Here are the Hollywood stars with Romanian roots - Discerning the local version of the Oscars

To mark the Gopo Awards, the local version of the Oscars, due to place at the end of March, Business Review took a look at the film industry’s casting process, how rising Romanian stars get their international breakthrough, and some of Hollywood’s household names with a local connection.

By Oana Vasiliu

The casting process

Casting directors are among the most powerful figures in showbiz, able to make or break careers. But what exactly do they do? Domnica Carciumaru, managing partner at Dcasting, says auditions, callbacks – and making great discoveries.

Although the casting process involves some secrecy, casting directors read the script and liaise with the director, as they seek the perfect actors for each and every part, from starring roles to extras. They find the right actors for plays, TV series, adverts and films, and they stand between every young actor and their big break.

Hunting rising stars

One notable project to unearth new Romanian talent is 10 for FILM, held each year at the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) since 2012, which introduces ten remarkable, but as yet undiscovered Romanian actors, to film audiences and professionals. Spotted in the theater or in minor movie roles, they are given a professional portfolio and a chance to impress. In a country where cultural life is concentrated in the capital and a few big cities, aspiring performers from outside these areas struggle to get a break. The main purpose of 10 for FILM is to shine a spotlight on impressive stage actors seeking a breakthrough in film, indifferent of age or career to date.

The actors are given brochures, photographs, films and videos made by a professional studio, they participate in workshops and meetings and they are introduced to the public, journalists and industry movers and shakers – directors, Romanian and foreign producers, casting directors and agents.

Business Review asked Iulia Popovici, theater critic and 10 for FILM jury member, about Romania’s up-and-coming silver screen icons. Popovici says she is wowed by actors “several times a year on stage, but I have to say that being a very good theater actor doesn’t make one a good film actor. I know several extraordinary stage actors who perform quite badly in cinema. It does happen once in a while in movies too, depending on the local productions in a given year.”

Asked why more Romanian actors don’t appear in international movies, she says that acting is the only language-based, culturally-dependent artistic activity – language plays a more important role here than in literature, say, since one can mask an accent in writing but not in acting. “It’s a constant issue we have at 10 for FILM: should we or shouldn’t we select a (very good) Hungarian-speaking actor knowing his/her chances here are limited by the mere fact that Romanian cinema doesn’t offer many parts for characters speaking with an accent?”

She adds, “Most of the top actors in the world (90 percent, I would say) became famous acting in their native language – and they have an international career because they work in internationally relevant cinema.”

Going international

Marcel Iures is still the most obvious Romanian actor to feature in American blockbusters. His US film credits include The Peacemaker starring George Clooney, Mission: Impossible (1996) with Tom Cruise, and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) starring Cruise (again) and Brad Pitt. More recently there is also Anamaria Marinca, who started her international career in the Channel 4 film Sex Traffic, for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.

More recently, there has been Ana Ularu’s success in Hollywood; Alec Secareanu’s triumph on the international and European market with God’s Own Country, described as a poem made into a film script; and director Adina Pintilie’s Golden Bear for Touch Me Not. However, critics say there still isn’t a consistent list of names of Romanian talent recognized worldwide. Popovici says, “Unless they want to play trafficked women or other immigrants, Eastern European actors are not usually given leading roles in non-Eastern European movies. Romanian actors will get an international career and stardom the moment Romanian cinema really goes international, as Adina Pintilie’s Touch Me Not may do.”

Secareanu of God’s Own Country told BR about his first international audition experience. “I found out about the casting at the end of 2015 from my Romanian agent at that time. (Director) Francis Lee was searching for a Romanian actor and worked with Domnica Circiumaru, the casting director. She proposed me, and asked me to film myself for the movie. A month later, Francis came here to meet some of the actors filming samples, and I was among them. After a few weeks, I was called to London with two colleagues to read for the part with the other main actor in the film, Josh O’Connor, a sort of test of the ‘chemistry’ between us, and it seems to have gone pretty well since I passed the test! But the fact that I had to fly to London to audition made me feel a lot of pressure at the time.”

Carciumaru adds, “We don’t have a lot of Romanian actors in international movies because they don’t have international agents to promote their work. Agents work to always get the best possible deal.”

Hollywood stars with Romanian roots

Sebastian Stan

His movies include: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, The Martian, Captain America: Super Soldier, Captain America: First Avenger, Gossip Girl, Hot Tub Time Machine and The Avengers.

Harvey Keitel

He was born into a family of actors who originated from Poland and Romania; his mother was from Braila. His movies include: Reservoir Dogs, Taxi Driver and Thelma and Louise.

Dustin Hoffman

One of America’s top actors, his many accolades include Academy Awards for Best Actor in 1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer, and in 1989 for Rain Man. His Jewish parents fled Romania for the US.

Bela Lugosi

The Hungarian-American actor, who played Count Dracula in the 1931 Vampire-horror film Dracula, was born in Lugoj, not far from Transylvania, the land of the iconic movie vampire.