Full disclosure: I’d say almost all writers dream of the day that one of their novels gets optioned as a movie. Sometimes writers even imagine certain actors or actresses in certain roles as they write their story. It’s fun to think about words on a page coming to life, especially if you’re the one who wrote those words. So, for all of you Hollywood producers out there, take note: these are the actors we here at the Cafe would love to see on the big screen acting out our great works.
Oh, boy, that’s a tough one. Lessee – I don’t really know. I’m not trying to cop out here, just thinking as I’m typing. I see Karen Gillan, probably because she’s made the biggest impression on me lately, but Lynn Collins would be fantastic, too, as the lead in a movie of my current work. For supporting actors Joseph Fiennes (maybe), Diane Lane would be great… There are some juicy roles for women in this book, I think. It’s tough because I don’t cast my characters that way. I think it gets in the way of my writing. However, if there was any interest in making my book into a movie, I’d probably mention those names.
In the short story I’m currently writing, I’ve been pretty void of description of the main character. He’s dead and alone in the afterlife. So there’s not much to see of him, from his point of view. For me, it’s about the voice in the narration, since this is his story. If it were made into a movie — or an episode of some anthology television series — I’d cast Matt Bomer from the TV show White Collar.
Ideally, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott, or Tom Hiddleston would be cast for a role in any of my stories, but I have no idea which actor would be good for which role. I’m still focused on getting something published first. Making a movie out of one of them is too much to think about. It’s also really obvious what kind of television programs/movies I watch, isn’t it?
I think of this every time I write a screenplay, but don’t ever think of it when I am writing fiction. It makes it difficult because I when I write a screenplay, I think of a specific actor, but when I write fiction, I think of a specific character. Fiction character become their own people. It’s hard to imagine replacing them with a real person. If I had to find someone to play my main character from Heaven’s Edge, which is my latest full-length project, I might pick Tom Sizemore.
If ever I try to tell you that I don’t literally dream of what it would be like to have someone like my novels enough to think they’d made a good movie — I am effin’ lying to you, flat out. I tend to make more name associations than anything else: I had a character named Elijah, and I forever imagine Elijah Wood because teen crushes never die. (Bonus points: my beta actually did this once, and I have never been so tickled pink.)
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