18 minute read
NANCY KLOPPER | MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
NANCY KLOPPER:
A CARETAKER FOR HER COMMUNITY
by Jessica Pelletier, Casting Intern, ABC Signature
For those who don’t know her personally, one might see the name Nancy Klopper and think first of her prolific resume of classic films – among them, Risky Business (1983), Office Space (1999), The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Ray (2004), Mommie Dearest (1981), Malice (1993), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), White Nights (1985), and Fantastic Four (2005), to name just a few. What some may not know of, or may not actively think of her for, is her impactful activism, both in the industry and in the world.
Now retired mostly to her cozy home in Pacific Palisades, California with her dog Lucy, Nancy lives as a walking pillar of casting history. In work and in life, Nancy has always strived to take care of those around her and continues to do so today, working closely with the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness (PPTFH).
Blake Edwards and Nancy
I’M GOING TO BE IN SHOW BUSINESS. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M GONNA DO...AND YEAH, I NEVER LOOKED BACK.
Beginnings in Lynn Stalmaster’s Office
Born in the Shaker Heights suburb outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Nancy recalls a happy childhood filled with strong Midwestern values. Funnily enough, what she didn’t recall having was a strong presence of was film. Her family was made up of her father, a stockbroker, her mother, a housewife, and her older brother and sister. And as far back as she can remember, they never really went to the movies. Her exposure to the medium came in pockets, but those were enough to pull her in.
“I didn’t like school, and I couldn’t wait to get out. The minute I did, the minute, I drove to California. And I said, ‘I’m going to be in show business. I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I’m gonna do something in show business’ …And yeah, I never looked back.
Once in LA, Nancy struck gold. During her initial survival hustle, she landed a one-day temp job at Lynn Stalmaster’s office. This was around 1976-77.
When asked what a day in that office was like for her, Nancy dropped a familiar line: “I answered the phones. Really, that’s the best way to learn for anyone wanting to get into casting. Answering the phones, you learn who all the people are and you learn everything that’s going on.
Having broken in, Nancy turned what was meant to be a day job into a oneweek job, then into a two-week job. At the end of those two weeks, she decided that it was time for her to negotiate.
“I said,
‘you guys should make a decision on if you want to hire me, because I’m looking for a permanent job and I’m going to go on interviews. ’” That was what it took. From that point on, Nancy began working in a full-time capacity in Lynn’s office for the next six years, a time she remembers fondly: “It was a very exciting time to be there. We worked on all the Hal Ashby and Sydney Pollack movies and the very classy TV projects like Roots. It was crazy busy and loads of fun.
As is the case for many an earlycareer casting director, she would spend most of her days with those who would come up alongside her Lisa Freiberger, the late Gail Eisenstadt, and her then-boss, [CAA agent] Toni Howard, whom she credits for teaching her everything she needed for those early days, and who eventually became Lynn’s partner.
Going Independent
Nancy took the lead on both The Onion Field (1979) and The Rose (1979) in her first couple of years at the office. Following these came An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). Working on these films, she’d foster relationships with the creatives she’d meet - folks like Harold Becker, Marvin Worth, Taylor Hackford, Blake Edwards, and television producers Steve Tisch and Jon Avnet – who would lead to the large majority of her career. Separate from these, another of Nancy’s first films was cult classic Mommie Dearest (1981) for Frank Yablans and Frank Perry. A personal favorite of mine from Nancy’s resume, I couldn’t help but pick it out and ask what it was like to work on the film.
“You know, I just saw it on TV recently and Diana Scarwid was just brilliant!” she exclaimed. “When we started casting the movie, Anne Bancroft was set to play Joan Crawford. She withdrew and Faye Dunaway replaced her. The movie did well mostly because it had a cult following. It was considered very campy. I actually had a great time on it. It was one of my earliest.
