dreamcasting

November 20, 2017

Dreamcasting: Sabriel

I’m back with another take on Dreamcasting, where I combine my love of movies and books by casting some of my longtime favorites. Today, it’s Sabriel, a book that I’ve loved ever since I picked it up as a teenager (and passed on to my sister, who loves it as much as I do!). It’s a fantasy adventure story, about a young woman who uses seven bells to cross into Death and fight necromancers who try to bend the Dead to their will against the living. There are two sequels in the original trilogy, with another two novels having come out since, but the original book is the one I’ve returned to most often.

Sabriel: Saoirse Ronan

She’s actually a smidge old for the role (Sabriel should be about 18, Ronan is 23), but by Hollywood standards that’s practically dead-on. She’s done dark hair for a role before, she’s played a bad-ass in Hanna, and she’s a talented enough actor to play a lot of things just with her face…Sabriel’s not a talkative character, so whoever plays her needs to be able to be subtle and I think she’d be just perfect.

Touchstone: Armie Hammer

He’s gotten rave reviews for his portrayal of a romantic lead lately, and he’s got the kind of warm attractiveness that would make it easy to understand how an otherwise-down-to-earth teenager like Sabriel would get a big crush real fast. But Touchstone isn’t a one-dimensional character, and Armie has the range to give light to his dark side, too, I think.

Colonel Horhees: J.K. Simmons

Horhees is a military man who interacts with Sabriel early in her journey and plays a bigger role at the end, but still not a ton of screentime. But he’s someone that we do need to connect with, and I think Simmons has the right mix of gruffness and warmth to make the most of it.

Mogget (voice): Tim Curry

If you love this book, just shell out the money for the audio version, which is narrated by…Tim Curry. His version of Mogget is so perfect I can’t imagine anyone else doing it better.

Abhorsen: Ralph Feinnes

Sabriel’s father is a relatively minor character and only has a few scenes, but because it’s the search for him that prompts the entire story, he’s an important prescence. He should have an almost-otherworldliness since he’s been in and out of Death for his whole life, and even though he’s unquestionably a good guy, Fiennes’ excellent turn as Voldemort made me think he’s been great in the role.

Kerrigor/Rogir: Benedict Cumberbatch

Since I think a lot of Kerrigor’s non-flashback appearances would need to be CGI’d, I wanted someone with a distinctive voice that could be menacing…but was also young enough to appear as Rogir in flashbacks.

April 24, 2017

Dreamcasting: The Secret History

I could talk for hours about how much I loved my AP English class. I read so many great books for the first time in that class, including one of my all-time favorites: The Secret History. Donna Tartt’s novel about a small group of private college students studying the ancient world trying to keep an awful secret has incredible characters and a twisty story that I think would make for a great movie. So who would I cast?

Richard Papen: Logan Lerman

Papen is a working-class Californian who finds himself in the middle of a circle of Classics scholars at an elite liberal arts school in the Northeast…in other words, our obvious audience-insert character. He’s kind of bland, and Lerman played a role as a passive, kind of quiet character in The Perks of Being a Wallflower very well, so I think he’d fit right in here.

Bunny Corcoran: Paul Dano

He’s a smidge older than I’d like, but Bunny is an important character in the drama so he needs to be done right. Dano is a really talented actor and I think could do really great work as the outwardly glad-handling, inwardly scheming Bunny.

Camilla Macaulay: Dakota Johnson

Camilla is the only girl in the group, and the object of fantasy for several of the boys. Dakota Johnson is beautiful, but in an approachable, college girl kind of way that I think works for Camilla. In 50 Shades, she created an interesting character out of a completely ridiculous idiot on the page, so I’d love to see her bring her charm to this role.

Charles Macaulay: Miles Teller

Charles is Camilla’s fraternal twin, and has the kind of dark, moody intensity that I think of when I think about Charles.

Francis Abernathy: Ezra Miller

Francis is a dramatic spirit, and Ezra Miller has played a role with a similar vibe alongside Logan Lerman before, in Perks. Miller has become one of my favorite young actors because of his incredible screen presence and he could really be a scene-stealer as Francis.

Henry Winter: Matthew Lewis

The tall genius is really the main character of the book, and I had a really hard time trying to figure out who could pull it off. He needs to be big, attractive but not a stereotypical dreamboat type, intense. I have no idea if the erstwhile Neville Longbottom could pull off an American accent, but he’s the closest I could come in the right age range that I feel like meets the picture in my head.

Julian Morrow: Dominic West

The professor at the center of the very tightly knit group, Julian needs to be European and charismatic and morally questionable. Kind of like McNulty in The Wire, except a polished and without the need for the (patchy) accent work.

Judy Poovey: Jennifer Lawrence

Judy is the ditzy party girl that serves as the comic relief in this otherwise dark novel, and even though this role is so small that it’s definitely beneath her stature, I’d love to see Jennifer Lawrence do the few scenes it would require because she’d be hilarious.

January 23, 2017

Dreamcasting: Lolita

It’s always been hard for me to pick just one “favorite” book, but Vladimir Nabakov’s Lolita is always right up there. I first read it in high school and fell completely in love with his lush, rich writing. I’ve re-read it several times and it only gets better. Somehow, despite the fact that it’s got a pretty twisted story, it’s gotten made into a movie not just once, but twice. When I decided to do a dreamcasting series, I couldn’t neglect it. So assuming there was a third version, who would I cast?

Delores Haze: I feel like you have to age up Lolita from the book a little to keep it from being too obscene, and even though Kiernan Shipka is 18, she could play younger. She was incredible as Sally Draper in Mad Men, and the way she handled that role makes me think she could really create a whole person out of Lolita, who we only see through Humbert’s eyes in the novel but is obviously much more than the object of obsession he craves.

Humbert Humbert: He’s supposed to be suave, European, and ultimately the kind of dude who could essentially kidnap an orphaned pre-teen to keep her as his plaything. I actually think Jeremy Irons was fantastic casting when he played Humbert, but for an update, I think Jude Law would be perfect. He’s both charming and believably dissolute.

Charlotte Haze: Delores’ mother, she meets Humbert when he begins to rent out her spare room, and as he’s becoming more and more obsessed with her daughter, she’s becoming more and more obsessed with him. I initially thought of reuniting the mother-daughter duo of Kiernan Shipka and January Jones, but January doesn’t give off the kind of overblown vibe that I get from Charlotte in the novel. Elizabeth Banks, though, knows how to play over-the-top but vulnerable, so I’d love to see her take it on.

Clare Quilty: Quilty is Humbert’s rival and even darker reflection. While Humbert believes himself to be in love with Lolita, Quilty’s interest in her is much more openly sexual. That she escapes from Humbert to Quilty just goes to show how very smothered she felt by Humbert’s obsession. He’s not a particularly developed character, so how about reuniting Law with his romantic rival in Closer, Clive Owen?

So what do you think? Have you ever read Lolita? Would you pick different actors for these roles? Do you think there’s a reason to make a third version of this book or is it just not really filmable?

On the Blog

Join the Listt