If Hollywood came calling to do one of your books (or WIPs), and you got to pick the actor for the starring role, who would you choose?
17 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Casting Director”
Idris Elba. Love that guy.
Sadly, I wouldn’t get my pick. He’s deceased. 8-(
Milly Shapiro. She’s such a beautiful kid, but her face is also very expressive. With a twist of her mouth or a wrinkle in her forehead, she could turn her young beauty into disgust and fear and sadness that are needed in my story.
I have three POV characters and early on I cast them in my head and made a private Pinterest page for each – Julianne Margulies for the mother, Claire Danes (at 22) for the daughter, Vanessa Redgrave for the (not yet discovered) grandmother. The other great thing is that, since Redgrave has been in the public eye since her teenage years, I’ve been able to capture images of her over the course of her lifetime and since some of the story revolves around an event that happened to her at 18, this has also been helpful.
Have you ever seen The Limey? Released in 1999, directed by Steven Soderbergh, it stars Terence Stamp as a man who travels to California to investigate the death of his daughter. The movie does what you’ve done with Vanessa Redgrave. There are several scenes that are flashbacks of Terence Stamp in another movie – from the 60s – showing him as a young man, fleshing out his relationship with the young daughter and her mother. The blending of the young Terence Stamp footage worked really well in this context. I’ve always been surprised that no one has done this since.
Okay, I’ll admit I have thought about this.
Whenever I write a description of a character in one of my current WIPs I imagine Angela Bassett – The story takes place in 2065 and she is the head of the Department of Criminal Justice.
I have a three book series which I think would be perfect for three seasons of a show on Showtime After Dark. I think Halle Berry would be great, if she’d do it.
To play Rachel Shorte in my Shorte Series – Vanessa Williams opposite Keanu Reeves. Who to play her meddles-too-much mother, that would be hard to cast.
I have a YA that would need 8 fifteen to seventeen-year-olds, that cast changes in my mind constantly.
Like Maggie Smith, commenting above, I have Pinterest boards for my characters too.
Renée Felice Smith, Nell, on NCIS: Los Angeles.
She’s small, tough, and cute.
I actually cast all of the characters in my stories. My main character is Jeffery Dean Morgan. I do this for consistency and to borrow the actor’s screen personality.
Question. Do you think Lee Child had Tom Cruise in mind?
?
Ho ho. There’s a funny cameo Child does in the latest Reacher flick. Cruise is passing through airport security and Child (who is a topping 6-footer) checks Cruise’s ID, does a little double-take, and lets him pass. Very cute.
My protagonist is based on a real person, who looks a lot like Ryan Gosling. So to separate myself from the real guy, I’ve based all descriptions on Gosling.
Aziz Ansari is my pick for my next effort. Boyish, smart, funny, probably not a lot of help in a bar fight. Perfect for what I have in mind.
My heroine MC has red hair so my first pick would be Amy Yasbeck or Julianne Moore. Julianne Moore is more the age I’m looking for but Amy Y. has the fiery red hair and other looks I envision. I am still searching but those are my initial choices.
No way. Reacher’s a giant of a man, described as looking something like a sock stuffed with walnuts.
I’d like Colin Firth as my lead, but somehow I know I’d be stuck with Kevin Costner.
Given Hollywood’s glacial pace, the actor is undoubtedly in grade school right now.
Idris Elba. Love that guy.
Sadly, I wouldn’t get my pick. He’s deceased. 8-(
Milly Shapiro. She’s such a beautiful kid, but her face is also very expressive. With a twist of her mouth or a wrinkle in her forehead, she could turn her young beauty into disgust and fear and sadness that are needed in my story.
I have three POV characters and early on I cast them in my head and made a private Pinterest page for each – Julianne Margulies for the mother, Claire Danes (at 22) for the daughter, Vanessa Redgrave for the (not yet discovered) grandmother. The other great thing is that, since Redgrave has been in the public eye since her teenage years, I’ve been able to capture images of her over the course of her lifetime and since some of the story revolves around an event that happened to her at 18, this has also been helpful.
Have you ever seen The Limey? Released in 1999, directed by Steven Soderbergh, it stars Terence Stamp as a man who travels to California to investigate the death of his daughter. The movie does what you’ve done with Vanessa Redgrave. There are several scenes that are flashbacks of Terence Stamp in another movie – from the 60s – showing him as a young man, fleshing out his relationship with the young daughter and her mother. The blending of the young Terence Stamp footage worked really well in this context. I’ve always been surprised that no one has done this since.
Okay, I’ll admit I have thought about this.
Whenever I write a description of a character in one of my current WIPs I imagine Angela Bassett – The story takes place in 2065 and she is the head of the Department of Criminal Justice.
I have a three book series which I think would be perfect for three seasons of a show on Showtime After Dark. I think Halle Berry would be great, if she’d do it.
To play Rachel Shorte in my Shorte Series – Vanessa Williams opposite Keanu Reeves. Who to play her meddles-too-much mother, that would be hard to cast.
I have a YA that would need 8 fifteen to seventeen-year-olds, that cast changes in my mind constantly.
Like Maggie Smith, commenting above, I have Pinterest boards for my characters too.
Renée Felice Smith, Nell, on NCIS: Los Angeles.
She’s small, tough, and cute.
I actually cast all of the characters in my stories. My main character is Jeffery Dean Morgan. I do this for consistency and to borrow the actor’s screen personality.
Question. Do you think Lee Child had Tom Cruise in mind?
?
Ho ho. There’s a funny cameo Child does in the latest Reacher flick. Cruise is passing through airport security and Child (who is a topping 6-footer) checks Cruise’s ID, does a little double-take, and lets him pass. Very cute.
My protagonist is based on a real person, who looks a lot like Ryan Gosling. So to separate myself from the real guy, I’ve based all descriptions on Gosling.
Aziz Ansari is my pick for my next effort. Boyish, smart, funny, probably not a lot of help in a bar fight. Perfect for what I have in mind.
My heroine MC has red hair so my first pick would be Amy Yasbeck or Julianne Moore. Julianne Moore is more the age I’m looking for but Amy Y. has the fiery red hair and other looks I envision. I am still searching but those are my initial choices.
No way. Reacher’s a giant of a man, described as looking something like a sock stuffed with walnuts.
I’d like Colin Firth as my lead, but somehow I know I’d be stuck with Kevin Costner.
Given Hollywood’s glacial pace, the actor is undoubtedly in grade school right now.