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‘Ripley’ Casting Director Avy Kaufman on Collaborations with Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee and Fighting for Evan Peters
Kaufman talks about casting Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning in the Steve Zaillian series and fighting for Evan Peters in "Mare of Easttown."
Kaufman first worked with Zaillian on his feature directorial debut, 1993’s “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and has gone on to collaborate with the filmmaker on all his directing gigs since, including “The Night Of” and “A Civil Action.” She’s won three Emmy Awards, two for “Succession” and one for “Damages.” And she has teamed with the best of the best, from Ang Lee to Steven Spielberg, over the course of her impressive career. “Which I respect, but it does take some time.” Andrew Scott was already attached to play the titular title character, and it was Kaufman who suggested Dakota Fanning to costar as Marge Sherwood, the female lead and a major antagonist to Ripley. Some favorite casting memories include scouring chess clubs for child actors for “Bobby Fischer” and traveling to India and finding Suraj Sharma, who had never acted before, for the lead in “Life of Pi.” She also suggested both Julianne Nicholson and Evan Peters for “Mare of Easttown.” Though Peters was established, his role in the limited series was unlike characters he had previously played, and Kaufman says she had to fight for him — both actors ended up winning Emmy Awards for their performances.
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