This Is The List (Part 3)

SUSAN CAGLE (Truly Hanssen)

Susan Cagle entered my life first through her singing — as I’m sure she has in many people’s lives. Just google her name and you’ll see tons of stories about her life and what she has gone through to be where she is now. I actually first heard of her via a CD sampler and at first listen I knew this girl was special so I threw down my ten bucks and bought her first CD album (THE SUBWAY RECORDINGS) — great album by the way. So this was all in 2006.

In early 2007, as I was writing the latest version of NEW YORK LATELY, I used many indie artists’ music to help set the mood and create atmospheres/tones that I wanted to explore — Susan Cagle was one of those artists.

By mid-2007 I was ready to begin casting….and I knew one of the toughest roles to find was the role of TRULY HANSSEN — an aspiring singer. We had literally over a thousand actors looking to fill the role — and actually auditioned a few hundred who were all extremely talented, but I knew that I primarily wanted to cast a person who could sing — I mean SING. Susan was referred to me by Jenn Dees after I had cast her as VERONICA DARLING (we’ll get to that in another post). I immediately set up a casting session to meet with both of them to read together (Veronica and Truly are friends in the film). Needless to say that Susan was charming and very natural — which I figure comes from being in front of the camera all the time (from videos, photo shoots, etc.) thus making her comfortable which is a key ingredient to great acting.

I believe many will be surprised at her ability to both sing and act. She’s a powerhouse of talent and I’m really looking forward to how people receive her in the film.

Let’s just leave it with this: when we filmed a scene (guerrilla style) where she sings on a subway — the whole train of absolute strangers went silent and listened to her while we rolled the camera. Amazing.