Game of Thrones casting director Nina Gold discusses her craft

Game of Thrones is a show that is so great because of the great cast, and an even better crew. When it comes to the crew that actually decides the cast, Nina Gold, the casting director for the show, holds a great importance. Game of Thrones is a well cast show, and Gold gets all the credit. In a recent interview with The Guardian, she talked a bit about her profession. Read on!

Speaking of what it is like to have her job, Nina said:

“We have to stop people casting the wrong people. We have to try and get them to make the right choices without bossing them around. It’s quite difficult.”

While everybody who works will Gold has nothing but great things to say about her, she says she doesn’t know what makes her great. Speaking of having made the unusual but great choice of casting John Lithgow as Winston Churchill in Netflix’s The Crown, Nina said:

“The algorithm would probably be not quite as interesting as somebody who’s a tiny bit off algorithm. Can I also confess that I don’t actually know what an algorithm is?”

Apparently first Gold receives and reads the script, identifies the lead roles, and then works with her team to make a list of candidates for these roles. She apparently calls in a lot of actors:

“I think more vibe than visually, but then you can’t cast somebody who’s visually completely wrong. It’s definitely more of a feel and an essence thing.”

She also spoke about one of the downsides of her job:

“Every time you choose somebody, you are not choosing someone else. There’s a hell of a lot of dashing of hopes and dreams involved.”

She says her job doesn’t just end at finding actors, but she follows the projects hoping they go well. Game of Thrones has a lot to her credit, casting the perfect blend of experienced actors, as well as first-timers, and Gold did it perfectly. The showrunners, David Benioff and Dan Weiss had great things to say about Gold, too:

“If you’ve got the stuff, you could be performing in school plays in a sheep meadow and she’d find you.”

What do you guys think about the casting for Game of Thrones? We think Gold has done a fantastic job! What about you? Talk to us in the comments, down below!