We discussed the extent to which Keira would or would not try to look exactly like Katharine Gun. In this case, Keira’s Katharine and the real Katharine bear no physical resemblance. In this case, we were very fortunate to get Keira, who wanted to play the role, and also happens to have a really good name for the marketing department. Kate will read the script and send me a pretty extensive list of suggestions for every role, from knowns to unknowns. I’ve worked with her previously on my films “Eye in the Sky” and “Rendition.” She’s an American who lives in London so she’s very familiar with British actors and American actors. I love working with Kate Dowd, my casting director. How did Keira Knightley come to play the role? You have to have the right actress, who also has a name, who breaks through some of the noise. It’s about how do we go about casting this in a way that addresses every one of those questions you pose because those are the ones the financiers are going to ask. There is so much noise out there, all of it competing for your eyeballs. Most people stay home and watch them on their TV screens, and the collective experience is somewhat lost. You’re working with a low budget, and financing independent films has gotten tougher because fewer people are watching them in the cinema. They all bleed into each other because films like these are very difficult to get made. When you finally reached that point, did it become a question of “Who looks like Katharine Gun?” or “Who has star power that will get it financed?” or “What looks good on the poster?” It wasn’t until after I’d finished the script that it became, ‘Who is going to play Katharine Gun?’ I kept running the script by them to get their sign-off because the last thing you want is to tell a story about people who are alive, and they say how much they hate your movie. I wanted to do my best to represent the real Katherine Gun, the real Ben Emmerson and the real Martin Bright because I’d met and spoken to them all. So, while writing, I only had her in mind. I spent five straight days, for five or six hours at a time, with the real Katharine Gun, and then began writing her story. In the case of “Official Secrets,” this was the story of people who are very much alive. Normally, when I’m writing fiction, I often search around for actors I might think about for the role, or even have someone in mind that may or may not end up playing the part. When you were writing the script, did you already have an actor in mind for the role? Hood spoke to Casting Networks about how he came to cast his leading lady and discussed his long-standing relationship with casting director Kate Dowd as well as his own preferred casting process. Keira Knightley stars as Gun alongside a cast that also includes Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Matt Smith and Rhys Efans. Hood is back with another ripped-from-the-headlines indie, the British-US thriller “Official Secrets.” The film, which opens August 30, tells the true story of British whistleblower Katharine Gun who leaked information to the press about illegal US activities in its push for the 2003 Iraq war. Hood made his American directorial debut with the geopolitical thriller “Rendition,” starring Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, before taking on Marvel’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” He continued on the big-budget front with the sci-fi actioner “Ender’s Game” before returning to more politically charged indie fare with the British thriller “Eye in the Sky,” starring Helen Mirren. South African-born actor-turned filmmaker Gavin Hood appeared on Hollywood’s radar when his searing 2005 drama “Tsotsi” won the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
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