Editing Friday the 13th (1980 film) (section)

===Casting===
A New York-based firm, headed by Julie Hughes and Barry Moss, was hired to find eight young actors to play the camp's staff members. Cunningham admits that he was not looking for "great actors", but anyone that was likable, and appeared to be a responsible camp counselor.{{sfn|Grove|2005|pages=21–28}} The way Cunningham saw it, the actors would need to look good, read the dialogue somewhat well, and work cheap. Moss and Hughes were happy to find four actors, [[Kevin Bacon]], [[Laurie Bartram]], Peter Brouwer, and [[Adrienne King]], who had previously appeared on [[soap operas]].{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}} The role of [[Alice (Friday the 13th)|Alice Hardy]] was set up as an open casting call, a publicity stunt used to attract more attention to the film. The producers originally wanted [[Sally Field]] for the role of Alice, but realized that they could not afford an established high-profile actress and went for unknowns instead. According to Adrienne King. "originally, [the producers] were looking really hard for a name actress to play Alice. They finally realized that even if they could find somebody like that who was willing to do it, they wouldn't be able to afford her, so they decided to go with new talent instead."<ref>{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Fangoria]] | issue=83 | title=The Women of Crystal Lake Part One | author=Marc Shapiro | date=June 1989 | pages=18–21}}</ref> King earned an audition primarily because she was the friend of someone working in Moss and Hughes's office, and Cunningham felt she embodied the qualities of Alice.{{sfn|Norman|2014|p=84}} After she auditioned, Moss recalls Cunningham commenting that they saved the best actress for last.{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}} As Cunningham explains, he was looking for people that could behave naturally, and King was able to show that to him in the audition.{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}}
{{quote box
| quote = I didn't even really think of this movie as a horror film. To me, this was a small independent film about carefree teenagers who are having a rip-roaring time at a summer camp where they happen to be working as counselors. Then they just happen to get killed.
| source =—Jeannine Taylor on how she viewed ''Friday the 13th''{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}}
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With King cast in the role of lead heroine Alice, Laurie Bartram was hired to play Brenda. Kevin Bacon, [[Mark Nelson (actor)|Mark Nelson]] and Jeannine Taylor, who had known each other prior to the film, were cast as Jack, Ned, and Marcie respectively. It is Bacon and Nelson's contention that, because the three already knew each other, they already had the specific chemistry the casting director was looking for in the roles of Jack, Ned, and Marcie.{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}} Taylor has stated that Hughes and Moss were highly regarded while she was an actress, so when they offered her an audition she felt that, whatever the part, it would "be a good opportunity."{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}}

''Friday the 13th'' was Nelson's first feature film, and when he went in for his first audition, the only thing he was given to read were some comedic scenes. Nelson received a call back for a second audition, which required him to wear a bathing suit, which, Nelson acknowledges, made him start to wonder if something was off about this film. He did not fully realize what was going on until he got the part and was given the full script to read. Nelson explains, "It certainly was not a straight dramatic role, and it was only after they offered me the part that they gave me the full script to read and I realized how much blood was in it."{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}} Nelson believes that Ned used humor to hide his insecurities, especially around Brenda, whom the actor believes Ned was attracted to. Nelson recalls an early draft of the script stating that Ned suffered from [[Poliomyelitis|polio]], and his legs were deformed while his upper body was muscular.{{Sfn|Grove|2005|pages= 36–39}} Ned is believed to have given birth to the "practical joker victim" of horror films.{{sfn|Grove|2005|p=41}} According to author David Grove, there was no equivalent character in [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Halloween (1978 film)|Halloween]]'', or [[Bob Clark]]'s ''[[Black Christmas (1974 film)|Black Christmas]]'' before that. He served as a model for the slasher films that would follow ''Friday the 13th''.{{sfn|Grove|2005|p=41}}
{{quote box
| quote = I went in to audition for [Moss and Hughes] for something else. They said, "You know, Robbi, you're not really right for this, but there's a movie called ''Friday the 13th'' and they need an adorable camp counselor."
| source =—Robbi Morgan on how she obtained the role of Annie{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}}
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The part of Bill was given to [[Harry Crosby (businessman)|Harry Crosby]], son of [[Bing Crosby]].<ref name=freaky/> Robbi Morgan, who played Annie, was not auditioning for the film when she was offered the role; while in her office, Hughes looked at Morgan and proclaimed, "You're a camp counselor." The next day,  Morgan was on the set.{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}}  Morgan only appeared on set for a day to shoot all her scenes. [[Rex Everhart]], who portrayed Enos, did not film the truck scenes with Morgan, so she had to either act with an imaginary Enos, or exchange dialogue with Taso Stavrakis—Savini's assistant—who would sit in the truck with her.{{sfn|Grove|2005|pages=34–35}} It was Peter Brouwer's girlfriend that helped him land a role on ''Friday the 13th''. After recently being written off the show ''[[Love of Life]]'', Brouwer moved back to Connecticut to look for work. Learning that his girlfriend was working as an [[assistant director]] for ''Friday the 13th'', Brouwer asked about any openings. Initially told casting was looking for big stars to fill the role of Steve Christy, it was not until Sean Cunningham dropped by to deliver a message to Brouwer's girlfriend, and saw him working in a garden, that Brouwer was hired.{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}}

