Casting a child for me was harder then casting the other roles. This was the first time I ever had to deal with a child. I really did not know where to start. Therefore, I turned to a director friend, who I knew recently had a child in his last feature film. He gave me a few pointers and then I proceeded to start my first round of auditions.

Since I was dealing with a heavy story-line, I wanted to be as ethical as possible in this auditioning process. I wanted to make the children feel as comfortable as possible and create a safe environment for them to let go into very sensitive material. The first day of auditions, I saw about eight kids. It was quite interesting to see the different types of parents walking into the room and how each child was quite different. A lot of the kids were more focused on the parent being in the room, then on the work. My biggest problem was finding the kid with the right look for young Matthew, and who also could take direction well.

By my second round of auditions, I called an actress friend of mine, who had a child actor and asked her advice. I explained to her the story line, and asked her opinion as a mother to what would be the most appropriate way of auditioning a child. She told me to have the parents wait outside, because sometimes the kids could get distracted with them in the room. She then proceeded to tell me that she knew of the perfect child for my project, who fit the description that I was looking for. I told her I would have to bring him in to see if he can take direction.

It was my third day of seeing kids and this was getting harder to find the right child. Finally my auditions monitor introduced Eric Wilke. He had the perfect look and was in the right age range. I was hoping he could take direction. The first thing Eric said was, “Where are my marks, and what direction do I counter to camera?” The kid impressed me right away. He came prepared, had an outgoing personality, and knew exactly what to do. A producer’s best actor. If they showed up prepared, it showed their professionalism and work ethic. We had him do a series of emotional shots and he delivered each time. What stuck out to me was that Eric, had a vulnerable, helpless, and innocent look in his eyes that reminded me of myself at his age. At last, I found “Young Matthew!”

The day of shooting, Eric had an 8:30am pick up time and a 9am call time on location on our set in the house in New Jersey. We had much to do that day and had to start quickly, trying to beat the rain storm on its way. I was totally satisfied with his work and it met my expectations more then, I could ever imagine. Eric brought the character he played to life. He worked hard under difficult circumstances and was easy going, charming, and remained very professional the entire time. If Eric keeps this up, He will be a great success.