Sunny Doench (www.sunnydoench.com)
"Sunny Doench is a joy to work with. She approaches a script with great intelligence and makes good, solid choices that show a tremendous understanding of story. She courageously taps into a wealth of emotion and brings it to the surface with grace. She knows what it is to be in the moment, and the scene unfurls beautifully as a result."
Stacey Kattman, Director
Love Thy Neighbor
Over three months of casting, I auditioned over a hundred actresses and still hadn't found my Shelley. There were some girls I saw who were talented but just didn't have the right quality. The role called for someone with good comedic timing but who also had the depth necessary to do drama. Finding someone who could achieve that balance was really tough.
I showed my top three choices to Lynn Hamrick, one of my professors at Chapman. She said, "Stacey, I don't envy you. You've written a terrific part for Meg Ryan...but she's not available."
I saw Sunny in the Academy Players Directory and called her, and asked to read for the role.
She auditioned for me on a rainy Saturday. She came in with a little Yorkshire terrier in her purse and said, "Hi, I'm Sunshine." And she was. When she performed, she had a radiance that lit up the room and I knew she had the charisma to carry the film.
Graham Sibley (www.grahamsibley.com)
Kevin needed to be a little shy, with a certain sensitivity to contrast him from the character of Byron. At the same time, there needed to be a strength that grew as the story progressed. He had to have a balance of Leading Man potential and quirkiness. Graham Sibley was able to embody all of those qualities.
Graham has a finely tuned sense of dramatic structure. If he is not 100% clear on his intention, he will ask the right questions to get that information. No one can accuse him of "phoning it in."
He has a silly side, but he takes his craft very seriously.
Graham's desire to understand his character sharpened my directing skills. If something didn't feel right, we addressed it in rehearsal and until we felt we had solved it.
Erick Holloway
Even though the story was told from Shelley's point of view, I didn't want Byron to just be The Bad Guy. That's a cop-out. It's too simplistic. He had to be charming, and he had to have a glimmer of hope inside him or why would Shelley fall for him at all?
Each member of the love triangle has at least a subtle arc. Byron's arc centers around a realization of loss. So even though he starts off as a fairly selfish guy, there has to be some promise of something deeper.
Erick understood Byron immediately. I think he nailed the character in the audition. I was fortunate that he came in the first weekend, and he was the first person I found who felt safe to cast.
He was very interactive and giving toward the other actors, and was extremely open to improvisation. He was very good at talking through things, to make sure we were on the same page. He felt confident inside the role of Byron, and he was a wonderful listener. He absorbed direction easily and was willing to try anything. He had no fear.
Charlene Modeste
Charlene Modeste is extremely versatile. A lot of people who see both Change of Heart and Love Thy Neighbor don't realize that it's the same actress in two films. She's able to vary her look and her persona to really become the character. She knows how to ask for what she needs from a director, which can be a huge relief at times.
She has a regal quality which was essential to taking command as Darlene, but later on she shows us a more tender side to Darlene when she comforts Shelley.
Sunny and Charlene had never worked together before, but I really wanted their relationship to be something tangible. We created an entire backstory in rehearsal, and by the time we got to set, it felt like they had known each other for years.
Charlene loves her craft, and she has a playfulness about her that is fun to watch.
Svetlana Gautier
Svetlana did some great improvisation in her audition, which really impressed me, and I loved her cherubic face. This is the headshot that inspired me to call her in. There's nothing harsh in her appearance. That was key in casting for the Gloriella role.
The easy choice would have been to make Byron's new girlfriend stereotypically evil. But in real love triangles, the identity of the villain depends entirely on your point of view, and which side of the triangle you happen to be on. So I didn't wanted to point a finger and say that one character was to blame for everything, and I wanted that to come across in the casting as well as the writing.
Since the relationship with Byron is based entirely on sex, Svetlana was often cavorting in next-to-nothing. She was a real champ about it, and never complained, even though the part called for her to do some embarrassing things. She was incredibly sweet to work with, and she's a lot smarter than the character she plays. She worked hard on this and I'd like to give her a much bigger part in something down the road to make it up to her.
David Robert Smith (www.davidrobertsmith.com)
David Robert Smith plays an out-of-work actor who performs odd jobs to pay the bills.
Dave is inherently funny, delightful, and directable.
Find out more about Dave on the Crew page.
Nikki the Dog
To work with animal actors you have to establish a good relationship with the trainer.
Nikki had a certain repertoire but she also had to learn some behavior which was specific to this film.
I would talk with Tom Gunderson about the dramatic content, and what I felt was needed from Nikki, and then together we would arrive at something that would fit.
As a director, you can't just bark orders at the trainer, or at the dog, for that matter.
The Story