It was around this time that Nancy met with Taylor Hackford for lunch, musing on how she’d like to go out on her own. In response, he told her: “Well, if you do, you will have me. ” This, in combination with an introduction to Martin Davidson [director of Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)] through Steve Tisch, gave her the confidence to take those first steps. At this point, she was around 25 years old. Soon after, she would get hired on yet another of her biggest blockbusters.
Steve Tisch, Nancy, and Jon Avnet
Lynn Stalmaster and Nancy
Risky Business (1983)
Out of all the relationships she cultivated while at Lynn’s, Nancy cited Tisch and Avnet as being real trailblazers for her career. It was through them that she would get Risky Business.
“While I was casting Eddie and the Cruisers [in New York], I got a call from Tisch and Avnet, saying, ‘we have a new project. It’s called Risky Business and it’s going to film in Chicago, but you have to come interview with the director in LA. ’ I couldn’t take a day off, so I took the red-eye to LA, went to Steve Tisch’s house, met the director Paul Brickman, and got the job. I started Risky Business in New York. So many of the people that wound up in the film, I met in New York. Bronson Pinchot, I had seen in a play called The Yale Whiffenpoofs. Curtis Armstrong was in New York, he came in and he read for the role of Miles…and he just stopped me in my tracks. He sounded exactly as it was written on the page.
She knew right then that those two would get their roles, but the search was not so easy for her two leads. Crunched for time, they went to Chicago, where they would meet Megan Mullally and Kevin Anderson. They later screen tested for the leads.
As we now know, they didn’t get the leads, but both went on to play other roles in the picture. Nancy and the team worked for over five months to cast the film. At the end of five months, the team started their screen tests. Whilst watching them, Paul Brickman leaned over and said, “Whaddya think, Klop?” to which she answered, “I don’t think we have them.
“and [executive producer] David Geffen agrees. ” At the time, David Geffen had said to them, “I’m not greenlighting the movie until you have the two leads. ” Nancy elaborated on this, saying, “That was unusual in those days because it meant the clock was ticking, and the cash register was running.
Back at the drawing board, Tom Cruise flew in from New Mexico on his day off from The Outsiders (1983). “I remember he had a gold tooth because his character in The Outsiders had one. He was very buff, which was also for the role. He gave a fantastic reading. Once he left, we all looked at each other with a sigh of relief. We thought, ‘this could be our guy. ’ He had it, he had real star power. And he read the role as Paul wrote it.
After Tom flew back to New Mexico, Nancy focused in on finding her female lead. She called Harry Dean Stanton, who she knew from The Onion Field (1979) and whom she knew had an eye for young talent. He flagged Rebecca De Mornay, who had been an extra in One from the Heart (1981). Shortly after that, Rebecca’s agent would call as well.
“She came in to read and was very, raw. She was in her early twenties, but had a maturity to her that lent itself to the role. She came in to meet the team and everyone thought she had real possibility. We decided to screen test her with Tom. The screen test was at Steve Tisch’s house on a handheld videocamera. We had to do it at 5:30 in the morning because Tom was working and had to get back to Albuquerque. The most important thing was to determine if they had on-screen chemistry. They did. We showed the tape to David Geffen, who said, ‘go make your movie. ’” And so, Risky Business was made. According to Nancy, in the original cut of the film, Joel Goodsen did not get into Harvard. It was Geffen who insisted they go back and reshoot the ending. He wanted it to be more upbeat. “This broke Paul’s heart. He was a firsttime director, so he had to relent, ” she said.
Following this change, Brickman would go on to make only one more film. The Risky Business that we know today landed, and Tom would become a “breakout star.
LYNN WAS VERY AGAINST SAYING,
On such “Discoveries”
While Nancy can go on about the satisfaction of finding the right actor, she wouldn’t necessarily call any of her cast actors “discoveries, ” including Tom.
“Lynn was very against saying, ‘I discovered
someone, ’” she divulged.
“I agree with him completely. It’s when the stars align that a star is born. The right script, in the right director’s hands, finds the right actor. When those three things are in perfect alignment and they are of real quality, the opportunity exists for someone to become a star. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s magical. Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967), Newman and Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were (1973). I could go on and on. The point is, that is what creates a star in my humble opinion. It’s not being ‘discovered’ by someone at Schwab’s Pharmacy. That is what makes movies so exciting to work on.
