More of this Feature RUSSO BROS. INTERVIEW (Continued): • Hooking Up With Steven Soderbergh • Soderbergh Behind-the-Scenes ADDITIONAL "Welcome to Collinwood" INFORMATION: • "Welcome to Collinwood" Production Photos • "Welcome to Collinwood" Trailer, Credits and Websites • One on One With William H. Macy

Related Resources • News on Upcoming Releases • New in Theatres or on Video • Movie Reviews • Casting News

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Did you write the characters with specific actors in mind?
Anthony: We always have actors that we gravitate towards, especially in comedy. Our favorite comedies of all time are “Big Deal on Madonna Street” and “Catch-22,” both of which are sort of dramatic comedies. They have deeper undertones going. “Big Deal on Madonna Street” had socialist undertones and “Catch-22” was very existential.

When we're thinking about comedy, we are always thinking about dramatic actors who can do comedy - or stage-trained actors who can comedy - because we know that they'll approach it from the point of view of trying to emotionally ground the character. [They] let the humor come out of the situations instead of playing the humor.

As far as writing specifically, Carmela we wrote specifically for Jennifer Esposito because we'd seen her in “Summer of Sam” and we'd seen her on “Spin City.” We knew she had the capacity for comedy and drama. We were looking for a new way to play that character from the original. Because we were going multi-ethnic in Cleveland, we felt we should make her Puerto Rican. When we put her in that role, we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to do with that character. Generally we keep it more open. It's tough. Sometimes you go to that for specific reasons - the concept of a specific actor - but generally I think it's more enriching to not have those limitations and to find the character in your imagination.

Joe: Suddenly you can put an actor into the role and change the whole context of the role for the better.

Anthony: We really had that experience with [William H.] Macy. The character existed on the page for us as more of a BoHo kind of character, more of an artist. Macy at the time was kind of bulked up and he said, “What if I play this guy more like an ex-sailor?” It gave the character a much more interesting edge than I think we had anticipated.

It was kind of neat because Macy has always been a huge hero of ours. He's got such a depth of experience, not only in acting but writing, theater, and directing as well. He functioned very much as a mentor figure to us while we were in production. He knows the game so well.

Joe: And he's very professional.

Anthony: He was able to clue us into a few things that made our experience a lot more productive.

How did you attract this cast? Was it basically through the Soderbergh/Clooney connection?
Joe: We thought we had it made because we had Soderbergh and Clooney but the problem was, we were casting the film right before the proposed actors strike.

Anthony: Even though it was coming out from Soderbergh and Clooney's company, it's coming out without a payday. We weren't offering a payday.

Joe: We were basically offering gas money.

Anthony: And a one-way ticket to Cleveland.

Just one way?
Anthony: We didn't even have the money to get them out of Cleveland (laughing). With the proposed actors strike, there was a glut of production. All the studios wanted to have product to ride out the strike, and all the actors wanted to have paydays before the strike so they could eat during the strike. We were devastated. For months and months and months we could not break through this dynamic. We eventually turned to a letter writing campaign. We started with [Sam] Rockwell, really telling people about us, about the film, and why we saw them in the role in a very detailed, sensitive way. That started turning the tide eventually.

Joe: Once you get an actor's actor like Sam attached to the script, that attracts others.

Did any minor role in the script get expanded based on the actor who was interested and/or cast?
Joe: Rosalind, actually - Patricia Clarkson's character. We worked with Patty on that character to define the ideas that Patty had about where that character should be, and where she originally wasn't in the screenplay. She helped fill out her relationships with the other characters in the movie.

You cast a bunch of veteran actors and then you've got Andrew Davoli. How did you find him?
Joe: All of our favorite films have always had actors who've 'broken' in the film. You get a fresh take on it. You see a new talent and that adds a whole other level to the movie for you. You see a bunch of great actors and on top of that you get a really great, young actor.

We knew we wanted a young gigolo. At the time - other than Mark Ruffalo - there really wasn't any young Italian unknowns. There weren't any young Italian actors who were in the Ruffalo category in acting. Ruffalo had broken big at that time. Trying to get him to play that role, which was really a supporting character, would have been difficult.

We saw Andy in "The Yards." Even though it's a small role, he's got a great sequence where he walks down the hallway to kill Mark Wahlberg and the look on his face…

Anthony: There's an incredible presence…

Joe: There's so much going on in that one minute walk, we said that we've got to have him.