MCU Casting: How to Get a Part in the Marvel Universe

The easiest way to get noticed by a casting director like Finn for major speaking roles in Marvel projects (lead, supporting, or recurring), is to go through a talent agency or agent. While there are exceptions, like when a movie needs a new face and has to locate talent in a unique method, Marvel is less likely to use public casting calls or random submissions; instead, an actor’s representation can get them in the door. However, keep in mind how rigorous and competitive Marvel’s casting stage is, and that the majority of actors picked have a long track record of continuous employment, active résumés, and demo reels to show for it.

Even Drax the Destroyer required the assistance of an agent to get into the race. Dave Bautista was a struggling pro-wrestler-turned-actor before landing his career-defining role in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” He told the Daily Actor, “I had lost all my money from wrestling and I was anxious to acquire a job.” “I eventually acquired an agency two weeks before the ‘Guardians’ audition.’ My agent says, ‘You know, I really had to struggle to get you this audition….’ It was quite difficult to obtain. ‘They didn’t want to audition you.’ Fortunately for Bautista (and us), the Finn audition went well.

The late Chadwick Boseman, who would go on to become a Marvel legend just a few years later in “Black Panther,” was one of the many people he beat out for the role of Drax. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon in 2019, Boseman said, “Sometimes that’s the way it works as an actor: You go in knowing you’re not going to get the part, but you’re meeting the people who might be like, ‘It’s not this, “There were numerous performers in the Marvel realm who auditioned for one part in a Marvel film or another movie and got cast years later in something different,” Finn said. We notice when you perform an outstanding job and show up every day. We’ll keep that in mind, and perhaps it will lead to something in the future.”

Jacob Batalon, who wowed audiences as Peter Parker’s best mate Ned in “Spiderman: Homecoming,” had recently relocated from Hawaii to Los Angeles when he met a manager who pushed him to attend the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts to develop his art. He went on his first genuine audition while still enrolled in the school’s two-year acting program: a vague call for an unnamed Marvel movie that his manager came across, which sought for someone of any color or body type who could convincingly play a teenager.

“The specifications were so broad. In 2017, Batalon told ComicBook.com, “It was like, ‘Any body type, any age, as long as you look like you’re 17,’ or something ridiculous.” “You might have been anybody or anything.” Then you receive phony sides for a self-tape, and then you get a callback self-tape, and they give you the real script. ‘You know what?’ they said as they handed it to me. ‘Scratch that; instead, do a screen test.’ So I did a screen test with Tom [Holland] and Sarah Finn, the casting director whom I adore. She was the one who said, ‘Oh, sure, give us two weeks and we’ll let you know either way.’ After two and a half months, I realize this is the most depressing…period of my life.”

For famous stars like Mark Ruffalo or Scarlett Johansson, the approach is inherently different; nonetheless, Teyonah Parris—who was a highlight on “WandaVision” as Monica Rambeau and will feature in 2022’s “The Marvels”—caught Finn’s eye by consistently working in the business. Not only that, but by the time she auditioned for the Disney+ original, Parris had “put numerous Marvel [auditions] on camera over the previous decade,” as she told Collider. She didn’t know what the part was when she auditioned with random sides because of the project’s secrecy.

“With Teyonah, she is an actress who I’ve known for a long, long time and respected all her work and had been mentioned for Marvel projects before, as is frequently the case when we’re trying to see what the ideal role would be,” Finn stated

Liu, who played Shang-Chi, one of the most recent Marvel hero to make his debut, didn’t acquire the acting bug until 2012, when he worked as a minimum-wage background actor. Before gaining an agency, he appeared in short films and music videos and even dressed up as Spider-Man for children’s birthday parties.

For the last six years, Liu has appeared in the Canadian sitcom “Kim’s Convenience,” but he has always kept an eye on Shang-Chi. Amazingly, he tweeted @ Marvel in 2014, saying, “Great work with Cpt America and Thor.” How about a hero who is Asian American? “, and then in 2018, he tweeted, “OK, @Marvel, are we going to discuss or what #ShangChi.” However, Marvel claims that these communications were not viewed until after he was cast. Liu had to compete against hundreds of other performers in a process of auditions, screen tests, and physical preparation before establishing that he was the ideal guy for the position.

The route to getting a Marvel superhero job, like those of Netflix, Disney, the DC Universe, and other major sources, is lengthy and arduous, requiring hard work, charm, physical condition (depending on the part), and a few credits to your name. You should do what Batalon, Liu, and the other Marvel megastars have done:

• Concentrate on your craft.
• Have a website and/or social media presence where you can update your headshots, résumé, and demo reels to show agents and CDs.
• Find representation since it will not only offer you credibility but will also open the floodgates to audition chances.

