![]() ![]() "Invariably magicians try to do things very slowly to disprove that you've been deceived." However, contrary to popular belief, Hart says, magicians do not employ quick-handed movements to deceive. That professional dexterity is one reason why magicians were called for the audition. Hart possesses large hands with long fingers, the better for rolling coins on his fingers, pulling cards out of his hand and, if he must, pulling rabbits out of hats. Thing was such a hit when the movie was screened for special test audiences that the director and producer went back and added more scenes with Thing. Barry Sonnenfeld "really saw Thing as a full-bodied character that needed to have a lot of attention and focus." "Another director might have seen Thing just as atmosphere," says Hart. Thing develops a personality of its own _ kind of a frisky pup, mischievous but loyal. "I knew it was a good sign when I would hear that they laughed at what I did when they saw the dailies." He later used some of his audition moves in his scenes _ such as when Thing is running too fast to answer the door and skids and bounces into the door. When he went back, his little hand pratfalls tickled the auditioners. He videotaped himself for hours trying different ways of walking, so to speak _ "gallops and trots and little funny skids." To prepare for his call back, Hart studied cartoons and how inanimate objects take on a humanness. They said, "Make your hand look happy, make it look sad, make it look nervous.' I did the best I could and then I got a call back." "Once they saw I could do that, they wanted to see my hand act in different ways. "I went into the audition showing them sleight-of-hand skills," says Hart. "Thing," Gomez says affectionately, "you're a handful." ![]() This Thing runs up and down corridors, opens doors, sleeps on Uncle Fester's chest, plays pranks at seances and intrepidly comes to the rescue. There's an effortlessness that Jacob brought to it that made Jacob feel real to me pretty quickly.Fans of the Addams Family television series will remember Thing as the disembodied hand that lived in a box and surfaced only to hand up the mail or perform other box-bound duties. ![]() As subtle as Jacob's performance often is, it is always navigating about one of five worlds that he lives in. We needed someone charismatic to be performing magic in front of people, but then tender enough to be speaking with his little sister, then to talk about science, also to jump into the crime world and not just seem like a total square. He has this incredible quality-this chameleon-like quality where he can feel at home in a number of different environments. How did Jacob get involved? Were you familiar with him before you were casting the film? A big reason that character is so compelling is obviously Jacob Latimore's performance. One of many things I love about the film is how complex Bo is. Jacob Latimore and Seychelle Gabriel in Sleight With genre specifically, that is something that I am working toward figuring out. flashes of stories that are familiar but through a point of view that you're maybe a little less accustomed to. I think it is important for people to see flashes of things that are familiar to them, but led by people of color, or by women. Not every story needs to be innately about the black experience, but really just making movies with different people and different faces. I really want to use genre to contribute to that conversation. In terms of my own approach to diversity in film-in Sleight having a voice, and subsequently, hopefully giving me one a little bit as well, I'm definitely thinking about what my contribution to this conversation is. To see what Moonlight and Get Out have done in the past year has been truly inspiring. One of the incredible things that Moonlight does is humanize characters who we've seen flashes of before to such a serious degree. All three of those movies are very different. Do you think mainstream tastes and what's considered popular entertainment might be changing? Moonlight, like Sleight, was about characters who have generally been relegated to the fringes of movies in the past. Some critics and observers have made connections between Sleight and two other popular recent films: Get Out was made on a very small budget and became a hit.
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