After putting out the initial casting call, we had an overwhelming amount of applications, even though all positions were completely unpaid and described as such right from the beginning. As the creator, I envisioned Sonoya Mizuno playing the key role of Lisa Jogoo, and, together with producer Robert Crocco, we based our initial round of narrowing down the selection on aesthetics for the female lead. Under the guidance of casting director Celine Zoleta, we invited a select few possible candidates for a personal audition in downtown Toronto and had to fill one cancellation last minute, adding Drew Catherine to the lineup, even though she did not exactly fit the profile at the time. Drew had the last auditioning spot and came in at the end of the day, blowing us away with her interpretation of the character. She truly emanated an incredible feeling of knowing Lisa better than I do and immediately gave me the confidence that my vision will be in the best hands if I entrusted her with this responsibility. For the male counterpart we went through a similar process and had the list of actors down to two at this point. However, each applicant gave us a very different take on their idea of Jonathan Baker. When watching back the recordings we realized that Michael Hallam was the one most willing to work on his performance right away. Asking questions and visibly pushing himself on the spot, taking direction very well from the start. Drew and Michael are both represented by Elizabeth Rotenberg from Redd Skye Talent Management and we're very much looking forward to working with both of them on THE SKY BENEATH OUR FEET this year.
