VANGIE NELSON, 38, is a working-class woman who has struggled with mental illness (depression) throughout much of her lifetime. She is someone who people gravitate toward because she has a warm welcoming quality. Although Vangie has attempted to get a handle on it numerous times over the years—especially after she became a mother to BEN and TRACY—she has had bad luck with doctors who have not understood the chemical nature of her illness. As a result, Vangie has gone through many dispiriting cycles of improvement followed by relapse. Being a single mother meant that her children often suffered as a result of her depressive bouts. But when we meet her, she’s well on the road to recovery at last. She’s been properly diagnosed, is on the right meds, and is seeing a psychiatrist regularly. She’s feeling optimistic about her prospects for the first time in her life. Still, Vangie has self-esteem issues and struggles with the guilt and shame of having been too incapacitated to properly care for her children on a number of occasions. Losing custody of Tracy, and Ben’s anger at her for abandoning them, provokes almost more shame than she can bear. As a result, she has a timid, tentative quality and can come across as insecure. But recent therapy has helped Vangie regain a degree of confidence in herself. When Vangie realizes she has an opportunity to get Tracy back and make amends for what her kids have gone through, she takes action, finding both her voice and her courage. She’s on her surest footing when she speaks about her love for her kids and her desire to be a mom to them again.

A friendly local patient at Dr. Carlson's clinic who warmly greets Maggie.

One of a group of regular lunch patrons at Shandon's. Polite but old-fashioned, she mistakenly assumes Syd is a waitress.

A familiar patient at Dr. Carlson's clinic whose recurring foot pain brings him back to see Maggie before following through on her previous treatment advice.

An easygoing customer dining at Shandon's who is immediately won over by Syd's enthusiastic description of the daily specials.

About Andrew: Andrew is a doctor, an inventor, and a risk-taker. Beneath his relentless curiosity lies a quiet, genuine kindness. Brilliant, warm, and deeply observant, he moves through the world with a disarming honesty. He absorbs every detail with uncommon precision. He is rediscovering how to be someone he may already be. The role requires: Exceptional physical awareness and deliberate movement without appearing mechanical. Andrew moves with intention. Every gesture feels purposeful while remaining natural and human. The ability to make small moments feel like discoveries. Tasting food for the first time. Learning to descend a staircase. Drawing with ketchup on a plate. These are not small scenes. They are the film. Medical procedural familiarity is an asset, but not a requirement. Note: Andrew appears in the majority of scenes. Production notes: This is a physically demanding role. Andrew's physical language requires dedicated rehearsal before principal photography. Piano playing is an asset but not a strict requirement. The role includes specialized movement work using a mechanical glove that is integral to Andrew's physical language. Rehearsal and on-set support will be provided. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 35 - 45 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About David: David is a doctor, a father to Andrew Wright, a parent to a found family, and a widower. He has spent his entire life solving problems with precision. He is measured. Authoritative. Respected. And he is completely unprepared for what grief actually costs. Every scene David enters carries the weight of a man holding more than anyone around him knows. He does not perform his pain. He carries it the way a doctor carries bad news, with composure. The role requires: The ability to carry grief without displaying it. David is not a man who breaks easily. When he does break, it must feel like something that has been holding for a very long time. Authority that comes from experience, not performance. David commands a room without trying to. Stillness under pressure. David's most important moments are his quietest ones. A hand placed on a shoulder. A pen set gently on a table. A door left open. Chemistry with an ensemble. David is the center of a family. Every relationship in the film is shaped by his presence. David expresses love through action, presence and decision. Never declaration. Production notes: David is one of the film's principal characters and appears throughout the story. This is a substantial feature commitment. The selected actor will participate in pre-production ensemble rehearsals with the director and full cast. Medical procedural familiarity is an asset but not a requirement. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 30 - 40 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel if available

