Blue Sparrow Entertainment are currently casting a number of roles for the short film, Tell My Father.
Set to be filmed in the South West Sydney Area, in late November Tell My Father is a thought-provoking and heartfelt short film that pays homage to the scars that war continues to leave on the minds of the soldiers who fight it.
The film provides a glimpse into the mental torment and aguish that elderly war veteran, Thomas Watson still faces decades after a young officer died in his arms during a combat mission gone wrong. In doing so, it serves as a comment on the impacts that PTSD continues to have on soldiers and their families, even after their enlistment ends.
The roles currently being auditioned, and the relevant submission instructions are outlined below.
Submission Instructions
Any actors who would like to express their interests in any of these roles are asked to email a copy of their CV and headshot to casting@bluesparrowentertainment.com with the the subject 'TELL MY FATHER | APPLICATION - [CHARACTER NAME]'.
Character Breakdowns
LESLIE HALE (Male, 18 - 25 years old)
Leslie is a promising young private on his first mission with Unit 7. Despite his age, Leslie is an intelligent and skilled officer.
The only child of a single father, he first joined the army for the promise of adventure, and the chance to get out of his small town. However, as those promises have begun to erode as he faces the reality of war, he has since come to value the military for the sense of camaraderie and community that it has given him with his fellow soldiers.
He sees Thomas Watson as a valued mentor and is very aware that Thomas will likely blame himself if any of their unit do not make it home in one piece.
YOUNG THOMAS WATSON (Male, 28 - 45 years old)
A loyal army man through and through, Thomas comes from a family of military men, and grew up hearing his father’s old war stories.
As he got older, there was never any doubt in his mind that he would join the service and continue the family tradition.As a sergeant, he is a respected leader who demands loyalty, respect and integrity from himself and his fellow soldiers.
He has a strong sense of duty towards those he leads and feels personally responsible for ensuring they all get home safe. He sees Leslie Hale’s death as a personal failure on his part.
OLD THOMAS WATSON (Male, 60+ years old)
The older version of Young Thomas Watson. Old Thomas Watson, now in his seventies, is still haunted by the memory and guilt of Leslie Hale’s death.
Throughout the years, he has struggled to accept the true extent of the impact that his military service has had on his mental health. Now decades, after the fact he is still plagued with guilt and struggles to accept his failure to bring all his soldiers home alive.
Touched with the beginnings of dementia, as well as the PTSD that has ravaged his mind for decades, Old Thomas Watson suffers regular flashbacks to the traumatic mission on which Leslie was killed before his eyes.
ELLEN WATSON (Female, 60+ years old)
Ellen Watson is Thomas Watson’s wife. Fiercely loyal and committed to those she loves Ellen has an incredible strength that has helped her support Thomas through the challenges of military life.
She has seen Thomas’ anguish over Leslie Hale’s death firsthand and struggles with the fact that her husband returned from that mission as a damaged and fragile man.
As they have aged, Thomas’s mental health has continued to deteriorate, made all the worse by his recent diagnosis of dementia. As he is caught in the throes of one of his worst flashbacks, Ellen struggles with the knowledge that she may not be able to give him the care Thomas desperately needs.
COOPER WATSON (Male, 5-8 years old)
Cooper is Ellen and Thomas Watson’s grandson.
Thomas is Cooper’s hero, though he struggles to understand why Thomas sometimes seems to disappear to another place in his mind, and doesn’t recognise him.
