and Warner Bros in August 2002. Fox targeted a summer launch for the show, and Doug Liman was brought in to direct the premiere after McG withdrew due his scheduling conflicts with Charlie's Angels 2. The show was confirmed for the 2003–2004 schedule in May, and an August 5, 2003 broadcast date was selected in June. Casting Casting directors Patrick J. Rush and Alyson Silverberg began casting the main roles eight to ten weeks before filming began, with input from Schwartz, McG and Savage. Rush and Silverberg were later nominated in the Dramatic Pilot category of the Casting Society of America's Artios Awards. In February 2003, Peter Gallagher became the first actor cast, playing Sandy Cohen. Kelly Rowan auditioned five times before being cast as Sandy's wife, Kirsten, in March 2003. Rush found the role of Ryan Atwood particularly hard to cast, as the producers wanted the "perfect" actor. Benjamin McKenzie was only invited to audition for the role after Warner Bros. made them aware of the actor following his unsuccessful audition for a UPN sitcom. McKenzie joined the cast in March 2003. He lacked working experience and later described his selection as "a tremendous leap of faith" on the producers' part. The role of Seth Cohen was derived from Schwartz's experiences at the University of Southern California as a "neurotic Jewish kid from the East Coast in a land of water polo players". Adam Brody first read for the part of Ryan, but found the bad-boy image did not suit him. In a recall for the role of Seth, Brody lost the producers' interest by ad-libbing much of the script; he joined the cast in March 2003 after a second interview. Mischa Barton, who had met McG on Fastlane, portrayed Marissa Cooper. She was cast in February 2003. Tate Donovan, who played Jimmy Cooper, was cast in March 2003. Melinda Clarke guest-starred as Julie Cooper, but read for the role of Kirsten in her audition as there were not enough scripted lines for Julie at the time. Rachel Bilson, who was recommended to Schwartz after an unsuccessful audition for Everwood, guest-starred as Summer Roberts, whom the producers had envisaged as a tall Californian blonde. Clarke and Bilson joined as regular cast members later in the season. Chris Carmack, who played Luke Ward, was credited as a guest star for the episode; he joined the regular cast in the next