NEWS: Director Aneesh Chaganty’s Casting Process for His Upcoming Movie, ‘Run’1 min read

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Aneesh Chaganty, director, of Searching, shares the casting process for his new film, Run.

“Our last movie, Searching, featured a mostly Korean-American cast, but the plot had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It was just a thriller. We all thought it would be really cool to advocate for a group of people who weren’t media-represented in a major way. So when we started Run, we tried to do the same thing, except this time with a teenage lead who uses a wheelchair.

“Maybe we were just coming off the high of Searching, but internally we never really discussed any other possibility apart from looking for a super-talented actress with a lower-body disability in real life, even though we knew the search to find this person would be insanely unconventional. We had a great casting director, Rich Delia, who went out to [cast in the] ‘traditional way.’ But ultimately, the most success came via a grassroots approach: word-of-mouth, flyers at theatre groups and art programs, and outreach to disability-minded organisations around the country. It was a months-long process with extremely specific parameters, but we were convinced that person was, statistically, out there. We just had to find her. And eventually, we did. It’s probably the thing I’m most proud of.

Run also stars Golden Globe winner Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave). The movie will be released in January 2020 (TBC) and will be distributed by Encore Films & Golden Village Pictures in Singapore.