She continued,
“I saw an interview with Katharine Hepburn where she was asked, ‘what makes a star?, ’ and she said, ‘a star is someone you can’t take your eyes off of, you can’t look away. ’ I think she had something there!”
Nancy and Paul Brickman
A few of the Union Steering Committee Members, reuniting 15 years after the ratification. From L to R: Janet Gilmore, Tracy Lilienfield, Megan McConnell, and Nancy Klopper.
Casting By (2012) and Taylor Hackford
Many casting folks today may know Tom Donahue’s documentary film, Casting By (2012). For those putting together the dots, this film had a huge impact on Nancy - again, one that many may not know.
She clarified what the film was for her.
“One very painful chapter is that, Tom Donahue, who made the film, asked me if I would please call Taylor Hackford, who was president of the DGA at the time, and ask if he would consent to an interview. And so I did, and Taylor agreed to see them the next day. I knew through long, sometimes heated, conversations with Taylor that he was not in favor of casting directors getting Academy Awards. But I still hoped and imagined he would have glowing things to say about our twenty-five year relationship.
She pressed on,
“I got a heads-up call from some New York casting directors that had seen the film. They wanted to warn me about what was coming, and it wasn’t good. ” She asked Taylor what was going on, to which he suggested she “get a copy of the transcript” - he felt it would prove the calls wrong. Nancy did get the transcript. “It was even worse than what was in the film.
When Nancy saw the completed film, she was crushed. She felt Taylor showed no appreciation for the great work they had done together for twentyfive years. “I don’t think he had any understanding of how negative he was, and what little regard his comments showed for both me and for the profession in general.
After a moment, she continued,
“I never recovered from that interview. And I ended the relationship.
In addition to her film work, Nancy was part of the Steering Committee that helped unionize the casting directors.
With a beaming grin, she started,
“the gratification that we got from affecting the lives of casting directors and their families was even more rewarding than casting a movie. To this day, it remains a highlight of my life. Through all my years of casting, we were independent. We didn’t have health insurance, we had no pensions. It’s kind of shocking when you think about it. We were completely adrift.
She detailed the beginnings of the journey: “We went to different organizations, asking them to take us in. And no one would. Not the DGA, not SAG, not IATSE. It wasn’t until we went to the Teamsters, that we found a group that wanted to take us in. Steve Dayan of the Teamsters spent many years meeting us all, learning about what we did and how we did it. And he said, ‘we want to unionize casting directors because it’s the right thing to do.
It was still an uphill battle from there, but they did not back down. “The AMPTP rejected us, calling us ‘independent contractors. ’ We felt that our best course of action was to do a press campaign. The Teamsters paid for full-page ads filled with quotes from industry heavyweights that we had accumulated. ” A selection of these quotes can be found in the appendix of this article.
They then returned to the AMPTP. “It
was brutal, ” she says.
“We didn’t know until the night before whether or not we would be recognized. It was possible we would be going on strike the next morning. At the very last minute, they said yes. We walked into this room at the Sportsmen’s Lodge, there were four hundred casting directors sitting there and you could’ve heard a pin drop. ’ The room erupted. Everyone jumped to their feet, wildly applauding, sobbing, hysterical crying. For the first time, we had health insurance, pension, and a union to back us. ” With that, the casting union agreement was ratified in 2006, after a long and arduous six-year process.
She spoke on gratitude for her career and the protections now provided for it. “One has to be vested as a Teamster for fifteen years before being able to receive lifetime retirement benefits. The steering committee members, both in New York and Los Angeles, never felt we’d be around long enough to reap those benefits. Yet here we are, fifteen years later. Many of us have phenomenal health insurance for life. I have loved my profession. How lucky am I? This girl who did not do well in school, who was always in trouble…found something that she excelled in. I look at that and I look at the fact that we’ve unionized and I think, ‘what is better than this?’”
