- Kris Kristofferson, Cisco Pike, 1971. All set to star, the Cassavetes fixture upped and changed his mind. Enter: Kristofferson – direct from from Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie in Peru for his first starring role. Cassel had good advice for him… “Character actors can have the fun, while the leading men think they have to be this object. I mean, that’s boring. The fun is in filling out a part and making it a little crazy, because everyone has a little craziness in them anyway.”
- Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.
- Lawrence Tierney, Reservoir Dogs, 1991.
- Tommy Arnold, Trees Lounge, 1996. Directing debut of Cassel’s In The Soup co-star Steve Buscemi. “And I wanted him in it,” Steve told me in Cannes. “But I really didn’t have anything for him. Except my father or the bar-tender – and Seymour had played a bar-tender in my short film, What Happened To Pete.”
- Steve Randazzo, Trees Lounge, 1996. “Then, it hit me that Uncle Al was an important figure, although he doesn’t have a lot of screen time – a good cameo for Seymour. And surprising that he dies so quickly!”
Birth year: 1935Death year: 2019Other name: Casting Calls: 5