About Jai: Jai is a brother. A son. A protector. He is warm, funny, present, and deeply loyal to his family. On the surface, Jai is the most alive person in the room. He takes photos from moving car windows. He arm wrestles. He slips cash into pockets and says exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment. Beneath his warmth, Jai carries a physical and emotional burden he cannot name. He experiences sudden moments of vertigo and disorientation that he hides from the people he loves. He is a man whose past is pressing through a wall he built himself. The role requires: The capacity to carry a mystery without telegraphing it. Jai cannot play the secret. He must simply live with it in the background of every scene. Composure through disorientation. Some of Jai's most important moments are physical: a wave of vertigo, a moment of disorientation, a hand gripping the edge of a desk. These must feel involuntary. Emotional precision in one of the film's most devastating quiet moments. Jai almost tells the family everything at a breakfast table. Then passes the dip instead. Production notes: Jai is one of the film's principal characters and appears throughout the story. This is a substantial feature commitment. The selected actor will participate in pre-production ensemble rehearsals with the director and full cast. This role requires a separate chemistry read with the actor playing Andrew. Their relationship is the film's quiet backbone. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 30 - 40 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Emily: Emily is a doctor. She is sharp, capable, and professionally composed. She is the kind of person who holds everything together in a room without anyone noticing she's doing it. She is also a woman forced to question feelings she thought she had already buried. Emily does not announce herself. She moves through the film with intelligence and quiet intensity. Her feelings are never performed. They reveal themselves in a glance held a beat too long. A fork set down too hard. A hair straightened before walking into a room. The role requires: The ability to communicate entire interior worlds through small physical details. Emily's performance begins in her physical behavior. Her emotions register in movement before expression, and in expression before words. Emotional range that shifts between professional composure and profound vulnerability, sometimes within the same scene. Emily holds herself together at work and comes apart in private. Strong chemistry with the actor playing Andrew. This relationship is the emotional spine of the film. Emily's love is not simple. It is complicated by grief. Production notes: Emily is one of the film's principal characters and appears throughout the story. This is a substantial feature commitment. The selected actor will participate in pre-production ensemble rehearsals with the director and full cast. Chemistry reads will be conducted with shortlisted Andrew candidates. Emily and Andrew casting will be finalized together. Medical procedural familiarity is an asset but not a requirement. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 30 - 40 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Charlie: Charlie is Emily's father. He is a doctor. He sleeps on the couch. He bakes muffins. He doesn't break down or build up or transform. He simply shows up every single time, with food. Charlie understands what people need before they know they need it. He never announces this quality, he just acts on it. In a film about the nature of the soul, Charlie is the closest thing to an answer. The role requires: Charlie's warmth is not a character choice. It is a way of being. Comic instinct that never undermines the emotional weight of a scene. Charlie provides the film's warmth and humor without stepping outside the reality of what the family is going through. The ability to communicate profound love through the smallest possible gestures. A spoonful of beans. A sandwich thrown across a car. A hand on a shoulder. Charlie never declares anything. He just does things. Physical and emotional presence in an ensemble without dominating it. Production notes: Charlie is one of the film's principal characters and appears throughout the story. This is a substantial feature commitment. The selected actor will participate in pre-production ensemble rehearsals with the director and full cast. Basic cooking familiarity is an asset. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 30 - 40 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Keppler: Vincent Keppler is one of the most brilliant scientific minds of his generation. He is the founder of the tech that makes the world of this story possible. He walks with mechanical leg supports. He observes everything. He controls more than anyone in the room knows. He is attempting to solve a problem that could unravel the very thread from which humanity itself begins. He is also trying to be a son to a mother and completely failing at it. The role requires: Towering intellectual presence without arrogance. Keppler is the smartest person in every room he enters. He never needs to prove it. Physical commitment to mechanical leg supports. Keppler's body is failing him. His mind is not. Emotional precision in the film's smallest and most devastating moments. Keppler accepting a biscuit from a child's hand. Keppler watching a family through one-way glass and seeing himself in it. Production notes: Keppler appears primarily as his present-day self (60–70) throughout the story. Physical rehearsal with mechanical leg supports is required. This movement must feel lived in rather than worn like a costume. A brief flashback sequence requires the actor to also appear at age 45, achieved through makeup in a single, contained look rather than a range sustained across the shoot. Note to actor: Keppler's larger story is significantly deeper than what appears in this breakdown. The full character history will be shared with shortlisted candidates. Estimated Commitment: Approximately 15 shoot days Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel if available

