Now Casting: The Terrible Child
Format: Short (calling card for feature)
Approx. Runtime: 10 mins.
Shoot Dates: September 2021
Location: Toronto
Rate: $150-$200/day
Non-union
Non-union
STORYLINE: A period piece set in Toronto in 2009. The Terrible Child revolves around a tense dinner in the life of Augusta “Gussie” Goodman, a brash sixteen year old pushing her family’s buttons as she stubbornly rejects the realities of her father’s losing battle with cancer.
CHARACTERS:
GUSSIE
- Role: Lead
- Gender: Female
- Age: 16-18
- Ethnicity: White
- Gussie is on the chubby-side with long hair. She should be a teen with confidence and candor (think Saoirse Ronan in “Lady Bird”) and should be ready to improvise her physicality to embody the role and ‘own’ the space (think Maya Erskine in “PEN15”). Gussie does not like being told what to do, hearing ‘no’, and she most definitely does not like being embarrassed. Her irreverence should falter in the face of her father’s illness. A level of restraint and command of intense emotionality will also be necessary for the role.
LINDA
- Role: Lead
- Gender: Female
- Age: 50-60
- Ethnicity: White
- Gussie’s mother. Linda is a slight and practical woman, guarded. Looks and performance-wise, she is somewhere between Judith Light and Julianne Moore. Her grey roots are showing beneath her professionally died hair. Linda is the primary caretaker for her husband and the head of household. She wants to smooth over everything, making it ‘nice’ and ‘comfortable.’ She is confused and sometimes disturbed by Gussie’s audacious personality.
IMELDA
- Role: Lead
- Gender: Female
- Age: 35-45
- Ethnicity: Filipino
- Gussie’s nanny. Imelda has raised Gussie and her sister Abby since they were babies and loves them like her own children. Gussie in particular has a strong bond to Imelda and is often seeking her attention and comfort as she tried to separate herself from the family unit. Imelda should have a motherly familiarity with Gussie and Abby, but an employee’s formality with James and Linda. She has a strong sense of self and should feel as at home in the house as any of the other family members. Importantly, however, Imelda has her own life away from Goodman family. At the end of the day she can “clock out” from the drama.
ABBY
- Role: Lead
- Gender: Female
- Age: 18-20
- Ethnicity: White
- Gussie’s sister. Abby should be smaller and quieter than her boisterous younger sister. Abby is home from her first year of university so she can be closer to her father as his health declines. She is in an on-again-off-again relationship with her high school boyfriend, Adam, but the comfort and familiarity he once provided her is fading as his emotional limitations become more obvious. Abby takes after her mother and wants to keep the peace. She is the dutiful daughter, ready to be of service, who keeps her personal feelings close to the chest — until her sister’s bratty behavior gets the best of her.
ADAM
- Role: Supporting
- Gender: Male
- Age: 18-20
- Ethnicity: Open
- Abby’s sometimes boyfriend. A stoner who doesn’t take anything too seriously. He drives a nice car but he’s still in high school doing a “victory lap.” Adam tries to cultivate a carefree vibe and is intimidated by the idea of confronting something as real as his girlfriend’s sick father.
JAMES
- Role: Lead
- Gender: Male
- Age: 50-60
- Ethnicity: White
- Gussie’s father. A round and animated character, James should be immediately likable. Beneath the medical speak and the obvious physical effects of his illness, he is a classic
- “Dad” (embarrassing, sincere, charming). Performance-wise he should have the soft-spoken command of Paul Giamatti with the enthusiasm of Robin Williams. The character should be able to accurately portray the sensitive and comical personality of the character as well as embody the physicality of a late-stage cancer patient.
ELIZABETH
- Role: Supporting
- Gender: Female
- Age: 50-60
- Ethnicity: Open
- The new night nurse. Elizabeth is a seasoned health home-care professional. She should be amicable, almost jovial. She is unwittingly the catalyst for the emotional outburst at the climax of the film.
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Hi, My name is Vincent Di Lella. I am currently a student at George Brown college majoring in Video Design and Production. I am currently looking for three actors in order to make my short horror thesis film Method. I am looking for two men and woman, ages 20-30.
Are you ready to get discovered?