Pacific Palisades Taskforce on Homelessness (PPTFH)
Having made her imprint on the industry, Nancy happily retired earlier this year to her home in Pacific Palisades, where she continues to change the lives of people every day.
“While I was still casting, I would take my dog on walks every day and run into homeless people on the sidewalks, and I would begin conversations with them. We started a taskforce on homelessness in our neighborhood. I was a ground floor member and I got very, very involved.
Lynn Stalmaster, Nancy, and Gail Eisenstadt
While working on the taskforce, Nancy gushed on how one experience with PPTFH was just as thrilling as helping the casting directors unionize. That experience is that of a woman who greatly benefitted from Nancy’s work, known in the neighborhood as “Pretty Blonde. ” The story of which you can read here.
Looking back on that encounter, she continued, “I knew I had found something meaningful enough to take up time and space in my life. Additionally, I have become a board member at The Friends of the Semel Institute at UCLA, which is solely devoted to mental health. I’m loving every minute of this. While invested in this line of work, Casting still holds a place in Nancy’s heart every day. Some of her past assistants include David Rubin, Ronna Kress, Terri Taylor, and Joanna Colbert, whom she still maintains great relationships with.
“I take pride in helping others to learn and grow just as I have learned from others. I’m so grateful for my casting career and I highly recommend it to those just starting out. It can be fun, exhilarating, creative, and very rewarding. You just have to be willing to put the work in and not think it will happen overnight.
A few quotes from the union press release, courtesy of Nancy Klopper. . .
"A director, writer, and casting director are camped out in a Los Angeles hotel suite. They ' re casting six roles for an eighty-million dollar picture. They ' re seeing fifteen actors a day for five days. Time is so tight they ' re eating two meals a day in the suite, involving a total of nine different room service waiters. Of the eighty-seven people in and out of that room during the course of the week, guess how many don 't have health insurance, a pension plan, or a union to protect them. One. The casting director. It' s wrong and it needs to be fixed. "
- Tony Gilroy
“When I think of casting directors, I never fail to remember and to be grateful to the late, beloved Howard Feuer for the extraordinary contribution he made to the success of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It is indeed ironic and sad that geniuses like Howard, who have done so much to advance the careers of actors, directors, and screenwriters such as myself, should be denied the same sort of union benefits that the rest of us take almost for granted. This is wrong - simply wrong - and it' s time for the filmmaking community to join our casting director colleagues in pushing for a change.
- Ted Tally
"Films are about people, characters. Finding the right actors to make those characters come to life is no accident. It' s the Casting Director that has to wade through hundreds of people, headshots, auditions.... staying on top of who is out there. It' s time that Casting people share in the same benefits available to the Carpenters, the Actors, the Grips. It is unbelievable that in 2005, they still do not have health benefits or pensions. I support the Casting Directors in their unionization efforts. "
- Martin Scorsese
"I was shocked to hear that Casting Directors aren
't provided with the basic benefits that many others receive automatically. So many casting directors have worked tirelessly over the years to provide the best acting ensembles for our films and TV shows. It makes no sense that they be treated any differently than any other key crewmembers. I support their unionization effort.
- Mike Nichols
"The essential contribution of casting directors to the creative process of filmmaking and series television cannot be overstated. Along with writers, directors and cinematographers, their vision and craft define what we see on screen. It' s unconscionable that they don 't receive the same basic protections and benefits that virtually everyone else we work with has had for decades.
- John Wells
“Casting Directors are the connection between the directors and the actor. This among other reasons make them just as significant as the editor, writer, costumer, or any other key player that brings a script from paper to the screen. It’ s disheartening to know that they are not recognized as such. This lack of recognition not only affects the casting directors, it affects their families. It’ s amazing that they have maintained this long. I am writing this letter with hopes that the AMPTP will allow them to negotiate the benefits their colleagues their colleagues and peers receive. I strongly believe if changes aren ’t made our industry will suffer greatly.
- Regina King
