Editing The Red Shoes (1948 film) (section)

===Casting===
[[File:Moira Shearer 1951 press photo.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Moira Shearer, a trained ballerina, was cast in the lead role]]
[[File:JulianCraster.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Marius Goring was cast as Julian Craster.]] 
Powell and Pressburger decided early on that they had to use dancers who could act rather than actors who could dance.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|pages=36–40}} To create a realistic feeling of a [[ballet company]] at work, and to be able to include a fifteen-minute ballet as the high point of the film, they created their own ballet company using many dancers from [[The Royal Ballet]].{{sfn|McLean|2008|pages=33–34}}

In casting the lead role of Victoria Page, Powell and Pressburger sought an experienced dancer who could also act.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=36}} Scottish ballerina Moira Shearer was recommended by [[Robert Helpmann]], who had been cast in the film as Ivan Boleslawsky, and was also appointed the [[choreography|choreographer]] of the central ballet sequence; Helpmann had worked with Shearer prior in a production of his ballet ''[[Miracle in the Gorbals]]''.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=36}} At the time, Shearer was beginning to ascend in her career with the Sadler's Wells Dance Company, dancing under [[Ninette de Valois]].{{sfn|Street|2016|p=109}} Upon reading the screenplay, Shearer declined the offer, as she felt taking a film role would negatively impact her dancing career.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=36}} She also felt that the screenplay presented a ballet company that was unrealistic, "utterly unlike any ballet company that there had ever been anywhere."{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=36}} She recalled: "''Red Shoes'' was the last thing I wanted to do. I fought for a year to get away from that film, and I couldn't shake the director off."{{sfn|McLean|1988|p=36}}

After Shearer's refusal of the role, American ballerinas Nana Gollner and Edwina Seaver tested for the part, but their acting abilities proved unsatisfactory to Powell and Pressburger.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=36}} Non-dancers [[Hazel Court]] and [[Ann Todd]] were briefly considered before Shearer changed her mind, and decided to accept the role with de Valois's blessing.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|pages=36–37}} Shearer claimed that de Valois, exasperated by the ordeal, finally advised her to take the role.{{sfn|McLean|1988|p=36}} Powell alternately recounted that de Valois was "more manipulative" in the process, and would vacillate in regard to whether or not Shearer would have a place in the company to return to once filming was completed, accounting for Shearer's alleged protracted contemplation of whether to take the part.{{sfn|McLean|1988|p=36}}

For the role of Julian Craster, the musician with whom Victoria falls in love, Marius Goring was cast.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=38}} While Goring—at the time in his mid-30s—was slightly too old to play the role, Powell and Pressburger were impressed by his "tact and unselfish approach to his craft."{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=38}} They cast Anton Walbrook in the part of Victoria's domineering ballet director, Boris Lermontov, for similar reasons, as they felt he was a "well-mannered and sensitive actor" who could support Shearer through their emotional scenes together.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=38}}

The other principal dancers cast in the film included [[Léonide Massine]] (who also served as a choreographer for his role as the shoemaker in ''The Ballet of the Red Shoes''), portraying dancer Grischa Ljubov,{{sfn|Connelly|2005|pages=39–40, 69}} and [[Ludmilla Tchérina]] as dancer Irina Boronskaya; the latter was cast by Powell, who was captivated by her unconventional beauty.{{sfn|Connelly|2005|p=40}}