About Liger: Liger is impeccably dressed. Perfectly still. He arrives at a house of grief holding champagne and introduces himself with a single word. He runs surveillance on a family's most intimate moments without flinching. A muscular beast with the agility of a deer and the temperament of a judge. He could end a threat in a single motion and instead chooses stillness, every time. The role requires: Physical presence that is immediately extraordinary without being theatrical. A body capable of real, physical danger, held in constant, total restraint. Stillness is his default state. Liger does not fidget. He does not shift his weight unnecessarily. He does not look around a room. He already knows what's in it. Liger is not cold. He is contained. Production notes: This role requires significant pre-production rehearsal. Liger's movement vocabulary, physical presence and behavioral patterns are specific and demanding. The selected actor will work closely with the director in pre-production to develop and lock Liger's physical language before shoot. Note to actor: The full nature of this character will be revealed to shortlisted candidates. What you need to know now is that Liger is not what he appears to be. What he becomes will deepen what the entire story is leading towards. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel if available

About Bose: Bose is a brilliant student. The kind who stays back after class, because thats where he'd rather be. He can connect two impossible dots and somehow give them shape. He reaches conclusions almost too quickly, but then justifies them with surprising accuracy. When he speaks, he cuts to the truth without wavering. He is a man walking toward the most devastating decision of his life without fully understanding what it will cost him. He treads the line between passion and irresponsibility. He may not know which is which. The role requires: Natural intellectual confidence without arrogance. Bose is the smartest person in most rooms. He wears it lightly. That lightness must be genuine. Youth and weight simultaneously. Bose is young but carrying something ancient. The performance must hold both without collapsing into either. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel if available

About Sophie: Sophie is a mother. That is the simplest way to say it and the most complicated. She is trapped. She is surviving a life that keeps trying to extinguish her. Sophie is not a victim. She is a woman in an impossible situation making impossible choices. She loves a child she cannot fully reach and a child who cannot fully reach her. The role requires: Physical and emotional courage in the young Sophie sequences. Sophie appears across two distinct phases of the film. As a younger woman in her early thirties surviving an impossible situation. As an elderly woman barely present in a hospital bed. The primary performance is Sophie's younger adult life. That is where the role lives. That is where the film's most demanding emotional and physical work takes place. Note to actor: The full complexity of Sophie's relationship with her son will be revealed to shortlisted candidates. The young Sophie sequences contain emotionally challenging material. The selected actor will have full creative support from the director throughout the process. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel if available

About Albert: Albert is a boy who pays attention. He notices everything around him. The way people move. The way they speak. The way they don't speak. He accumulates all of that into a deep understanding of the reality he is in and the one he can reshape. He is quiet in the way that very intelligent children are quiet, not because he has nothing to say but because he is always watching and listening and filing things away. He loves music. He loves fixing things. When something breaks, he picks up the pieces and puts them back together until they work again. He lives in a difficult home. He has learned to make himself small in certain moments and very still in others. He loves his mother more than anything in the world. The role requires: The capacity to perform physical tasks, assembling, fixing, adjusting, with genuine concentration and care. A relationship with music or sound. Albert has an instinctive connection to music. Any musical background or natural affinity with sound is a significant asset. Albert doesn't perform his feelings. He carries them the way children carry things they don't yet have words for. A note to parents and guardians: This role contains scenes of a dramatic nature set within a difficult domestic environment. Everything will be implied through camera angles, sound design, and the child performer's own controlled reaction with a rehearsed, collaborative piece of stunt performance. Any alternative staging would only be considered with full, enthusiastic agreement from the child performer and their scene partner, and always with parent and coordinator involvement. Before any commitment is made, the director will meet personally with parents and guardians to discuss the full narrative context of this role, including how the character's experiences are depicted on screen and how the young actor's involvement is structured to remain separate from that content at every stage. Your child will never be asked to perform anything beyond their comfort level. We are looking for a child who is curious, calm, and comfortable in front of a camera. No prior acting experience is required. In fact, some of our most important considerations are children who have never acted before. If you believe your child has these qualities we would love to meet them. Production notes: All child performance regulations under Ontario's Protecting Child Performers Act will be strictly observed throughout production. A parent or guardian will be present on set at all times. The goal is comfort and familiarity, not just preparation of performance. Submission Requirements: • Recent photo of your child • Brief note from the guardian describing your child's personality and any relevant interests or activities

