Veteran Casting Director Bernard Telsey On Playing "Detective" In The Social Media Age

Bernie Telsey , a veteran casting director whose credits include the most recent film versions of Kiss of the Spider Woman and Wicked , says social media has only enhanced the role he and his peers play.

“Are casting directors needed even more so now? Yes,” he told Deadline in an interview. Given the rise of digital platforms and their ability to consistently mint truly global stars, Telsey said the art of matching talent to roles is “like having to be a detective. Where should we look? In Spain? In California?”

A recent example of the epic quest to make an ideal match was the search that yielded Tonatiuh, who plays the part of Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman . “Even though he had been through the doors of the Telsey office in the past, we didn’t really know him,”