Open Roles in "Orpheus and Eurydice" Film

A gifted artist whose sensitivity, devotion, and inner conviction define the emotional core of the story. Orpheus is deeply romantic, spiritually driven, and capable of profound love, but he is also vulnerable to doubt, grief, and human weakness. Seeking a performer with strong emotional range, presence, and the ability to carry both lyrical tenderness and psychological intensity. The actor playing Orpheus must be able to sing in a high tenor range.

Eurydice is luminous, intelligent, and emotionally grounded. She is not simply an idealized figure, but a fully felt presence whose love, loss, and symbolic weight shape the story’s emotional and mythic world. Seeking a performer with depth, subtlety, and a strong ability to convey both intimacy and resonance.

The ruler of the underworld. Commanding, still, and emotionally restrained, Hades carries immense authority without needing excess force. He is not a villain in a conventional sense, but a figure of law, order, and irreversible consequence. Seeking an actor with strong presence, gravity, and the ability to convey power through control and quiet intensity.

The queen of the underworld. Poised, enigmatic, and deeply self-possessed, Persephone carries both elegance and authority. She is capable of stillness, intelligence, and emotional depth, with a presence that suggests both compassion and power. Seeking an actor with strong screen presence, subtlety, and the ability to convey layered feeling beneath restraint.

The ferryman of the dead. Ancient, severe, and unsentimental, Charon guards the threshold between the living and the underworld with ritual certainty. He is not cruel for its own sake, but immovable, bound to the laws of passage and death. Seeking an actor with strong physical presence, a resonant voice, and the ability to convey menace, age, and authority through restraint.

Additional Character. A mortal figure whose pursuit helps set tragedy in motion. Aristaeus should feel charismatic yet destabilizing, not necessarily monstrous, but intrusive, entitled, and dangerous in the consequences of his presence. The role calls for an actor who can convey pressure, desire, and unease without tipping into caricature. Strong dramatic instinct and grounded screen presence required.

Additional character: Female/non-binary/open. Traditionally presented as a trio, the Furies are relentless figures of judgment, punishment, and underworld law. They carry an unsettling, ritualistic presence and may function as witnesses, enforcers, and a collective force within the underworld. Seeking performers with strong physical presence, intensity, and precision.

Additional character: Physical performer/creature performer. The three-headed guardian of the underworld gates. Cerberus is primal, watchful, and imposing — a force of instinct, violence, and threshold power rather than a conventional speaking character. This role may be approached through physical theatre, creature movement, mask work, puppetry, or stylized performance.

Additional character: A condemned soul of the underworld, eternally bound to futile labor. Sisyphus carries the weight of exhaustion, defiance, and endless repetition, making him a striking mythic presence even in limited screen time. Seeking a performer with strong physical presence and the ability to convey burden, endurance, and tragic intensity through movement and expression. Experience with physical theatre or stylized performance is a strong asset.

Additional character: A condemned soul of the underworld, defined by torment, deprivation, and unattainable desire. Tantalus exists in a state of perpetual longing, reaching for relief that always recedes from him. The role is brief but visually striking, and works best with a performer who can convey desperation, suffering, and mythic intensity through physical presence and expression. Experience in physical theatre or stylized performance is a strong asset.

Additional character: A condemned soul of the underworld, bound to an eternal wheel and defined by punishment, restlessness, and ruin. Ixion should feel mythic, tormented, and physically striking, even in brief screen time. Seeking a performer with strong physical presence and the ability to convey suffering, intensity, and psychological unrest through movement and expression. Experience in physical theatre, stylized movement, or creature-based performance is a strong asset.

Additional character: A group of condemned souls in the underworld, defined by endless, futile labor. The Danaids carry a haunting presence - ritualistic, sorrowful, and unnerving - making them well suited for stylized ensemble work, movement-based performance, or recurring visual motifs within the underworld.

Additional character: The god of marriage, appearing at the wedding of Orpheus and Eurydice as a figure of ritual, omen, and forewarning. Hymen should feel ceremonial, striking, and slightly unsettling — a presence associated with union, but shadowed by the sense that something is already wrong. This role is brief but symbolically important, and suits a performer with strong presence, elegance, and the ability to convey meaning through stillness and atmosphere.

Additional information: A frenzied collective bound to ritual, ecstasy, and violence. The Maenads are not casual bystanders; they are an overwhelming force of chaos, devotion, and emotional extremity, and in the classical tradition they become the agents of Orpheus’s destruction after his loss of Eurydice. This role may be cast as an ensemble or divided into several featured performers.