About Dominic: Dominic exists in fragments of memories. He is Albert's father. Dominic is not a monster in his own mind. He is a man who believes in what he does. That belief is the most terrifying thing about him. He destroyed a family the way ordinary men destroy families. Without drama. Without awareness. With complete mundane conviction that he was right. The role requires: Physical presence that communicates danger without theatrical aggression. He is a man at a dinner table who is uncomfortable with everything around him even though they were all his choices. The danger is in the ordinary frustration. In the entitled expectation. In the way he occupies space as if it belongs to him. A voice that carries casual menace without performance. Physical commitment to the specific choreography of the kitchen sequence. These scenes require precise blocking and physical awareness in a confined space with a child actor present. Production notes: Dominic's scenes are physically and technically demanding in the film from a staging perspective. Selected actor will participate in extensive pre-production blocking sessions with the director. All scenes are carefully choreographed and fully supported. Note to actor: This role requires significant physical self awareness and restraint. What the camera needs is the atmosphere of it. Not the act itself. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Arafat: Arafat is power in repose. He does not need to raise his voice or explain himself. He watches the world with the quiet confidence of a man who has already decided how things will go. He is also genuinely charming. That is what makes him dangerous. Arafat sits at cafe tables and watches crosswalks. He scans possibilities through telescopes. He funds impossible things without flinching. He is a man with a vision and the resources to pursue it. The role requires: Commanding physical presence without aggression. Natural authority. The ability to make generosity feel like a warning. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Ratner: Ratner is a medical board witness. He is professional. Precise. Thorough. He is the reason that toothpaste you use is safe. That's how thorough he is. He follows protocol because protocol exists for good reasons, and he has seen what happens when it doesn't. He is not a villain. He is a man doing his job in the presence of something his job was never designed to handle. The role requires: Credible medical and professional authority. A quality of genuine intelligence that makes his opposition feel earned, not petty. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Cassie: Cassie is Ricky's sister. She is warm, grounded, slightly guarded in the way that people who have learned to protect themselves are guarded. She goes on a date with someone she doesn't know and handles everything that follows with more grace than most people could manage. She represents the world Andrew is trying to understand and belong to. The role requires: Natural warmth and genuine comedic instinct. Chemistry with the actor playing Andrew. Their dynamic must feel like the beginning of something real before it becomes something extraordinarily complicated. Note: Cassie and Andrew share a significant sequence in the film. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)

About Ricky: Ricky is Cassie's brother. He is the kind of funny that comes from seeing the world slightly sideways and not being able to help saying so. Ricky is joy. Unadulterated. Undefended. He lives in a small messy room. He hates the real world. The role requires: Natural comedic timing that never breaks the film's tonal reality. Physical ease and looseness. Ricky occupies space casually, the opposite of every other character in the film. Genuine warmth underneath the humor. Note: Ricky and Andrew share a significant sequence in the film. Submission Requirements: • Current headshot • Resume or acting CV • Demo reel (if available)