How to Audition for Disney in the UK

Want to audition for some of the biggest, most successful films and TV shows in the world? It’s time to audition for Disney, the world’s largest film powerhouse with a box office take nearly four times its closest rivals.

Huge franchises and brands like Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century Fox, and Searchlight Pictures are all part of the Disney mega production family. If you’re an actor or a filmmaker – especially in the UK, where Disney is investing heavily – it’s time to sit up and take notice of the goliath that Mickey Mouse has become. 

Disney makes its own shows and films as well as working with external production companies, so if you’re after a role on a Disney shoot, you’ll need to scout out what they’re making at the moment and the casting directors (CDs) they’re working with. Another angle is to research what actors who’ve auditioned for Disney say about their experience – how did they get cast, how did they prepare, and what is their top advice for getting cast? 

Being prepared is crucial because the UK is becoming one of Disney’s most important global production hubs, and that means plenty of opportunities coming your way. In 2019, Disney signed a far-reaching 10-year deal with London’s Pinewood Studios, leasing at least 20 stages and taking over most of their production capacity. Recently films such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Mary Poppins Returns have all been shot at Pinewood, and Disney’s UK slate is only going to get bigger.

What does Disney make in the UK?

The answer to that question might best be answered by saying what Disney does not make. The company is enormous, taking in film, TV, and many production companies that don’t obviously seem to be part of Uncle Walt’s empire. With the launch of their streamer, Disney +, the company is also making new television shows and saying yes to new commissions that might not seem very Disney-ish, but very much are.

As well as the big names such as Star Wars (yes – Lucas is a Disney company) and Marvel (yes, them too), Disney also invests in smaller, more independent fare through its Searchlight Pictures arm, among others. Armando Iannucci’s period drama The Personal History of David Copperfield was a Disney/Searchlight co-production with Film 4. So, it’s not all mice, stormtroopers, and superheroes.

Recently, Disney announced a new slate of UK originals for Disney +, and the line-up was impressive. BAFTA award-winning writer Sally Wainwright, along with BAFTA-winning producers Sally Woodward Gentle (Killing Eve, Sid Gentle Films), Faith Penhale (production company Lookout Point), and Stephen Garrett (production company Character 7) are among the talent whose series will be launched on Disney+.

How can I find out who is casting Disney shows?

The best way is to keep an eye on the industry in order to see which films or shows have been greenlit and are coming into production over the next six or so months. If you’ve got an agent, great – they should be across opportunities, but if not then you can do this yourself.

Do your research and keep an eye on Backstage – especially our weekly Greenlit UK series, which announces major upcoming productions, including Disney. We usually announce who is casting what, and we carry plenty of interviews with casting directors for Disney productions, sharing their advice on how to approach them and get on their radar.

Find out more at Backstage.

When popular music makes a movie scene PERFECT!

Music in film plays such a key role in bringing cinema alive. 

Sometimes a great movie scene can simply be two people chatting alongside the Hudson River or perhaps a moment of complete silence where framing, performance and editing come to the fore. 

At other times it's about the music; those catchy hooks and infectious melodies becoming synonymous with iconic screen images.

Take for example Ghost. For the film to come alive – for its drama to tick and for the emotions it wants to resonate in its audience – the scene in which the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” plays as Sam and Molly make love, is pivotal to bringing all that together. 

The scene, which famously begins with the pair getting very wet at the pottery wheel, tells us everything we need to know about their love for one another in a matter of two minutes. The rest of the film riffs off this scene.

See more: 10 Unforgettable Times Popular Music Made A Movie Scene Perfect

Films about musicians

What are some of the best films about musicians?

Anyone who saw a live performance from Ian Curtis and Joy Division in the 1980s would find the experience difficult to forget. In Anton Corbijn’s dark drama, for example, the bleak black and white photography framing the urban mundanity its principle characters seek to free themselves of, Curtis’ baritone vocals and staccato swagger are recreated with a nightmarish intensity courtesy of Sam Riley’s performance.

The stand out moment is Corbijn’s overlay of Joy Division’s most famous song “Love Will Tear Us Apart” with a scene featuring Curtis telling his wife that it is okay to sleep with other men, culminating in her searching his belongings to reveal who he’s been unfaithful with.

This top 10 looks at the various ways music writers, players and performers have been depicted in cinema.

Horror films based on true stories

A number of well-known horror films are based on actual events.

1999's Ravenous, for example, was inspired by the activities of Alfred Packer in the 1870s while A Nightmare On Elm Street had its roots in the "Asian Death Syndrome" affecting Khmer refugees in the 1970s.

