Casting Actors for "What We Carry" Short Film
Seeking actors for "What We Carry" short film. Please see the details below. ONLY LOCAL TALENT WILL BE ACCEPTED. About the project: When college students return home for winter break, a quiet town becomes the site of a string of brutal, inexplicable deaths. Lucy, an emotionally perceptive freshman, reunites with her older sister Anna, who is intensely protective, hypervigilant, and shaped by a violent childhood. As the town descends into fear. What unfolds is a psychological slasher with a paranormal undercurrent, revealing that the true horror is not an external force, but an inherited cycle of violence born from trauma, love, and protection. Rate: Volunteer. Additional info: Genre: Psychological Horror / Slasher Tone: Intimate, bleak, slow-burning, inevitable If interested, please apply.
8 roles
Lead Controlled, hypervigilant older sister. Emotionally contained, physically tense, always watching exits. Anna has spent her life positioning herself between danger and the people she loves. She believes violence is preventive, not immoral. Arc: Protector → Enforcer → Confessor → Sacrifice Casting Notes: Requires deep internalized intensity. Actor must communicate love, rage, and guilt with minimal dialogue. Empathy and menace must coexist. Strong presence without overt aggression.
Lead / Final Girl Open, observant, emotionally perceptive. Lucy survives by reading people and environments. She wants to believe in goodness because the alternative would rewrite her childhood. Begins warm and reactive; becomes colder and more deliberate. Arc: Denial → Suspicion → Recognition → Inheritance Casting Notes: Listening-heavy role. Actor must balance vulnerability with intelligence. Final act requires quiet resolve and emotional precision.
Antagonist (Flashbacks / Final Act) Abusive, controlling, emotionally manipulative. Cruelty is casual and intimate; fear is her version of love. Terrifying because she is recognizable. Casting Notes: Avoid “horror villain” energy. Must feel like a real parent. Minimal screen time, maximum impact.
SUPPORTING ROLE Lucy’s boyfriend. Charming, well-liked. Represents normalcy. His death makes the violence personal. Casting: Immediately likable.
SUPPORTING ROLE Calm, procedural, cautious. Function: Institutional blindness.
SUPPORTING ROLE Volatile, aggressive college student. Function: Moral justification trap for Anna. Avoid caricature.
SUPPORTING ROLE Jason’s girlfriend. Withdrawn, minimizes harm. Function: Proof that the violence “works.”
SUPPORTING ROLE Belligerent local drunk. Function: Shows Anna’s expanding lack of restraint.
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