Casting Director Renee Godbout on how a celebrity guest star can help or hurt a show
By Renee Godbout
A guest star can be a really bad decision. Sometimes a show will be so happy to get a star on board that they'll waste them on a completely forgettable character.
One frequent offender was Will & Grace. Great show, but its best episodes focused on the four main characters- not the endless parade of guest stars. They got it right when Kevin Bacon starred as himself, but when Jennifer Lopez made a cameo, it was a disaster. Her scenes went so far overboard that they made the whole show hard to watch!
Recently How I Met Your Mother had both Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke on the same episode. Casting Britney Spears COULD have been a major faux pas, but the show wisely cast Britney as the more minor character. She obviously wouldn't have worked as the doctor, but she fit nicely into the role of the ditzy, flirtatious assistant.
I have to say that Gossip Girl has found a way to add a great guest star to the last few episodes of this season without interrupting the flow of the show. The addition of Michelle Trachtenberg as bad girl Georginia Sparks fits perfectly into the current story line! Georgina comes straight from the popular series of books that the show is based on, and Michelle has the perfect look and style for the role. She's not a huge star, but she has enough celebrity power from her stint on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like Eurotrip to attract an audience. Her transition onto the show has been seamless, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was approached next season to reprise her role.
Guest stars should add to the existing storyline while attracting an audience that hasn't sampled the show before. Michelle will be that type of actor for Gossip Girl, and I am ever-so-grateful they didn't go with one of their other choices- Mischa Barton. Now that would have been bad guest star casting!
Renee Godbout - Freelance Casting Director. Renee Godbout recently worked on the first season of The CW's popular teen show Gossip Girl at Grant Wilfey Casting. Some past projects include 2 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the pilot for Dirty Sexy Money, and the upcoming Jonathan Demme-directed Dancing with Shiva.
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