To that end, for the role of Jasper O'Shea, Roenick's venerable second-in-command at Precinct 13, two-time Tony Award winner Brian Dennehy was cast. The veteran actor notes, "It's a very modern movie, but the characters are almost mythic and iconic. This movie had a strong script, and they've assembled a terrific company of actors - which is so unusual these days! Typically now when you're making a feature film, they like to have one or two leading actors and no more. Everybody else is cast and paid scale just to fill in the other roles. Not on AP13. I think most of us were drawn to the project by the idea of working with each other and working with a director who was making his first American picture. I was impressed with the way Jean-Francois worked."
Silver credits Maria Bello, cast as police psychologist Alex Sabian, with having "a completely original and envelope-pushing take on the character. Working with Jean-Francois and James, Maria brought an inner life to Alex that none of us had imagined. No other actress we met with saw such possibilities in the character, but Maria did. She and Ethan worked together to suggest an undercurrent between their characters, and I think the movie is the richer for it."
Maria Bello had met with the director and "liked his sensibility. Even with the difference in languages, he was able to express his passion about this particular piece and about film in general. His previous movie affected me deeply and I was very excited to work with him - and with the cast that was assembling, which had some true actor's actors in it!
"I think that the best directors have a firm vision of what they want in their movies. They will then hire people who are excellent at what they do. Jean-Francois hired a phenomenal cast and crew who were genuinely excited about making the film. He allowed us actors the space to fill out our characters and the scenes. On one shooting day, he rehearsed a scene that eight of us were in - all at once - for an hour and a half, which is unheard-of in film. He really took into consideration how we felt, which gave us the freedom as actors to find new levels for the characters. That happened continuously."
Regarding Alex's relationship with Roenick, Bello laughs, "Well, he's her patient and yet she has a bit of a crush on him. There might be something there, but the two of them aren't sure. Ethan and I had a lot of fun playing the scenes. He was really our leader. That's what he becomes in the movie, and that's who he is as an actor."
For the role of Iris, the sexy secretary at Precinct 13, the filmmakers selected Drea de Matteo, who had just wrapped up her Emmy Award-winning portrayal on the other side of the law in The Sopranos. Silver notes, "When we met with Drea, she showed a spark and a strength. Talking about a scene in AP13 where Iris has to try to kill somebody, Drea told us about the various ways that family members had told her that you could kill people. I said, 'Any woman who can rattle off six novel ways to kill a guy is the woman we want to play this part.'"
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