Question about the recasting of Kol

[chrinFinity]

Hey,

Remember the two Ferengi from False Profits?

Arridor and Kol, who first appeared in TNG's The Price?

They kept the original actor for Arridor, but they recast Kol. Memory Alpha has this to say:

For this episode, the producers of Voyager went to the trouble of bringing back actor Dan Shor to reprise his role of Arridor but – because Kol is portrayed, in "The Price," by uncredited, non-speaking extra J.R. Quinonez – the role had to be recast; actor Leslie Jordan plays Kol here.

Can someone explain this? I figure it's because of industry union rules, or something along those lines. Anyone have detailed awareness to impart?

 

[Dukhat]

If the first guy was just an extra with no speaking role, then he probably wasn't an "actor" per se, just an extra. For the part in the VOY ep, they'd need an actual actor.

 

[kirkfan]

If the first guy was just an extra with no speaking role, then he probably wasn't an "actor" per se, just an extra. For the part in the VOY ep, they'd need an actual actor.

Not to mention a funny one, which this one was.

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

If the first guy was just an extra with no speaking role, then he probably wasn't an "actor" per se, just an extra. For the part in the VOY ep, they'd need an actual actor.

Ohhhh, yeahhhhh.

 

[Lance]

Yeah, I imagine it's some kind of union thing.

Do extras have guild membership? If not, then that's your answer right there.

 

[kirkfan]

Yeah, I imagine it's some kind of union thing.

Do extras have guild membership? If not, then that's your answer right there.

In the interest of the episode, shouldn't the parts be cast on merit and not on some entitlement?

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, I imagine it's some kind of union thing.

Do extras have guild membership? If not, then that's your answer right there.

In the interest of the episode, shouldn't the parts be cast on merit and not on some entitlement?

Of course, but you still need to be part of the actor's guild to get the job.

 

[Lance]

I must admit it isn't something I have a lot of knowledge about.

I know all regular cast have to be members of the union (the actor's guild in America, actor's equity in Britain). But whether those same processes are necessary for somebody who only plays a non-speaking role is something I just don't really know.

I have heard stories of actors in Britain being hurriedly put through the application process for an equity card by a production team, when they've realised that somebody they want to cast in a part hasn't already got membership. Although in Hollywood this is far less likely to happen, because it's a heavily unionized town and you aren't likely to be put forward to audition in the first place if you haven't already got all of that legal mumbo-jumbo sewn up.

Most 'non-speaking parts' are cast from a pool of extras that get brought in as one big group like cattle, with the casting agents then going through them and saying stuff like "This one is fat enough to play a Pakled" or "This one is small enough to be credible as a Ferengi". Whether that requires union membership is something I can't speak authoritively on, but it's a very different process to being an actor and getting called in to read for a role.

My assumption would be that J.R. Quinonez was not an 'actor', per se. Once the Voyager script required the character to actually speak, it became a 'speaking part' and needed to be cast as such.

 

[kirkfan]

Yeah, I imagine it's some kind of union thing.

Do extras have guild membership? If not, then that's your answer right there.

In the interest of the episode, shouldn't the parts be cast on merit and not on some entitlement?

Of course, but you still need to be part of the actor's guild to get the job.

It's not something with the mafia, is it?

 

[RoJoHen]

In the interest of the episode, shouldn't the parts be cast on merit and not on some entitlement?

Of course, but you still need to be part of the actor's guild to get the job.

It's not something with the mafia, is it?

Um...no.

 

[kirkfan]

Of course, but you still need to be part of the actor's guild to get the job.

It's not something with the mafia, is it?

Um...no.

Well, that's good then.