Joe Alwyn’s first casting director details actor’s impressive debut audition

Joe Alwyn did not even graduate yet before his first audition but left a lasting impression that changed his life.

The actor, 33, landed his breakout role in Ang Lee’s 2016 film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

Casting director Avy Kaufman recalled to People Magazine about the first time Alwyn had auditioned and arrived only with a backpack.

“We had actually done a big search for this role, I brought a whole load of people to Ang [Lee] and it went on and on,” Kaufman, 70, said of casting the war drama.

“He’d just left drama school, actually I don’t think he had even graduated yet, I think he was graduating the following week or something, and I just said, ‘Could he tape really fast? In 24 hours?’”

Alwyn’s agent got the tape in, and the rest was history.

“I just thought he was so special and so perfect for the role and I rang Ang who loved it, and it went to the studio. We flew him to New York the next day,” Kaufman relayed.

The actor had just flown in for the audition but stayed for the job.

When Alwyn arrived in America, “All he had was a backpack and the producers took him shopping at Gap for under clothes.”

Of his acting chops, Kaufman shared that she’s a “huge fan” and lauded him to be a “deep actor.

“There’s something sensitive about Joe,” she said. “He clearly knows what emotions to show at what time. Joe just knew how to find this very American character, in his first film.”