that’s how I worked on it.”
You can catch all the insights Kaufman gave us about casting Succession in our on-camera installment of Pulls Back the Curtain.
—
This video interview has been edited and condensed.
There are plenty of strike-compliant roles available on Casting Networks. Sign up or login and see what’s casting near you today!
You may also like:
- Polishing Your Comedy: Tips and Tricks for Effective Bits
- Actor/Filmmaker Amy Redford Talks Casting Actors With Famous Last Names in ‘What Comes Around’
- Walking and Talking the Company Line
