page_title: Coldwater (film)
section_title: Casting
hierarchical_section_title: Coldwater (film) / Development / Casting
caption_attribution_description: English: CW actors on set
context_page_description: Coldwater is a 2013 independent film, directed by Vincent Grashaw, from a screenplay written by Grashaw and Mark Penney.
context_section_description: With no prior acting credits, 24 year-old P.J. Boudousqué was cast in the lead role of 17 year-old Brad Lunders, who is taken to the Coldwater reform facility at the beginning of the movie.  A musician with a passion for films, Boudousqué had evacuated to Los Angeles from New Orleans as a teenager after Hurricane Katrina and chose to study acting.  After auditioning in vain for years in Hollywood, he'd almost given up on acting and L.A. before getting the call for Coldwater-- a movie casting a mere block away from where he was living in Venice.  Grashaw said that Boudousqué "came into the casting room like some drifter in a Sergio Leone film.  No one knew who the hell he was but he had such a presence ... we cast him off two scenes he read in the first audition.  No callbacks.  Totally insane.  But I think we just had a gut feeling he was the guy."  After Coldwater, Boudousqué would win roles in a number of high-profile television shows, including Pretty Little Liars (2013), American Horror Story (2013), and Bones (2014).
  James C. Burns, best known in video game circles for his performance capture and voicing of Sergeant Frank Woods in the Call of Duty game franchise, was cast as retired marine colonel Frank Reichert in charge of the Coldwater facility.  Burns had a long resume playing tough military types, spending much time with cops and marines for his work, even traveling with the USO show to Afghanistan to visit the troops.  Burns also credited his many years as a hockey coach working with at-risk youth for helping him to nuance and interpret his role.  Burns said he came to the Coldwater audition exhausted from Call of Duty and was not able to memorize his sides, and so did improv with Grashaw instead.  Burns felt he'd blown his chance, but the improv was enough to win him the role.  Initially that role was more of a toxic character, but Burns was instrumental in reshaping the Colonel to be more sympathetic, ultimately becoming a mirror for the character played by Boudousqué.  During shooting, Penney and Grashaw would rewrite entire scenes in collaboration with Burns, often on the same day they were shot.
caption: P.J. Boudousqué and James C. Burns as Brad Lunders and Colonel Frank Reichert
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