Most films, there is a slight problem with the casting. It's not quite right, but we so want to believe that we will go along with it. And there's a value to be gotten out of that tension. It frequently reminds me of... imagine a string quartet going to perform. And they're invited on stage. And they come up on stage. And as they come up on stage, the sheet music falls. And they quickly pick up the sheet music and sit down. And now they realise, 'Uh oh, I'm the cello, but I picked up the violin's part.' And the violin picked up the viola's part. And the viola picked up the second... Everyone is mixed up. But we have to go, you know? It's a thought experiment. And now, you can do it. If you're a talented string player, if you're playing the cello, you can transpose the violin into your range. But if the piece of music was written well, the composer took the strengths of the cello, and made the cello take advantage of those strengths.

And the same thing applies to the other instruments. Now the cello is interpreting the violin's part, as if it's the cello. And so there's a tension there that can fail completely. You can listen to that music and say, 'This is terrible. Why does it sound...?' Well, let me tell you, they dropped the music. So that's like bad casting. On the other hand, if the casting is not completely bad, and it's a certain kind of film that tension actually can produce interesting things... I didn't think it would work as well as it did.

But it really... There's something magical that happens because the cello's playing the violin's part. And the violin is playing the viola's part. And the viola's playing the cello's part. But you know, the composer would be horrified. As writers of films frequently are horrified when they watch films made of their work. But for an innocent, it's like, 'Oh, it's kind of interesting, you know?'

And that's one of the things that you have to accustom yourself to in films is taking advantage of the imperfections that happen because very rarely is everything perfect. You're always struggling with slight, 'I didn't think the weather would be cloudy this day.' 'Well, it's cloudy, so we're going to do it anyway. And maybe we can take advantage of that somehow. We'll find out.' So you're taking these leaps of faith. And casting is one of them. It's the most like nitro-glycerine, bad casting can sink a film. There's no question that if it's wrong, the film will not work, no matter how well everything else is done.

But that also, in the making of a film, can affect the process of the film because everyone is aware subconsciously or not that, you know, this isn't really working. And so their effort becomes compromised. 'Should I really take the extra 15 minutes to light this scene this way?' I'm exaggerating here. But improper casting can compound the problems in the making of the film, let alone the reception of the film when it's shown.