The filmmakers worked closely with music supervisor Budd Carr and visual music consultant Tami Lester as they scoured the rock music world, searching for just the right talent. "Budd and Tami were absolutely invaluable to the casting process for this film," says casting director Sharon Bialy. "They provided me with books, CDs, tapes and photos from the music world of the period, and I immersed myself in them. They recommended musicians for me to meet, who flew in from all over the country and the United Kingdom."
Bialy and Herek saw hundreds of actors and musicians for the various roles. "Our major challenges were to create the chemistry of a real band between the actors, and to find musicians who had a natural feel and talent for acting," Bialy explains. "It was really amusing to see some of these hard-driving, rowdy rockers nervously entering the Warner Bros. Studio gates to meet with me — they were so polite and sweet."
Because Bialy needed to find actors who could be believable as musicians, she developed a sly method of determining the hopefuls' potential during the audition process. "Budd provided me with an electric guitar, which I kept hidden under my desk," she reveals. "During the interviews with actors with unknown musical sensibilities, I would ask the candidates if they played guitar, and if they said 'yes,' I'd pull the guitar out and ask them to play me a lick. As I passed the guitar over to them, you could tell just by the look on their faces whether or not they could play!"
Some professional musicians initially joined the project to write songs for the fictional bands, but wound up being cast in the film. The Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark signed on to write two songs for Steel Dragon and was then chosen for the role of Ricki, Blood Pollution's bass player. Others, such as Slaughter drummer Blas Elias, read about the film auditions online.
"When we first began Slaughter, Budd Carr was our manager," recounts Elias. "He'd sent us the script last summer while we were on tour, thinking we could write some songs for the soundtrack, and we really liked it. I run the website for Slaughter, and someone forwarded me an e-mail from KNAC.com, reporting that "Rock Star" was looking for a drummer, so I went and auditioned." Elias then met with director Stephen Herek, who was so impressed he chose him to play Blood Pollution's drummer, Donny.
In addition to Wahlberg, Vander Ark and Elias, Blood Pollution consists of actor Timothy Olyphant as Rob, the band's guitarist and Chris' best friend, with whom he ultimately clashes; and Nick Catanese, a member of Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society, who plays Xander, Pollution's other guitarist.
Chris Cole and his Blood Pollution bandmates spend hours together rehearsing in Ricki's basement, attempting to drown out the soundtrack from the adult movie theater above. Chris is dedicated to — his bandmates might say obsessed with — meticulously recreating every stage move, guitar riff and trademark howl for which his idols are famous.
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