Casting at The Middle

One might say that G. Charles Wright has spent his whole life preparing for a job in casting. “All my childhood was spent in front of a television instead of playing outdoors or doing homework,” he says with a chuckle. He currently works on the hit TV show “The Middle,” starring Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn, and teaches a popular auditioning class in Los Angeles. Other credits include “That ’70s Show,” PBS’s “Sid the Science Kid,” and numerous pilots and Web shows.

The hardest role we had to cast on “The Middle” was Sue, the daughter, and that had to do with the fact that “The Middle” was a pilot that had already been shot two years before with a different cast. It didn’t quite come together as ABC had wanted it to, but they really liked the story. It was a situation where the writers kept thinking about the girl they had from the first pilot, and it was hard for them to get her out of their heads. Eden Sher came in and pre-read for me. She was one of the very first girls we saw for the role. Brought her to producers and she went through that process, but at that time, I think the producers still had in their minds the performance from the previous actress, so they kind of dismissed everybody. I ended up bringing Eden back in again at the end. By that time, they had seen so many actresses for the part, they really started to look at her with new eyes. Eden was the only actress who came in and played that character with exuberance and zeal. Everybody else played her more goth, kind of down and mopey. Eden makes you remember and root for a character that nobody ever roots for.

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Tags: Actor, American Broadcasting Company, Eden Sher, Los Angeles, Middle, Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton, Television program