Susie Figgis obit

Susie Figgis Dies: “Unique” Casting Director Of ‘Gandhi’, ‘The Full Monty’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ & Many More Hits Was 77

 

She was not on the list.

Susie Figgis, the renowned British casting director who worked on a veritable roll call of movie classics from Gandhi to The Killing Fields, and The Full Monty to Harry Potter, died December 12 at age 77.

Figgis started out on iconic British hits but also went on to cast blockbusters such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and Fast X.

Her longtime agent Paul Lyon-Maris at Independent Talent Group confirmed news of her passing, noting that she “died peacefully” on December 12 with her husband and daughter by her side.

Figgis — cousin of Leaving Las Vegas filmmaker Mike Figgis — was one of the top UK casting directors for many years, notably fighting for Daniel Radcliffe to be cast in the lead role in the first Potter movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Talking with Deadline last year about the process, she recalled receiving about 40,000 applications for the Harry Potter role. “I had post bags full of letters,” she added, as she remembered how different the industry was in those days. “That original world I came from, I would wander through schools and playgrounds and all sorts of interesting places just finding people [to cast].”

Born in Kenya, Figgis was sent to boarding school in the UK at age 10. She told an interviewer once that that experience helped forge her identity as an outsider. “I came into films from that po­si­tion. I was never part of the hip Lon­don trendy scene. I saw things dif­fer­ently,” she said.

Her big break came in the early 1980s with Oscar winner Gandhi, which was soon followed by notable films including Local Hero, The Killing Fields, The Mission, Mona Lisa and Oscar winner The Crying Game. On the 1987 Richard Attenborough film Cry Freedom, about anti-apartheid ac­tivist Steve Biko, she met her hus­band Bill An­der­son, who at that time was a mem­ber of the mil­i­tary wing of the ANC.

It was in the 1980s that she forged one of her key creative collaborations, with producer Stephen Woolley and director Neil Jordan. The trio worked on multiple films including Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt starrer Interview With the Vampire.

In the 1990s, British classic and box office sensation The Full Monty was renowned for its wonderful casting. It was also in the ’90s that Figgis would strike up another of her key collaborations, this time with director Tim Burton. The two would work together on movies including Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland and Dumbo.

Further success (though as The Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini tells us, there was little public acclaim for casting directors during much of Figgis’ career) came in 2018 with box office hit and award-winning musical Bohemian Rhapsody.

On the TV side, Figgis’ credits included War & Peace, Walter & June, Burton and Taylor, Poldark, The Borgias and Anne with an E.

Producers Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen, partners at Number 9 Films, told us: “Over a forty year plus period, we have worked with Susie on more than 20 movies. She has been at the cutting edge of British cinema and her credits are simply an astonishing roll call of some of the best directors, actors and producers on the planet. Susie was a perfectionist who combined a ribald sense of humour with a commitment to serious movies and a respect for cinema and life that made her a unique and formidable partner. We will miss her laughter and caustic wit as much as her genius for finding the most talented actors to play those impossible roles. The Company of Wolves (Sarah Patterson), Mona Lisa (Cathy Tyson), and The Crying Game (Jaye Davidson) for Neil Jordan are just three examples of her meticulous devotion, always searching beyond the confines of Equity’s Searchlight and a tribute to her extraordinary belief in the art of motion pictures. These three films represent a tiny tip on a gigantic iceberg of extraordinary casting talent.”

Karlsen added: “We were with Susie last week in her final days. She was an incredible friend and colleague and a stellar, original talent. It’s such great loss.”