Elsewhere, David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers was inspired by the careers and demise of identical twin gynaecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus who practiced at New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College. The pair died together in 1975, the result of drug withdrawal following prolonged and extensive use of barbiturates.

And most will know about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper’s seminal 1974 horror film is entirely fictional. However, Leatherface and the psychotic family who attack and mutilate a group of innocent people have motivations and modus operandi mimicking that of notorious mad man Ed Gein. 

The Mad Butcher was arrested following investigations into the disappearance of shop owner Bernice Worden in late 1957. The woman’s body was found at Gein’s home, her head missing. It was here that investigators also found human remains which had been fashioned into furniture such as a wastebasket made out of human skin and bowls made from skulls. The Texan native was found to have murdered at least two people while exhuming a number of recently buried bodies to make various domestic items.

See Top 10 Films' list of the best horror films based on a true story here. 

Remembering Superman

 Some of the best bits from Richard Donner's Superman. 

Superman (stylized as Superman: The Movie) is a 1978 superhero film directed by Richard Donner, supervised by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, produced by their partner Pierre Spengler, written by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It is the first installment in the Superman film series. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Panama and the United States,^[3] the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Jeff East, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford, Phyllis Thaxter, Jackie Cooper, Trevor Howard, Marc McClure, Terence Stamp, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty, Jack O'Halloran, Maria Schell, and Sarah Douglas. It depicts the origin of Superman (Reeve), including his infancy as Kal-El of Krypton, son of Jor-El (Brando) and his youthful years in the rural town of Smallville. Disguised as reporter Clark Kent, he adopts a mild-mannered disposition in Metropolis and develops a romance with Lois Lane (Kidder) whilst battling the villainous Lex Luthor (Hackman).

Ilya had the idea of a Superman film in 1973 and after a difficult process with DC Comics, the Salkinds and Spengler bought the rights to the character the following year. Several directors, most notably Guy Hamilton, and screenwriters (Mario Puzo, David and Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton), were associated with the project before Richard Donner was hired to direct. Tom Mankiewicz was drafted in to rewrite the script and was given a "creative consultant" credit. It was decided to film both Superman and its sequel Superman II (1980) simultaneously, with principal photography beginning in March 1977 and ending in October 1978. Tensions arose between Donner and the producers, and a decision was made to stop filming the sequel, of which 75 percent had already been completed, and finish the first film.^[7]

The most expensive film made up to that point, with a budget of $55 million,^[8][9] Superman was released in December 1978 to critical and financial success; its worldwide box office earnings of $300 million made it the second-highest-grossing release of the year. It received praise for Reeve's performance and John Williams' musical score,^[10] and was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Score), and Best Sound, and received a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects.^[11] Groundbreaking in its use of special effects and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, the film's legacy presaged the mainstream popularity of Hollywood's superhero film franchises. In 2017, Superman was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.

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Road Rage: when movies give the highway fangs

Road trips gone bad...

For years, cinema treated the road as a place of fun and adventure. There was cheerful competition in The Great Race (1965), family frolics in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and magic in The Love Bug (1969). Meanwhile, Cliff Richard was off on his “Summer Holiday” in a converted London bus in Peter Yates’ musical from 1963.

Alfred Hitchcock had hinted at its dangers when Janet Leigh chose the wrong motel to stop at in Psycho but the road really began to grow fangs after audiences saw the bullet-riddled car of Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. It was the turn of the American New Wave and the road was looking decidedly different.

Road Rage movies. 

Examples:

Jeeper Creepers

Dir. Salva (2001)

Victor Salva’s malevolent road user The Creeper and “its” unrelenting pursuit of siblings Trish (Gina Philips) and Darry (Justin Long) across the Floridian countryside is pulsating entertainment of the horrific kind. Part Duel, part The Hitcher, part Christine, Jeepers Creepers unapologetically wallows in the tropes that its writer-director has clearly loved as a fan-turned-filmmaker.

There’s nothing wrong with this. Audiences well-versed in the conventions of the “monster movie” will enjoy Salva’s obvious earnestness to roll out the red carpet for them; the joy of watching in the expectation of jolts to the senses. Jeepers Creepers certainly fulfils that demand, helped by Salva’s clever horror beats that often elongate the tension before the payoff.

Dead End

Dir. Andrea/Canepa (2003)

The road gets a distinctly paranormal feel in this horror about a family seemingly trapped on the same stretch of highway. After Dad, Frank Harrington (Ray Wise) narrowly misses a head on collision things begin to go bump in the night as a series of strange occurrences befall him and his passengers.

Road Rage: Top 10 Films Featuring Terror On The Highway