Meet The Monsters 🐛💔🦋
400 auditions, 5 actors, 1 lesson: "the gut knows."
As I posted a while back, we opened auditions for Before We Were Monsters, our high school horror flick (we watched every second of over 400 auditions!), and (two months after our initial deadline), we finally have our cast!
If you don’t recall, Monsters is a horror flick about five teens who witness the death of a classmate and develop supernatural powers that reflect their unresolved trauma. Things go… not great. haha
Because it’s an ensemble, we knew we weren’t just casting individual roles, we were also casting the group as a whole. We took our 400 auditions, dwindled them down to a list of 50 “faves,” fought over those faves until we had a dozen, and then did a handful of chemistry reads over Zoom to nail down our final five.
A quick side-note here: We had multiple actors who didn’t get roles who told us this was their favorite audition process they’ve ever been a part of. The cool part about Indie / NonDē / Micro-budget Film is that we can do things differently at every stage of production. It costs nothing to treat everyone with love and respect and give them some creative freedom along the way. Making movies isn’t just about making movies. It’s an opportunity for connection at every step of the process.
And for you actors out there who might be wondering what special sauce our top 5 brought to their auditions?
They surprised us.
The thing about watching 400 audition tapes in a row is that they all start to run together. These five actors made us laugh. They made us cry. They made us feel something. They didn’t just perform, they told a story with their performance. They made choices with their characters. They committed. They were brave. They were willing to take chances.
And then once we got to the chemistry reads, it’s about reading the room. Who plays off of each other. Who listens. Who steps up. Who lets another actor shine.
The more I make movies the more I keep coming back to this mantra:
THE GUT KNOWS.
Interestingly enough, I made a chart of my favorite actors before we even whittled them down to the top 50 and THESE FIVE ACTORS were my picks. It’s worth it to do the due diligence, to open it up to feedback, but I’m telling you… the gut knows.
I think there’s a reason for this.
That feeling in your gut is the absence of ego. When ego gets in the way, we overthink. We start worrying about what other people will think. We try to impress people with our very smart decisions, or fear what they will think of our very dumb decisions.
But when we underthink, we stop fighting the current, and we go with the flow. We let go of any sense of trying to impress others, and we let the movie tell us what it wants to be. This applies not just to casting, but to writing, to directing, to every part of the filmmaking process.
We’re just along for the ride.
Okay, without any further ado…
Meet The Monsters 🐛💔🦋
Eden Sinclair Summers - “Griffin”
Trauma-response / Super-power: Invisibility
About Griffin: Griffin lives mostly inside fantasy worlds (comics, novels, role-playing games). In real life, she’s awkward, anxious, and prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She wears her nerd-dom loudly, blurring the line between everyday wear and cosplay. But beneath it all she’s thoughtful, observant, brave, and a romantic who desperately wants to be seen.
Why Eden: Eden’s audition dropped into our lap fully formed. She WAS Griffin before she ever spoke a word: the vulnerability and awkwardness of the “nerdy teen” trope (and some major nerd cred to boot), but with an inner confidence and intelligence that turned what could be a one-dimensional character into a living, breathing person.
In Eden’s words:
Describe your character: Griffin is the dreamer in all of us, trapped between what she thinks the world should be and the harsher realities it presents. While trying to pursue genuine love and authenticity, Griffin gets mocked, shut down, belittled, but continues to try living in their own fantastical world, in spite of her desire to disappear.
Griffin in an emoji: 😶 🧝♀️ 🕶️
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Teleportation
What song best defines your middle or high school years? “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots
A movie or show that made you feel seen as a teenager? The Breakfast Club
Trentyn Evans - “Park”
Trauma-response / Super-power: Numbness
About Park: Park doesn’t talk much, even if he has a lot to say. Growing up with an unpredictable and abusive father meant learning how to read a room, stay quiet, and keep your head down. On the outside, he’s calm, guarded, almost impossible to read. But inside, he feels everything, holding it in, afraid of what might happen if he lets it out.
Why Trentyn: Trentyn was one of the very first auditions we got in, and immediately became the one we compared every other audition to. Park is a quiet character, so he doesn’t have a whole lot of dialogue, and it’s a testament to Trentyn’s acting ability that Park feels so warm and weird and lovable, all just through facial expressions and body language.
In Trentyn’s words:
Describe your character: Misunderstood, hermit, gentle — someone who cares very much but fears vulnerability.
