After sourcing talent for four critically acclaimed movies in 2025, kingmaking casting director Jennifer Venditti breaks down her epic year
By Caroline McCloskey
Artwork by Théodore B. Boyerï
If you were a film lover in 2025, you were a beneficiary of Jennifer Venditti’s immaculate instincts. Over more than two decades, the New York City–based casting director has helped populate the onscreen worlds of directors including the Safdie brothers, Park Chan-wook, Mike Mills and Andrea Arnold, earning a particular reputation for scouting new talent and coordinating ensembles (like the cast of Euphoria) that radiate chemistry. “I don’t feel I discover people—
I’m a person that maybe helps along the way,” she says. “Seeing the magic in someone and watching them evolve is exciting.”
This year Venditti’s professional life arguably reached its apex, as she cast four critically acclaimed features (including several awards-season contenders) in quick succession: Bing Liu’s Preparation for the Next Life, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine and Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme. “I want to work with people I can learn from or be inspired by,” says Venditti of the varied projects. “I don’t want to just keep making the same thing.”
Highlighting one performance from each film, Venditti offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her process.
Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
MARTY SUPREME, director, Josh Safdie
The actor: Odessa A’zion
The role: Rachel Mizler
“She auditioned for me for Euphoria, and I was blown away by her. The role ended up going in a different direction, but I was like, Oh my God, this girl. I remember just always thinking about her for things, and I just never had anything [for her]. But she’s a perfect example of all the things we love: She’s scrappy and raw and very original, but has this power to her, and a vulnerability. She’s like a unicorn. She’s a one of one.
“When Josh started describing this role to me, it was like, I know who it is. And it’s an example where sometimes they want to see other people. He met her. He felt in the beginning she was too young. Then we went through the whole process and she just did not give up.
We worked together and I had her make a tape. We kind of held it back. We saw more people, so I could show them—you know, sometimes the casting director has to do that, you have to strategize. But then in the end, everyone was obsessed with her. And Josh, to this day, is just like, ‘I can’t believe we had to go through all that, because she is so perfect for this.’ She has all those dimensions to her, and that’s the thing I saw. The [Euphoria] thing that she had auditioned for originally was so different from this. If you watch I Love L.A., it’s so different from Marty Supreme.”
Sebiye Behtiyar, Preparation for the Next Life
PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LIFE, director, Bing Liu
The actor: Sebiye Behtiyar
The role: Aishe
“That was a needle in a haystack. [The part called for] a Uyghur actress who speaks Uyghur, speaks Chinese, speaks English, and is in almost every single scene. There are not a lot of people who fit that bill. Like, literally no one. So we studied demographics. We reached out to organizations. We did everything. And I have to say, it was a very small pool of people that we found, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we only found this many people and she’s the best, we’ll just go with her.’ No. Her tape made me cry, it was so beautiful. I always give interview questions so I can get a sense of who they are as people. She was so cinematic, she was so beautiful, and she was so vulnerable. She had many life experiences that blended into it. Her performance is so good. She’s nuanced and subtle. It’s so deep. She was all of that.
“Sometimes the psychology of casting is that [filmmakers] have to feel like they saw 5 million people to make a decision. It was so obvious to me with this that we were not going to have a million choices, but I never felt like we were settling. She’s another one where it was [about] chemistry. There were a couple guys that we were considering for the male role, and she did chemistry tests with them. Both the people who tested with her were just like, ‘Oh my gosh, what a privilege.’”
Aidan Delbis, Bugonia
BUGONIA, director, Yorgos Lanthimos
The actor: Aidan Delbis
The role: Don
“Bugonia was in a world that I had made a film called Billy the Kid about, [with] a kid that was neurodivergent. So I have a soft spot for bringing people like that into the storytelling process. With that, we had to be more resourceful. We did online open calls and scouted certain festivals, but it takes longer, because it’s not a ‘look’ you’re looking for.
“Aidan came through his mom. We did an online open-call blast to all the people in the industry. A manager was friends with his mom, and they sent in a tape. We asked interview questions for them to answer, [including] if they believed in aliens. He had this really interesting answer. There was something really magical about him. Then I did a Zoom interview with him and it was every kind of everything that we were trying to hit. He was fine with intense material. He loved horror films. He had traveled alone. He was funny and he was quick. We did take him through many processes to decide if it was him, but yeah, it was kind of this kismet thing.
“We did workshops with Jesse [Plemons] and Aidan. Jesse was so incredible and so sensitive, because [his character] had to be kind of intense with him at times. He really wanted to make sure we found the right person. We wanted it to be the right fit for someone and make sure that the environment wouldn’t be shocking to them and that they could handle it. We did a day of workshop improvisation lines and they just had like instant chemistry. Jesse was always tiptoeing, like, ‘Are you sure?’ and Aidan’s like, ‘I’m fine.’”
Ryan Bader, The Smashing Machine
THE SMASHING MACHINE, director, Benny Safdie
The actor: Ryan Bader
The role: Mark “The Hammer” Coleman
“[This was a case] where someone’s real life lends to the material. Benny loves documentary, and he wanted this film to really feel like that for people who are MMA fans. We used so many people from that world, whether it was sports commentators or Bas [Rutten], the coach. He wanted it to feel like a mix of fiction and nonfiction, so there would be immersion into the world. Ryan really had that experience of the fighting and he did some readings for us. It felt like a good fit. Having that authenticity around them also helps the actors, too—it really allows them to drop into the world. It’s comfortable. Maybe the leap isn’t as jarring when you’re surrounded by all of these people who actually do this and are in it. And then the way that Benny sets it up, where the cameras are, it feels like they’re just in the experience.”
Théodore B. Boyerï
Théodore B. Boyerï is a contemporary artist who explores the psychological and symbolic dimensions of the human experience. His painting and mixed media navigates themes of identity, transformation and the subconscious.