The casting demanded the hero be sort of sweet and gentle, with a youthful, boyish spirit throughout even as he grows older and a little more jaded. Searching for classically trained stage experience helped to land on a thoughtful and nuanced actor with great emotional range.

The focus was on a restrained performance where we nevertheless feel his excitement and tenderness at the beginning, and then his joy and energy as the spot grows, and his exhaustion and boredom and dissatisfaction as the spot reaches its conclusion.

In addition to casting the hero man great pains were taken with the puppeteers to imbue life to the supporting character of the giant hand, making it feel as expressive and emotional as our young man.