Open Casting for Violet and Klaus in Netflix's ASoUE

[Dante]

Since it's presently being discussed in three separate threads, I thought I would try and centralise discussion:

LemonySnicketCasting.com

The movie is accepting submissions from "anyone worldwide" for the roles of Violet and Klaus. Here are the details given on the site:

Based on the best-selling book series, the journey of the Baudelaire orphans is brought to life as they outwit the villainous Count Olaf while unraveling the mystery of the mysterious death of their parents. The epic series will be executive produced by Barry Sonnenfeld, who will also direct a number of episodes, and Daniel Handler, legal, literary and social representative for Lemony Snicket.

SEEKING:

VIOLET: Female, 11-14-years-old - a young, not-too-mature 14-year-old. She is self-confident, capable and smart beyond her years. She helps her brother and sister solve problems with her skills as an inventor. She is the eldest and a natural leader of the group. (SERIES REGULAR)

KLAUS: Male, 10-13-years-old. He is the middle child in the family. He's very smart and is a voracious reader. He loves books. He is charming. (SERIES REGULAR)

Submission Deadline: January 15th, 2016

The synopsis given, as well as, apparently, the scenes given for the casting videos, suggest new elements to the adaptation. Instructinos for how to apply are given on the page. This is quite an exciting opportunity for those eligible, and resembles similar open casting calls in the past for roles in Harry Potter and Star Wars.

[Deleted]

Is that logo final?

[Dante]

I suspect not, and I hope not.

[B.]

bear you're 12, you can play Klaus!

[Anka]

I really don't like that they are looking for such a young Violet. Why do they always make all the clever girls look much younger on tv?

[Sophie Baudelaire]

TRYINA THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE

[Linda Rhaldeen]

Presumably because they want to stretch the series out a couple of years, and even if it's only the one season by the time filming wraps someone 11-14 now will likely be 12-15.

[bear]

well clearly by the description she is supposed to be the same age as she is in the book. they are willing to accept actors for both violet and klaus who are slightly younger than their roles. since most girls mature at 11 or before, and most boys mature at 13 or after, there shouldn't be any noticeable difference at all.

[Cafe SalMONAlla]

while unraveling the mystery of the mysterious death of their parents.

Hmm. Streamlining the mystery, I see, though maybe it's just easiest to describe in the casting call like this.

[bear]

Dec 3, 2015 15:32:42 GMT -5 Dante said:

apparently, the scenes given for the casting videos, suggest new elements to the adaptation.

why haven't you taken a look at them, dante?

here's the klaus transcript.

SPOILER: Click to show

INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING

COUNT OLAF is sitting at the head of the table with a dilapidated COFFEE SET. KLAUS comes in.

COUNT OLAF
Good morning, orphan. I’d offer you some coffee but I’m going to drink it all myself.

KLAUS
I don’t drink coffee, and I know what you’re up to.

COUNT OLAF
I know what you’re up to, too. Did you hide the sugar bowl? I can’t find it.

KLAUS sits down and shows OLAF the book.

KLAUS
I’ve been up all night reading this book. It’s called Nuptial Law, and I learned many interesting things reading it.

COUNT OLAF
There’s no way a little runt like yourself could understand all the big words in that book. I can only understand the [] myself and I’ve had more than a year and a half of college.

KLAUS opens to a marked page.

KLAUS
“The only nuptial requirements are a statement of active acquiescence by both the presumedly amorous participants, utilizing in loco parentis if necessary, and the signing of an explanatory document in the bride’s own hand with appropriate authorization.”

COUNT OLAF
Let me give you a piece of advice. When you use a lot of fancypants words, all people think is that—

KLAUS
If my sister says ‘I do’ and signs a piece of paper while Justice Strauss is in the room, she’s legally married. This play won’t be pretend. It will be real and legally binding.

COUNT OLAF
That’s outrageous. Your sister isn’t old enough to get married.

KLAUS
She can get married if she has the permission of her legal guardian, acting in loco parentis.

COUNT OLAF
That’s outrageous. I don’t even like Mexican food.

KLAUS
You’re not going to marry Violet figuratively—you’re going to marry her literally.

COUNT OLAF
But why in the world would I want to literally marry your sister? It is true she is very pretty, but a man like myself is [] number of beautiful wives.

KLAUS flips to a different page.

KLAUS
“A legal husband has titular and practical control of any relevant fiduciaries, resulting in aggregate financial dominion over any spousal holdings.”

COUNT OLAF
I’m not sure the word titular ought to be used by a boy your age.

KLAUS stands up.

KLAUS
You’re going to marry my sister to gain control of the Baudelaire fortune. Or at least, that’s what you planned to do. But when I show this information to Mr. Poe, your play will not be performed, and you will go to jail!

and here's the violet transcript.

SPOILER: Click to show

INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING

COUNT OLAF is sitting at the head of the table with a dilapidated COFFEE SET. VIOLET comes in.

