Who

Ann Willems (19 juli 1981) is a Belgium based casting director for film and television drama series. We are a full-service Belgian casting agency with over 15 years of experience and work together with several international production companies.

Since 2015, Ann is working as an independent casting director.  Together with directors Pieter Van Hees and Joost Van De Casteele, she casted the television series “Generation B“, which was nominated for the Rockie Award on the Banff World Media Festival (Category “foreign language”). That same year, the drama television series “Professor T” won the jurors award at the festival of fiction in La Rochelle (Category “foreign fiction”).

In 2016, preparations for the third season of “Professor T” are made.  We cast a new feature “Façades” with directors Kaat Beels and Nathalie Basteyns, a new television series “Over Water” in order of the production company Panenka tv and we’ve casted the Belgian cast for the new feature film of the Canadian director Ken Scott. In december, she was approached by director Mathieu Mortelmans, for the casting of his debut film “Bastaard“.

In 2017,  Ann works together with director Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders, Legion, The Terror, etc) for his Belgian debut film “De Patrick“, with Eshref Reybrouck for 2 episodes of the Swedish television series “Hassel” and she prepares 2 new feature films by order of the production company Menuet.

In 2018, Ann was approached by the Swedish director Lisa Ohlin, for the casting of one of the four films of the series “Stockholm Requiem“.  In that same year, she prepares 3 new drama series and works together with director Jan Eelen and Jan Dircksens by order of the production company Woestijnvis.

In 2019 we are honored working together again with director Pieter Van Hees and Cecilia Verheyden, for the casting of the 2nd season of the popular Netflix Series “Undercover“. During the summer, Ann was approached by director Veerle Baetens, to work together on her debut film, “Het Smelt“.

Ann Willems

Vision about casting

“The casting director needs to work closely with the director, this co-operation is really essential. Our input is important, we want to create their vision, trying to find the right actor to tell the story. But even more important is the relationship with the actor.  I always try to feel what they think, how they see the character they are auditioning for. And then, for a brief moment, we forget about the script. I love to hear their story, listen to them when they talk about themselves. Because that indicates how they approach a part and quite often adds a major value to the casting.

I always follow my instinct. It’s really special when you see something in someone, before they discover it themselves. That’s when the magic enters the room.  With some actors, you just have this feel of an exceptional quality, you can’t explain it.

That’s what makes it so exciting every day. Casting is chemistry”.