Mungiu viewed auditions of many young women for the two protagonists. Anamaria Marinca had not worked with Mungiu before reading the screenplay, and found the story intriguing. She had performed on television, but had not appeared in a film before. On initially meeting Marinca, the director could not picture her in the lead role, but was won over when she began reading the first page of the screenplay. She had experience on stage, so the lengthy takes were agreeable to her. Laura Vasiliu also had stage experience.
