Woody Allen publicly supports casting director Juliet Taylor of 'Casting By' documentary

Tomorrow a documentary hits New York City theaters to triumph a group of people in the film industry who are not recognized by the Academy Awards: casting directors. Tom Donahue's Casting By features Juliet Taylor, among other casting directors. Taylor has casted such diverse films as Big and Schindler's List. In support of Taylor and the documentary, Woody Allen penned on open letter to The Hollywood Reporter. The letter covers Juliet Taylor's large role in shaping his films: Matchpoint, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, To Rome With Love, Blue Jasmine (the list goes on and dates back to 1977's Annie Hall). In many cases Allen says she "pushed on me against my own resistance" particularly in choosing actors he was "unfamiliar" with: Jeff Daniels, Mary Beth Hurt, Patricia Clarkson.

"If it were up to me we would use the same half dozen people in all my pictures, whether they fit or not. Despite my recalcitrance, Juliet has forced me to meet and to watch the work of many new people and to hire people on nothing more then her strong recommendation. Because my films are not special effects films and are about human beings, proper casting is absolutely essential," he writes to THR.

Allen goes on to say that Taylor gave him the confidence to believe he could land such "luminaries" in his films as Marshall McLuhan (Canadian philosopher), Susan Sontag (political and literary icon), Mayor Koch (lawyer, politician and movie critic) and Saul Bellow (Nobel Prize of Literature and Pulitzer Prize winner).

The documentary will also feature the late Marion Dougherty, the first casting director to receive single-card screen credit, according to IMDB. Additionally, Lynn Stalmaster, who has casted a score of films from Tootsie to Jagged Edge. The documentary will open cross coast in Los Angeles next week.

Do you think the Academy Awards should create a category for casting directors?