11.16.2009

casting call seeks korean actors for school shooting film

Came across this casting call posted on Craigslist looking for a NYU grad student film and couldn't help but cringe a little. The production is looking for two Korean actors to play the parents of a school shooter. Sound familiar? A bit too familiar. Here's the posting:
Need Korean Actors for NYU Grad Film Project

I am a second year NYU Grad Film student looking for two Korean actors for my next film.

The film tells the story of a Korean-American family that must deal with the aftermath of a school shooting that their son is responsible for.

deferred pay (for union actors), food, transportation, etc

Here are the character descriptions:

Choi Se-Joon, 57 – Immigrated to the United States with his family about 20 years ago. Owns and operates a dry cleaning business with his wife, Hee-Young. Se-Joon was always tough on his son, who he thought was too sensitive and always rejected Hee-Young’s requests to get him professional, mental health treatment. After the shooting, se-Joon represses his feelings and rejects the role he played in failing to help his son.

Choi Hee-Young, 49 – Immigrated to the United States with her husband and family about 20 years ago. Helps her husband at their dry cleaning business. Hee-Young always defended her son’s behavior to her husband, and pleaded to be able to take him for professional help. She went behind her husband’s back to get her son some help, but after the shooting, she feels guilty that she failed her son. She is torn apart by this guilt, but grows increasingly angry and bitter towards her husband for his stubbornness and rejection of his son.

Please contact me if interested or know of anyone that might be able to help with casting.
I don't know about you, but I read this and all sorts of red flags go off. If done well, this could be a really interesting film. If handled wrong -- and it would be easy to mess this up -- it could be disastrous. Either way, it's going to be provocative for sure. I'm scared to see how this one turns out. (Thanks, Peter.)

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