We held open casting calls at the Libreria Barco de Papel in Queens on June 30 and July 1, two weeks before production. The bookstore and cultural center helped get the word out and we got to do on camera tests with 46 Latinos and Latinas from the Jackson Heights area.
We asked potential extras to read a few lines of “Narval.” Spanish-speakers like Virginia who could read the line as if they were saying the Narval meaning were shoe-ins. Even if they first had to get over the WTF?! factor!
Virginia Lameda at the open casting call. She became a featured extra, one of SARA’s lieutenants.