Park in an emoji: 👽
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Teleportation
What song best defines your middle or high school years? “I think I’m going to kill myself” by Elton John haha
A movie or show that made you feel seen as a teenager? Her by Spike Jonze
Lizzy Liu - “Hyphen”
Trauma-response / Super-power: Manipulation
About Hyphen: Hyphen learned early that the best defense is to be offensive. Sarcastic, chaotic, and completely allergic to authority, they move through the world like a live wire: always joking, always pushing buttons, always daring someone to try them. Hyphen pretends not to care about anything, but the truth is, they care a little too much.
Why Lizzy: We loved Lizzy’s first audition so much that we asked them to audition for two other roles. All three performances were drastically different, and their ability to merge in and out of these characters (all of whom are also different from their own persona) was miraculous. Ultimately, it was their charming, loose, “doesn’t care but really does care” take on Hyphen that won us over. We couldn’t be happier to work with Lizzy on the character and visual look of Hyphen (fingers crossed for an eyebrow slit!).
In Lizzy’s words:
Describe your character: They’re cool, but definitely acting cooler than they are. Heart of gold masked by truancy and black eyeliner.
Hyphen in an emoji: 🎱
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? controlling time hehe or teleporting
What song best defines your middle or high school years? Impossible question. “Cough Syrup” by Young the Giant, “Moscow” by Autoheart, “Changing of the Seasons” by Two Door Cinema Club
A movie or show that made you feel seen as a teenager? My Mad Fat Diary, Whispers of the Heart, Awkward, New Girl, Skip Beat
Lorelei Calder - “Mallory”
Trauma-response / Super-power: Strength
About Mallory: Mallory is the kind of person who steps in when someone’s getting picked on (even if she doesn’t know them, even if there are consequences). She has big “team captain” energy, the kind of presence that makes people feel safe. But her need to be seen as the “good one” gives her a black-and-white view of the world. The good guys vs. the bad guys. Us vs. them.
Why Lorelei: Lorelei is an audition master, using camera placement, lighting, and of course her acting prowess not just to audition, but to TELL A STORY. Mallory is a tough nut to crack, and Lorelei brings so much to the different sides of the character: vulnerability and strength, confidence and frailty, all with such authenticity and believability. Mallory is everyone’s favorite character in the script (we had 120 auditions for this character alone!), and I can’t wait for you guys to see the way Lorelei breathes life into her.
In Lorelei’s words:
Describe your character: Mallory is the type of person whose strength comes from the kindness she shows the world (though she doesn’t know it). She can create a sense of belonging for anyone, which sometimes leaves her with nowhere to belong herself.
Mallory in an emoji: 💛 💪 🫁
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? totalllly teleportation
What song best defines your middle or high school years? I was about a million different people throughout middle and high school, but a song that always matched my vibe is “The Adults Are Talking” by the Strokes
A movie or show that made you feel seen as a teenager? dare I say Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women?
Tyrese Saint-Cyr - “Seymour”
Trauma-response / Super-power: Control
About Seymour: Seymour is a writer, which means he spends more time watching the world than participating in it. An eccentric oddball inside and out, he’s the kind of person everyone notices (not for the good reasons), but no one really knows. Writing is the one place where he feels in control of his life.
Why Tyrese: Tyrese’s ability to capture Seymour’s combo of awkwardness, confidence, and real human emotion has been one of the highlights of the casting process. Not to mention his commanding voice (Seymour narrates the film). It’s hard to get through a Tyrese performance without tearing up. Can’t wait to work with him and for you guys to meet the mystery that is Seymour.
In Tyrese’s words:
Describe your character: Seymour is a brilliant, hyper-observant outcast, who just wants what we all want at the end of the day — genuine connection and loyalty.
Seymour in an emoji: 🧐 ⚛️ 📓
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Super Strength, Web Swinging, Wall-Crawling, Spidey Sense… basically Spider-Man!
What song best defines your middle or high school years? “Same Ol’ Mistakes” by Rihanna
A movie or show that made you feel seen as a teenager? The Perks of Being a Wallflower
That’s our scooby gang! Can’t wait for you to see them in action.
We’ve got less than two weeks and about $10k left (😬) on our crowdfunding campaign. If you want to follow along (or help us get there), you can support the film at BeforeWeWereMonsters.com.