IMAGINE (IM): Carolyn, tell us how it began for you on the film MYSTIC RIVER.

Carolyn Pickman(CP): It came to me in a dream when I was on the Charles River, but when I looked up there was a sign that said Mystic River. (Laughter) A little levity here. Rumor has it that Clint Eastwood first saw the book written by Dennis LeHane at a friend's house on the coffee table.

Clint asked his friend about the book, picked it up and the rest is history. He optioned the rights and soon we had the great fortune of having a wonderful crew coming from LA. They really knew how to work together. The location people had worked with Clint before. They showed him exactly what he wanted to see in terms of the temperament of the story that he read.

The next question came as to what this movie was budgeted as and again, I'm not the producer just the Casting Director, but rumor has it that this was a 50 million dollar movie. But at the end they were delighted in the accounting department and the Unit Production Manager was delighted having saved 10 million on the film because of the way the Director shoots.

IM: How did you find out about this movie or how did they find you?

CP: Most of my jobs happen word of mouth and it's because of previous work that I've done with casting directors outside of Boston. Other casting directors find me. So Phyllis Huffman, who works with Clint Eastwood on all of his movies, asked Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson in LA who was casting in Boston. They also called others including Peter Kelly and asked who were some of the people in Boston.

After talking with Janet Hirshenson, she offered me the job for principals casting. We looked in LA and New York as well. She only wanted to see 3 or 4 people per part and that's very difficult to do. But she new immediately, as you guys (actors present) could tell in your audition situations and it was fast.

Bates Wilder (BW): I left feeling, well gee, they didn't give me something else to read. I went in with this one script and I read it and she just said, "Thank you so much" and I walked out with my hat in my hands. I felt I must've screwed up, I felt good about it (the reading) though. I got the part but it was everyone else who got other things to read.

CP to Actor Lonnie Farmer (LF): Did you get the part that you read for?

LF: She asked me to read two other parts and I got one of those, the lab technician. So I felt good about it because she did have me read for a part she wanted.

CP: Let me tell you, as a little secret, that the Director did see these readings but he only wanted one take for each person, so we edited for that.

IM: Did you choose or did he watch first takes because he's a first take kind of guy?

CP: That's true but he wanted Phyllis to choose the best take because he trusts her judgment and she works the way he does. What happened for you Ken?

Ken Cheeseman: I got one of the parts I read for but I wasn't sure I was in until the very end because the character was Stanley the Giant, I'm tall but not a giant. But I rode my Bike to the set and was all blown out and I hadn't shaved when his assistant introduced me to Clint and he said (Clint Eastwood imitation), "not bad casting if I do say so myself." (Laughter) And I knew my day was made. They're going to keep me on the set.

CP: So when you got on the set what went through your mind?

LF: It was fast. One day I started working at 2pm and was done by 3:15pm. One take, two take, done.
A couple of master shots were one take. The only rare time it wasn't was just because of technical problems. Lighting or a camera or something.

CP: Sometimes he was so low key you could barely hear him. When I was on the set and he used round hand gestures to indicate cameras rolling.

BW: It was amazing that there weren't PA's, 1st AD's and 2nd AD's yelling like on most sets. His PA's would do what he did spinning a finger in the air or to their lips if people were talking and everyone got quiet. This was huge; people were quiet, low key and happy. Also, on my second day there was a helicopter shot and they did it in less than 2 hours.

CP: Tell your story about the horses.

KC: I had a day on the set, in a bar scene, practicing drinking fake beer and warming up with Tim Robbins when suddenly I thought I heard "Action" and we were rolling. We hadn't even rehearsed and I thought, this is great, this is what I would do with some of my students. We just went with it. Some of my students at BU (Boston University) who were extras had the same experience. Clint comes over and puts his hand on your shoulder and just starts talking. My wife and I ride horses and took a horse whispering class because we thought it seemed to apply to acting and the teaching of acting. There was something about the way Clint works with actors that reminded me of the horse whispering technique, just this gentle word.

CP: That's his style, we had more than 1200 people who got work as extras but I wasn't tired at the end of this movie. We did work hard but this one was invigorating and it was because things were so calm.

IM: I'd like to follow up on what Ken was saying. My sister Susan who is a wonderful actress spent a week on the set of BRONCO BILLY. When he directed she said she couldn't figure out how he set the tone for the cast and crew, what he did to make it work so well. How did he set the tone for you?
BW: In my brief experience with him, part of it was that he trusted the people he works with. He hired a group of people who also hired people who they trusted. He obviously trusted his Casting Director out in LA with just one take, that's unheard of. Residually that trust goes to everyone.

CP: Yes, trust and a lot of support. I felt I had support from the Producer, from the first AD, and that's very difficult because AD's always have so many distractions but these AD's were very good. We supported one another. There were two and it was obvious they had worked together before.

KC: Just to add to this trust and support, also he's incredibly sensitive. Very attuned to what everyone was doing. He had this thing from Sony showing everything that was on the camera and you could see him enjoying the new toy. I like that technical stuff too. He showed it to us when he had the shot but was sensitive to our acting process and didn't interfere using just a few quiet words.

Lonnie Farmer: I had two scenes with Lawrence Fishburn and Kevin Bacon and they were very relaxed. I even did the whole six degrees thing with Kevin and, yes, he was good about it.

Bates: I was with Lawrence and Kevin and I had a little Monologue, which was a laugh line, and Sean Penn was such a contrast as this dark guy you couldn't go near. He may have been doing a Daniel Day Lewis being in character all day.

Lonnie: Well the book subject can be so dark he may have needed to be in that place for character.

CP: There were 24 principles cast. Some people got their first part. Extras walked on and were given the big "U" upgrade. Three or four got upgrades.

IM: What was the scenario for that?

CP: One was the church scene and the priest had to speak, a couple were in the scene from 1975. Clint wanted more exposition on that scene so he turned to these actors and said, "Can you improvise?" I got word there were contracts being handed out on the set, which was great. And they did great, they must've been local theater actors to be able to do that. I guess they don't get that much with LA actors. Tell me what to say and I'll improv (laughter)...