Your Novel Starring...

How about Tom Cruise as...

Before diving into today’s post, I wanted to throw out a book that’s on my to read list.  Since I’m posting about casting your novel (in your imagination, of course), I’d like to suggest a book on screenwriting.  I attended a workshop a few months ago and the author (whose name escapes me) recommended Save The Cat! by  Blake Snyder. 

The workshop focused on developing heroes and villains, and the presenter highly recommended Snyder’s book.  The title Save the Cat! (courtesy of Wikipedia) is a term coined by Snyder and describes the scene where the audience meets the hero of a movie for the first time. The hero does something nice — e.g. saving a cat—that makes the audience like the hero and root for him. According to Snyder, it is a simple scene that helps the audience invest themselves in the character and the story.  There’s your helpful tip for the day! If you’ve already read Save the Cat!,  please share your thoughts!

Alright, now let’s have some fun! We’ve all done this, whether reader or writer—cast a story we love in our imaginations!  I read Gone with the Wind when I was in eighth grade. The movie was already in existence—and perfectly cast.  But I cast a sequel in my head, you know, the one where Scarlett gets Rhett back.  I decided that Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) would play Scarlett (because she looked like Vivien Leigh), and Chad Everett (Medical Center) would re-enact the role of Rhett! To me, he seemed like the only man at the time (am I showing my age here?) suitable to play Clark Gable—I mean Rhett Butler.

Some Vince Flynn (American Assassin) fans think the perfect Mitch Rapp (a black ops operative) would be Gerard Butler.  I don’t believe the role has been cast yet, but the movie is in the works. Recently, I saw the trailer for Janet Evanovich’s One For the Money, starring Katherine Heigl as bounty hunter Stephanie Plum—what a great choice!  I hope Ms. Evanovich is pleased!

Years ago I remember reading how disappointed author Anne Rice was when her novel Interview with the Vampire was cast starring Tom Cruise in the role of the vampire Lestat.  I suppose when movie rights are sold to a novel, the author cuts ties completely and has no control over the future Hollywood incarnation.  But wouldn’t it be nice if writers could sell their novels with the condition that only actors they choose could be cast as the characters they’d created? 

What’s a story that you’ve read or written that you’ve cast in your imagination? Share your story and your dream cast!  Here's mine:

Leonardo Dicaprio

In The Governor’s Sons, I’ve cast Leonardo Dicaprio as the arrogant, charming and self assured  Ash Kroth.  We first meet Ash in 1936 as a young law student.  In the second half of the story, the year is 1965, and Ash is a segregationist governor.

Tatyana Ali

Tatyana Ali would play the alluring college girl Kitty Wilkes, introduced in Part I (1936).  She works as hired help one summer in Ash's family home.  Ash is twenty-three and immediately attracted to Kitty upon first seeing her.  She flirts with him from day one, and soon the two fall in love.

Kyra Sedgwick

Kyra Sedgwick would be Ash's wife, Charlene Stokes Kroth.  Readers don't meet her until Part II (1965).  At this point she has been Ash's wife for over 25 years.  A former beauty queen, Charlene is smart and beautiful, yet insecure.  She knows of a woman from Ash's past, but she doesn't know just who that mysterious woman was, or how that woman forever changed her husband's life.

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