Ensemble cast

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An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production.

This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows for flexibility for writers to focus on different characters in different episodes. In addition, the departure of players is less disruptive to the premise than it would be if the star of a production with a regularly structured cast leaves.

Some films have ensemble casts, usually ones that revolve around one large theme, like the The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars movies, or ones that revolve around interrelated themes persistent throughout individual subplots of the characters.

In theatre, the same principle applies, however the definition may be extended to mean that the whole cast 'moves and thinks as one'. Where the group is fully aware of everyone else in the cast, reacting to other movements in the cast, it requires heightened senses and a lot of concentration, with great amount of the focus being on peripheral vision and hearing. Ensemble performance can be recognised by the 'flow' of performance, with scenes flowing together seamlessly, often the piece doesn't contain many props, with one prop doubling as various different objects. A lot of dance theatre contains aspects of ensemble performance.

[edit] Television series with ensemble casts

• Arrested Development
• Babylon 5
• Boston Public
• Battlestar Galactica
• Beverly Hills, 90210
• Cheers
• Chicago Hope
• Crossing Jordan
• Dallas
• Desperate Housewives
• ER
• Firefly
• Friends
• Grey's Anatomy
• Heroes
• Home and Away
• Knots Landing
• L.A. Law
• Lost
• M*A*S*H
• Neighbours
• Newsradio
• Northern Exposure
• Picket Fences
• St. Elsewhere
• Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis
• Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• The Office
• The West Wing
• The Wire
• Trailer Park Boys

[edit] Movies with ensemble casts

• Grand Hotel (1932)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• The Dirty Dozen (1967)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• Kelly's Heroes (1970)
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
• A Bridge Too Far (1977)
• the Star Wars franchise (1977), (1980), (1983), (1999), (2002), (2005)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• Dazed and Confused (1993)
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)
• Matinee (1993)
• Heat (1995)
• Mars Attacks (1996)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Happiness (1998)
• Playing by Heart (1998)
• The Thin Red Line (1998)
• Cradle Will Rock (1999)
• Duets (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Snatch (2000)
• Rat Race (2001)
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• Black Hawk Down (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001), (2002), (2003)
• Love Actually (2003)
• Masked and Anonymous (2003)
• 11:14 (2003)
• Crash (2004)
• Syriana (2005)
• Nine Lives (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• Bobby (2006)
• Spring Ocean (2009)

[edit] Paul Thomas Anderson films

• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Magnolia (1999)

[edit] Robert Altman films

• MASH (1970)
• Nashville (1975)
• The Player (1992)
• Short Cuts (1993)
• Dr. T & the Women (2000)
• Gosford Park (2001)
• A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

[edit] Francis Ford Coppola films

• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather, Part II (1974)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• The Outsiders (1983)
• The Godfather, Part III (1990)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

[edit] Steven Soderbergh films

• Traffic (2000)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Full Frontal (2002)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

[edit] Quentin Tarantino films

• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Jackie Brown (1997)

fr:Distribution d'ensemble