Casting calls?

Question:

Casting calls?

how do you go about finding out if famous directors are having open casting calls and where they are having them???

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You cannot say that it NEVER happens.

In 1982, Francis Ford Coppola conducted open casting calls in Albuquerque, NM and in Tulsa, OK for the film version of the S.E. Hinton classic, The Outsiders.
Casting in Tulsa had a certain logic to it, as the book sets the entire story in that city. But why Coppola ever thought to look in Albuquerque remains a mystery to me.

In a nutshell:
I know of about a dozen high school drama students (including myself) who attended that open call at a downtown hotel ballroom. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of hopefuls responded to the same call.
It was immediately apparent to my friends that none of us blond guys received any interest whatsoever. However, two very talented, dark-haired young actors (with whom I was cast in a few plays at Del Norte High School) named Michael Perkins and Darren Dalton each received a callback to audition again for that film.
Over the next few weeks, schoolmates were agog as Darren was called back a third time and a fourth; then flown to a hair & wardrobe appointment in New York, meeting and reading for Mr. Coppola in person on several occasions.

Eventually, Darren landed the role of Randy Anderson (an antagonist), and found himself in a cast with some young guns who went on to become some of Hollywood??s brightest lights: Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane and Leif Garrett.

So, yes, major film directors can exercise their prerogative to conduct casting calls in any city of their choosing, for any reason they desire, considering any age or gender of character that they see fit, on the basis of any instinct or lead they wish to pursue.

I eventually worked in casting for 10 years in Los Angeles, and witnessed the inner workings - and I would describe the phenomenon of open casting calls very much like lightning striking:
•At irregular intervals and locations
•Announced on a whim (a split-second??s notice)
•Utterly unpredictable in scope & intensity

From a professional standpoint, I would consider it inadvisable to seek out such opportunities with any realistic hope of being ??discovered.?? It would be like hitting a hole-in-one on a par-5, dog-leg left over giant sand bunkers and water hazards. For every Darren Dalton whose film career begins unexpectedly from within the vacuum of obscurity, there are most likely thousands of hopefuls who go away empty-handed.

Where and when open casting calls (of any kind) happen? Completely unknowable.

So, if you have any intention of being a serious actor, the best way to do it is to proceed in the best artistic traditions of the craft. Seek no shortcuts. Study the art (acting is, by definition, a collaborative effort – classes are logical, imperative), do theatre, engage in scene studies, showcase, seek legitimate representation, audition, win roles on the merits of your artistic ability, play your roles with truth and integrity??then repeat!