Michelle Hutchison

Fargo, Women

The Fargo Audition Tapes

In researching A Lot Can Happen in the Middle of Nowhere, The Untold Story of the Making of Fargo, I interviewed Jane Drake Brody, an acting coach and casting director. Brody wasn’t the top casting director on Fargo; John S. Lyons had that honor. But in working with the Coens on The Hudsucker Proxy, she begged The Boys to hire her to work on their next project. They did. She worked out of hotel and conference rooms in Minneapolis, watch local talent tryout for the roles of hookers, cops, customers buying cars, bystanders, and other parts.

Here’s an excerpt form A Lot Can Happen in the Middle of Nowhere:

“Let me do the Minnesota casting,” she told the Coens. “I can cast a lot from up there.”

Brody got the job and a very specific set of recommendations for the kinds of actors they wanted in front of the camera.

“One of their instructions to me was, ‘We only want to see blond people.’ That was one of their big instructions,” she said. “I didn’t follow it completely, but I followed it a lot. And boy, there were some actors in Minnesota who were madder than hell at me that I couldn’t see [them audition]. I knew they were not in the picture that the Coen Brothers had in their head. They were too othered. They were not Scandihoovians.”

During the interview, I asked if she’d taped the auditions. She had.

Where are the tapes?

In the barn.

Can you send them to me? I wondered, trying to not sound desperate.

Jane agreed.

But first she had to find them. Things were disorganized at the country place she’d recently purchased. There was a remodeling project. I would have to wait. Over the next several months, I politely, but persistently asked for the tapes. Finally, a package arrived in the mail. I was very excited.

On this page, are the Fargo auditions of Larissa Kokernot (Hooker #1), Bruce Bohne (Deputy Lou) and Michelle Hutchison (Escort).