When it comes to the audition, Lyrica Okano, who portrays Nico Minoru on “Runaways,” explains that you won’t know what character you’re reading for if you audition for the studio. Because of this, Okano forged ahead and approached the audition as if it were any other: “I read the sides, and if I get a full script, I read the full script, and I do as much as I can to imagine my life as the character—like what she’s gone through and what’s led her to where she is now—and I ask myself a lot of questions.”

“A question we ask a lot in the audition room is, ‘Did you achieve what you came in here wanting to do today?'” Finn adds. Do you believe you completed the task you planned? ‘Hopefully, we will be able to uphold that.’ I understand and have a great deal of empathy for what performers go through and how hard they work, as well as what it means to them when they come in for an audition. We want to recognize that and remind people that when you do your best job, you never know where it may lead you.”

Check out these words of wisdom from Marvel’s best superheroes, both on and off the screen, if you need a little pep talk from the team before the big battle in the audition room.

Preparation is key. “Be ready,” Finn advises, having watched hundreds upon thousands of aspiring performers over the course of a decade. “Make it your own as well.” There is no such thing as a “correct” manner of doing things. Of course, you want to pay attention to the scene, the character, and whatever notes you have; but what really takes off in a room is when performers let their own creativity flow into their reading.”

Prepare yourself for anything. Jeff Ward was “very happy” when he initially walked in to read for a part on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” since the character description said, “Think: Han Solo.” And he was like, “Cool—my that’s boyhood fantasy.” So I went in and read for that, and while I was there, they asked if I could read for this other part. ‘And then I read for the second portion, and I got it, but it was a lot smaller.’ I went to the table read since I was just going to film for two days and only be in two scenes.

“And as soon as I sat down, I was terrified because everyone from Marvel, ABC, and the program was there.” ‘Hey, could you come back and read for that original portion one more time?’ I got a call later on the way to my car. ‘I got a call from one of the showrunners.’ And I did—I returned. That night, at 11:30 p.m., I learned that I would be playing the lead role. It was going to be eight episodes, but it’s now expanded to include the entire season and beyond. It was insane. I was just meant to perform two sequences and then die, but I’m suddenly doing a lot more.”

Don’t dwell on your audition afterward.“Part of my approach is: Once you do an audition, once I do one, it’s done,” Parris told Collider, despite the fact that auditioning may be intimidating and grueling. It’s just the way it is. Spiritually and for my mental health, I need to let it go…. I strive to avoid operating from a place of dread.”

Don’t overthink it ahead of time. Similarly, Brianna Hildebrand of the two “Deadpool” films (which are based on the Marvel comics character but are not officially part of the MCU) claims she had attended hundreds of auditions by the time she had the chance to read for the first one. “Ironically, ‘Deadpool’ was the one audition when I finally convinced myself that it didn’t matter if I got it,” she explains. “I think you have to get into the attitude of ‘it is what it is’ in order to feel at ease in the audition room.” I believe we are all our own worst critics, and I suffer from tremendous anxiety at times, so learning to let go has been beneficial.”

You’ve prepared; now let it go. Emily VanCamp, who played Sharon Carter in “Captain America: Civil War” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” talked about how important it is to prepare for an audition. But she also underlined the need of “letting go so that you may play…. To truly feel free as an actor to perform what you do, you must virtually forsake your preparation. For many years, I failed to take that step. I was over-prepared and hyper-focused because I was frightened of forgetting lines or being unprepared. Then, rather than letting go [and] being free in the present, it became my major focus. Yes, I’m a firm believer in planning ahead, but I’m also a firm believer in letting go and letting the scene unfold as it will.”

A little of Spidey sense may go a long way. “I would get something really wrong in the first take in the room so that the casting director would be like, ‘You should try and do it a little bit more like this.’ And then I would do it how I’d actually planned on doing it, and it would show them that I was really good at taking direction,” said Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That was just a little trick I used to use to show folks that I was adaptable and could work with others.”

Let CDs see you in your performance. “An actor should always follow their instincts and follow their impulses because as long as an actor is drawing on their own life experience and connecting with what’s true in them and bringing it to what’s real in the role, it’s going to be unique,” Finn says. It’s going to be noticeable. The most essential thing, in my opinion, is for them to bring their own unique inspiration and originality to whatever they’re doing and to the job. That is what distinguishes them. There’s no way of knowing what someone is searching for or figuring out how to do it correctly. There is no such thing as a correct answer. There’s just one thing left to do: make it your own and bring it to life.”