‘Ratched’ Casting Directors Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels Reveal the Hardest Role to Nail Down for Season One

Landing an audition to a Ryan Murphy project could change your life. Sarah Paulson is a household name for her work in various Murphy shows. Any young, precocious actor who puts in good work and gets noticed at the right time could become a star. Casting directors Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels have worked on countless Murphy productions, and Ratched is one of the most star-studded ensembles of the year.

With actors joining the Murphy-verse like Sharon Stone and Cynthia Nixon, you knew something interesting was going to go down in the retelling of Mildred Ratched’s rise to iconic villain. Bright and Daniels do not have a shortage of eager talent, but it does take the right amount of zeal to land the job.

I spoke with the dynamic pair about what you should do when you get in the room and which role on this first season was the hardest to cast.

Awards Daily: Do you find that it takes for a special kind of actor to work in the Ryan Murphy universe? Do they need to be the kind of performer that knows how to go for broke?

Nicole Daniels: Most people are knocking our door down since they know how much Ryan Murphy loves actors.

Courtney Bright: He loves to create his own theater group. He uses the actors over and over.

ND: I think the only thing actors need to know when signing up for a Ryan Murphy project is that the schedule is nuts. He has so many things going on and there is a lot of juggling of schedules. Actors are dying to work with him.

AD: I want to talk about Lenore because Sharon Stone is the perfect kind of actress for Ratched. I think her casting is inspired. 

CB: She is a perfect match for Ryan. He loves strong women of a certain age and Sharon embodied that part so much.

ND: Sometimes Ryan will call us and give us details like, “We are going to introduce a new character in episode three. She lives in Hawaii and she has a son.” He will give us some qualities and he then created the world around her. He is open to collaboration and once he has the actor in mind, he will then try and showcase the actor as much as possible.

AD: What was the trickiest role to nail down for this first season?

CB: Gwendolyn?

ND: Yeah, I’d say so.

CB: It was hard because it started off as one thing and then the season really turned that upside down. I think Cynthia [Nixon] gave the most beautiful, vulnerable performance.

ND: Sometimes Ryan already has people in place. Sarah [Paulson] obviously and Finn Wittrock. We had just worked with Jon Jon Briones for The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Those pieces of the puzzle were in place.

AD: That performance is very surprising in a lot of ways. There is a lot of repression there and Mildred can unlock so much of herself. I’ve never seen Cynthia do something like this before. 

CB: Yeah, it’s a hard part because in the beginning she’s just the governor’s right hand woman and it turns into so much more once we got Cynthia. Casting Vincent D’Onofrio’s role was difficult too. There had been other ideas in talks. I’m so happy we ended up with me.

AD: He’s scared me for so long. Any time he pops up in anything, I get freaked out. 

CB: He was so great.

AD: What do you wish actors knew when they walked into the room?

CB: We want the people we bring in to get the job. We are on their side.

ND: On a smaller level, come in prepared. I wouldn’t go out for a job without any preparation. Do a little homework otherwise why waste your own time. Also, see the bigger picture. If you come in for a small part, Ryan’s resume speaks for itself. If you audition for a one episode role and you do a good job after you book it, he will probably have you come back.

AD: Look at Cody Fern.  

ND: Yes.

Ratched is streaming now on Amazon.