COUNT OLAF
Good morning, orphan. I’d offer you some coffee but I’m going to drink it all myself.

VIOLET
I don’t drink coffee, and I know what you’re up to.

COUNT OLAF
I know what you’re up to, too. Did you hide the sugar bowl? I can’t find it.

VIOLET sits down and shows OLAF the book.

VIOLET
I’ve been up all night reading this book. It’s called Nuptial Law, and I learned many interesting things reading it.

COUNT OLAF
There’s no way a little runt like yourself could understand all the big words in that book. I can only understand the [] myself and I’ve had more than a year and a half of college.

VIOLET opens to a marked page.

VIOLET
“The only nuptial requirements are a statement of active acquiescence by both the presumedly amorous participants, utilizing in loco parentis if necessary, and the signing of an explanatory document in the bride’s own hand with appropriate authorization.”

COUNT OLAF
Let me give you a piece of advice. When you use a lot of fancypants words, all people think is that—

VIOLET

If I say ‘I do’ and sign a piece of paper while Justice Strauss is in the room, I’m legally married. This play won’t be pretend. It will be real and legally blinding.

COUNT OLAF
That’s outrageous. You aren’t old enough to get married.

VIOLET
I can get married if I have the permission of my legal guardian, acting in loco parentis.

COUNT OLAF

That’s outrageous. I don’t even like Mexican food.

VIOLET
You’re not going to marry me figuratively—you’re going to marry me literally.

COUNT OLAF
But why in the world would I want to literally marry you? It is true she is very pretty, but a man like myself is [] number of beautiful wives.

VIOLET flips to a different page.

VIOLET
“A legal husband has titular and practical control of any relevant fiduciaries, resulting in aggregate financial dominion over any spousal holdings.”

COUNT OLAF
I’m not sure the word titular ought to be used by a girl your age.

VIOLET stands up.

VIOLET
You’re going to marry me to gain control of the Baudelaire fortune. Or at least, that’s what you planned to do. But when I show this information to Mr. Poe, your play will not be performed, and you will go to jail!

[lorelai]

This is very exciting and refreshing; lots of room for diverse casting.
I don't think we can really say they're adding new elements though. I agree with a previous post that they streamlined the plot forthe casting, and a lot of pre-production scenes change dramaticly over time. Interviews and behind the scenes fottage in things Harry Potter and even the ASOUE film are proof of this; Hagrid's screen test scene is way more about emotion than exposition, for instance (see making of feature on bonus disk of first film). This seems to me like it was designed/written more to see how intelligent, charming, passionate and comic timing savvy the entrants/actors are then a taste of what we'll be watching.

[Dante]

Thanks for posting the script excerpts, bear. The sugar bowl reference looks more like an in-joke for fans so far as that particular bit of script goes. While I agree that it's probably not going to appear exactly that way in the movie, it's interesting to me that the approach in constructing that particular script fragment seems to have been to take lines from the book and then split them up so that it's no longer quite such a monologue. There's more of an attempt to tie the legal elements together, too, by the allusion to in loco parentis.

At any rate, I do regard the "mystery of the mysterious death of their parents" as essentially a new plot element, though, as it was never presented as mysterious in the books until the penultimate chapter of the final book, at which point there's an open-ended suggestion that it might have been foul play. If they're playing it up as mysterious from the get-go, that is an innovation, and to me a sensible one as it offers a hook to bring in the V.F.D. backstory with more direct relevance to the Baudelaires themselves, whereas in the books it's introduced as something exclusively connected to Count Olaf and we only learn quite a bit later that the Baudelaire family is tied up in it as well. Again, impossible to accurately call from what we've been given here, which isn't a pitch to the general public in the same way as the eventual full promotional campaign will be, but if written by somebody with an idea of what they're talking about, this gives us a sense of what they're doing to tie the whole series together in the adaptation.

...In less promising "the PR knows what they're talking about" news, the press release for the open casting refers to an "evil uncle". Oh no, not Uncle Monty! (Though it's possible they've changed Olaf's exact relation to the Baudelaires, too.)

[Hermes]

The film did treat the parents' death as mysterious too, though the mystery was quite easily solved. I think a lot of readers were just assuming that Olaf caused it, so The End had to take account of it for that reason.

As for the evil uncle, a fourth cousin three times removed could well be called an uncle if one lives with him, but the press release does refer to both Olaf and the evil uncle, which casts doubt on that reading. An evil Monty certainly seems improbable. Perhaps Sir will turn out to be their uncle? His connection with them was always a mystery.

[Skelly Craig]

Hm, I wouldn't read too much into the "evil uncle" thing. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be Olaf and somebody's just written it in a rush.

[suda21]

I can't wait and I am happy it is not a fake because Daniel Handler and the official Lemony Snicket social media pages also posted it. The best part is the age ranges are fitting. Though I am most excited that they are going to start filming in March so in theory it can take roughly 4-6 months of post production to finish all of the FX shots and edit everything so we should have it released either by October 2016 or December 2016.