A little story time! The first time I saw Omete Anassi (
@ometeanassi ) was in June 2018 in a self tape he sent in for a supporting role in the short film BLUE (shoutout Ashley Eakin
@asheakin ). The scene was short but his performance immediately stood out among the 100 or people we auditioned for the role.
In February 2020, Omar Kamara (
@oskamara ) (and the amazing Guo Guo (
@guoguocricket )) reached out to me about casting a short film - Mass Ave (
@massavefilm ). It was the thick of pilot season and I was already working 12-14 hour days and I had PROMISED myself I was not going to take on anything else until the summer. But I took one look at the script and thought “well this one is basically going to cast itself because I happen to know EXACTLY WHO THIS WAS WRITTEN FOR!” Of course Omar immediately recognized Omete’s unnamable spark and thankfully Omete agreed to come aboard.
In May 2022 Omar reached out to me about casting African Giants (
@africangiantsfilm ), a feature with Omete attached as the lead! I was obviously immediately on board. We needed to find another actor to play Omete’s brother and we all knew it had to be someone special. I remember exactly where I was when I first watched Dillon Daniel Mutyaba’s (
@yodillondaniel ) audition tape and had the same feeling that I did the first time I saw Omete’s. Of course Omar and his incredible producer Leo Blumberg-Woll (
@lennyynardo ) immediately saw his brilliance too. A bunch of other stars aligned and here we are - Slamdance 2024.
Working with a director and producer duo like Omar and Leo is a casting director’s dream come true - they are champions for artists, generous collaborators, and brilliant artists themselves. I’m so proud and beyond thankful to have been invited in to the burgeoning Omar Kamara Universe and excited for the world to be blessed with the immeasurable talents of Omete & Dillon and the rest of our incredible cast.
#slamdance #africangiants #castingby #casting
