Casting directors Errin Elizabeth Lally and Annalese Tilling talk to The Contending about building the commune in Guy Nattiv’s cult drama The Liberation.
The Liberation casting directors Errin Elizabeth Lally and Annalese Tilling have quite the resume. One look on IMDB and you’ll spy everything from feel-good holiday flicks to Longlegs.
“The balance and the variety is the best part of the job because there’s not one day like any other day,” said casting director Lally of Lally Tilling Casting. “Working in Vancouver where there’s a lot of service work and local Canadian projects, you really get a balance of both the stuff that comes here, which is the Christmas movies and TV series and then some really cool features. So we’re lucky enough to be able to work on all sorts of things at the same time.”
Lally’s casting collaborator Tilling said the two of them collaborate on every part of the process.
“We both have our creative choices, and we chat about them and come to a consensus,” said Tilling. “It’s great having two perspectives. We’re pretty much aligned on most things. And then sometimes one person will love someone maybe a little bit more and then vice versa. And it’s just really nice to be able to kind of have two brains on it because casting can be subjective, although sometimes everybody in the room can see one person and you’re blown out of the water and everybody feels the same. And that is our favorite part.”
The “Original” Liberation Cast
Based on the true story of writer/director Guy Nattuv’s grandmother, The Liberation, about a Holocaust survivor who falls into a cult, had been in development for 10 years, with Naomi Watts and Vicky Krieps at one point considered for Carrie Coon and Lily James’ roles, respectively. Eventually, the four main principals–Coon, James, Odessa Young, and Bella Ramsey—became attached before Lally and Tilling came on to the film.
But Coon’s casting was fortuitous in many ways. For the role of Rita’s long-suffering husband, they turned to…well, Coon’s real-life husband, Tracy Letts.
“When it was brought up that he was willing to participate, you can’t say no,” said Lally. “That’s an amazing find. They’re obviously so natural together on screen. I had forgotten when I was watching it that they’re married in real life. They’re so good.”
For the commune depicted in the film, the duo sought a variety of ages (“from 20-year-olds to 80-year-olds” said Lally) to show that this was a group that welcomed everyone. This specificity made the casting process take a little longer, but they wanted to find actresses who could go toe to toe with Coon and James.
“It was a real boot camp,” said Tilling. “And they were on an island, so it’s not like you go home at the end of the day. Also, a lot of the commune rules were challenging because Guy wanted a mix of people who would be open to having very short haircuts, shaving their hair, people that were open to nudity, if they’re comfortable with it, and then obviously, the location and leaving your family.”
The Hunting Wives’ standout Jamie Ray Newman has two roles in The Liberation, as Denise who’s searching for her sister in the commune, and as a producer on the film.
“We were looking for that role, and sometimes producers don’t want to wear two hats, but luckily, she was willing to,” said Lally.
A “Brick By Brick” Process
As a period piece filmed on a budget, Lally and Tilling had their work cut out for them, finding gems like a local actor who played an ominous driver in the film.
“We didn’t want any one role to take us out of it,” said Lally. “And I feel like hopefully we accomplished that. But it really felt like we were adding it brick by brick, you know, over the three or four months that we were working on it.”
“We did a lot of in-person callbacks with Guy as well and seeing performers in person,” added Tilling. “And that is always a really fun part of the process when we’re able to do that. So you do feel kind of close to the material, closer to the team, really part of the whole collaborative process.”
“And then at the same time,” said Lally, “we wanted to be very respectful to the true nature of the story and how close Guy was to it. We really wanted to make sure he was comfortable and fulfilling the vision he had obviously spent 10 years working on.”
