It was June of 1984, and it was time for Rapaport’s year-end report.
On it, his teacher wrote, “He assigns ‘parts’ to others.”
Thirty-five years later, the Boston native has made a career out of assigning parts to others.
Confidential, to name a fewand one as a production assistant on Fox’sParty of Five.
But whenParty of Fivewas canceled on his first day, Rapaport put all his focus on casting.
“I was crushed.
“It was a bit of a happy accident.”
“They didn’t call for two years.”
When they did call, it was for a little 2007 pilot calledGossip Girl, which came fromThe O.C.
“With my youthful cockiness, I said, ‘Of course!'”
Finding those perfect actors was about as simple as hosting a Blair Waldorf-approved soiree.
The part he has pulled up on his computer screen has more than 800 submissions.
It’s a guest-star role for which Rapaport says they’ll bring in 20 to 25 actors.
If this were a pilot?
Oh, and they’d do it all in a limited amount of time.
According to Rapaport, they use that time to look through every single submission and self-tape.
(So in more ways than one, he has mastered the “chemistry read.")
Over the years, Rapaport has created a internet of actors that he draws from time and time again.
“You start to get your favorite actors that you keep bringing in.”
“I was looking for this perfect person that would deliver on every level.”
“I did not have another choice,” Rapaport says.
“I knew in my heart there was no one else.”
Amell was also the first person to read for the part.
The Flash shouldn’t look like a superhero, Rapaport was told.
Like Amell, Rapaport had cast Grant Gustin on90210.
He’d also seen him play bad-boy Sebastian onGlee.
“He was the first person I auditioned for the role.
We read him opposite [Arrow’s] Emily Bett Rickards, and there was amazing chemistry there.”
For Supergirl, the prototype was Jennifer Lawrence.
Rapaport took that and ran with it.
“There’s a quality about Jennifer Lawrence, an openness, a goofiness.
She’s relatable,” Rapaport says.
Lili Reinhart, who eventually landed the role of Betty, had previously read forArrow.
“I’ve been reading her since she was 14 years old,” Rapaport says.
Rapaport read Reinhart at the same time as Cole Sprouse.
Camila Mendes and KJ Apawho play Veronica and Archie, respectivelywere both brand-new to Rapaport.
He cast Mendes out of college, while Apa nearly missed his big break.
“I passed on him the first time he came in,” Rapaport says.
“He didn’t seem prepared.”
But when they couldn’t find the right guy for Archie, the actor got a second chance.
“He came back in and his read blew me away,” Rapaport remembers.
“Sometimes people have bad days and you miss something.”
“She’s from Maine, so she took a little bit of digging to find.
She’s such a hero to me.”
“Before Penn was involved, I desperately wanted Alden Ehrenreich to play Dan,” Rapaport says.
But it worked out for Badgley, who was on the series for six years.
“I didn’t think he would do it,” Rapaport says of Badgley taking the part.
“But once we got the idea in our heads, it all made sense.
I can’t imagine anybody else playing that character.”
