I was put in touch with Mark Holgate by Francesca, she forwarded me his contact details during a conversation about the film, she had recently worked with Mark and recommended I speak to his regarding the role in my film, she mentioned that he had been cast as a soldier before. This could help with preparing him for this role.
Mark had done mainly theatre work however I feel that the way Francesca spoke about him I trust that he will be suited fully capable of taking on the role in this film. I gave Mark the script and following a Skype conversation he produced me three casting videos of the dialogue that he would be performing later in the film, i was really impressed by what he sent me and set about sorting his schedule right away.
UPDATE
During the filming myself and Mark worked very closely to achieve the right state of mind for the character Shawn, we spoke on Skype prior to filming to get a general sense of what I was after and if he had any questions about the role. During the setting up of the scene I'd spend a brief moment with Mark and go through what I wanted, however I'd always welcome Mark's input keeping in mind the pace of the film and how the characters mood would develop from scene to scene. I often explained to Mark that I wasn't going to pursue the PTSD of the character however a general sense of the soldiers trauma since returning home from fighting would need to be expressed throughout the film. Mark had little difficulty understanding and portraying the character Shawn which made the directing process simple, I preferred to give little direction to the actors to generate a more natural performance, I took advice from Mike Figgis's book to prepare me for directing which I found extremely useful. I decided not to do any rehearsals for the film and the actors were all compliant with this idea, I've found that many directors don't do them for varying reasons, but for me I believed that they would get a good rehearsal and aim to achieve that rather than what comes naturally on set, I thought it would be exciting to see what would happen on the first take having the camera rolling and I was confident that with the calibre of the actors I had this wouldn't cause any problems. If I found that a take didn't work I would take a minute with the actors to discuss what we needed to do, in the minimal struggles we had, I'd draw on the actors experience to resolve the issue.
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