Antonioni cast a real commune member as Zabriskie Point’s lead

Evidence

Antonioni, who hoped to open with footage of a real race riot, twice crossed the United States in late 1967 and through the summer of 1968, scouting locations and meeting counterculture celebrities. Dancer Anna Halprin’s eighteen-year-old daughter Daria was cast in the lead, but production was postponed while Antonioni searched for an appropriate co-star, whom he imagined as an American Che. In June, the director held an open casting call at the Electric Circus. Eventually, he chose Mark Frechette, an angry yet inexpressive young carpenter from Mel Lyman’s commune in Fort Hill, Boston. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1549