Gurinder Chadha has revealed that she uses her instincts when casting.
The filmmaker has a new movie on the big screen this week with It's A Wonderful Afterlife, which stars Sally Hawkins and Sendhil Ramamurthy.
But over the years with movies such as Bend it Like Beckham and Angus, Thongs and perfect Snogging she has helped launch the careers of Keira Knightley, Parminda Nagra and Aaron Johnson.
Speaking to Digital Spy she said: "My secret is when they come in, I watch them, and if I feel something [inside]... people just often read lines and act it out. There's something about feeling something deep inside.
"It's the moments when they're not reading, the moments before they start reading or after they finish.
"It's the way they say hello and goodbye and the way they talk about themselves. It's just things like that that give a little window into people.
"It's just instinct, I think, 'That person's got something.'
"It's also their luck, their fate, I believe in fate as well!"
Her new movie It's A Wonderful Afterlife is a comedy centered on an Indian mother who takes her obsession with marriage into the world of serial murder and is her first movie since Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging back in 2008.
It's A Wonderful afterlife is released 23rd April.
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