[[Estelle Parsons]] was initially asked to portray the film's killer, Mrs. Voorhees, but declined with her agent citing that the film was too violent, and did not know what kind of actress would play such a part. [[Shelley Winters]] was also offered the part, but turned it down.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url = https://ew.com/article/2013/11/22/friday-the-13th-kevin-bacon/|title = 'On Location in Blairstown: The Making of Friday the 13th': Author Q&A|magazine = [[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date = July 7, 2021|archive-date = November 17, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201117173807/https://ew.com/article/2013/11/22/friday-the-13th-kevin-bacon/|url-status = live}}</ref> Hughes and Moss sent a copy of the script to Betsy Palmer, in hopes that she would accept the part. Palmer could not understand why someone would want her for a part in a horror film, as she had previously starred in films such as ''[[Mister Roberts (1955 film)|Mister Roberts]]'', ''The Angry Man'', and ''[[The Tin Star]]''. Palmer only agreed to play the role because she needed to buy a new car, even when she believed the film to "be a piece of shit."{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}} Stavrakis subbed for Betsy Palmer as well, which involved Morgan's character being chased through the woods by Mrs. Voorhees, although the audience only sees a pair of legs running after Morgan. Palmer had just arrived in town when those scenes were about to be filmed, and was not in the physical shape necessary to chase Morgan around the woods. Morgan's training as an [[Acrobatics|acrobat]] assisted her in these scenes, as her character was required to leap out of a moving jeep when she discovers that Mrs. Voorhees does not intend to take her to the camp.{{sfn|Grove|2005|pages=34–35}} Betsy Palmer explains how she developed the character of Mrs. Voorhees:

{{blockquote|Being an actress who uses the [[Stanislavski's system|Stanislavsky method]], I always try to find details about my character. With Pamela ... I began with a class ring that I remember reading in the script that she'd worn. Starting with that, I traced Pamela back to my own high school days in the early 1940s. So it's 1944, a very conservative time, and Pamela has a steady boyfriend. They have sex—which is very bad of course—and Pamela soon gets pregnant with Jason. The father takes off and when Pamela tells her parents, they disown her because having ... babies out of [[Marriage|wedlock]] isn't something that good girls do. I think she took Jason and raised him the best she could, but he turned out to be a very strange boy. [She took] lots of odd jobs and one of those jobs was as a cook at a summer camp. Then Jason drowns and her whole world collapses. What were the counselors doing instead of watching Jason? They were having sex, which is the way that she got into trouble. From that point on, Pamela became very psychotic and puritanical in her attitudes as she was determined to kill all of the immoral camp counselors.{{sfn|Grove|2005|pages=49–50}}}}

Cunningham wanted to make the Mrs. Voorhees character "terrifying", and to that end he believed it was important that Palmer not act "over the top." There was also the fear that Palmer's past credits, as more of a wholesome character, would make it difficult to believe she could be scary.{{sfn|Grove|2005|p=52}} Palmer was paid $1000 per day for her ten days on set.<ref name=freaky>{{cite news|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|pages=D–1, {{URL|https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22938843/pittsburgh_postgazette/|D-5}}|author=Vancheri, Barbara|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|date=February 13, 2009|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22938812/pittsburgh_postgazette/|title=Freaky Friday|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819182217/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22938812/pittsburgh_postgazette/|url-status=live}}</ref> Ari Lehman, who had previously auditioned for Cunningham's ''Manny's Orphans'', failing to get the part, was determined to land the role of Jason Voorhees. According to Lehman, he went in very intense and afterward Cunningham told him he was perfect for the part.{{sfn|Grove|2005 |pages=21–28}} In addition to the main cast, [[Walt Gorney]] came on as "Crazy Ralph", the town's [[Oracle|soothsayer]]. The character of Crazy Ralph was meant to establish two functions: foreshadow the events to come, and insinuate that he could actually be the murderer. Cunningham has stated that he was apprehensive about including the character, and is not sure if he accomplished his goal of creating a new suspect.{{sfn|Bracke|2006|pages=19–21}}