Kali Reis is Having a ‘Star is Born’ Moment

metroweekly.com:

True Detective: Night Country, she knew she had to find an actor who could embody strength, sorrow, and vulnerability.Previously the series had always cast two well-known movie stars opposite one another in the detective roles — Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrellson of season one, for instance — but López wanted to break the mold and cast someone who felt authentic for the role opposite star Jodie Foster.“I talked to my casting director, Francine Maisler, and I said, ‘Is there anyone that we can find that has the strength and the power?’ And as I was speaking, my computer went ‘ping.’ She had sent me a photograph of Kali, who was getting buzz because her movie had come out, Catch the Fair One.

And just looking at her face and her body and her gravitas and presence and power, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that is Navarro.”López watched the 2021 movie that night, in which Reis portrays a former champion boxer who searches for her missing sister. “It blew me away because even though that character in that movie is a lot closer to Kali, so it required less acting, I could see the potential,” says the director.

She met with Reis and made an audition tape, which she then took to the network’s executives.“I went to HBO and I said, ‘Guys, I know True Detective is two stars, but….’ And they were like, ‘Wait, who are you thinking of?’ And I think that they were ready to go into an argument, but the moment that they saw her, they had the same reaction.

They were like, ‘Oh, this woman is a star.’ They said, ‘Issa, if you see this happening, we’re one hundred percent behind you.'”Jodie Foster still had to give her blessing.