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Annie Solomon | Going Hollywood
October 9, 2010
I’ve always been a big movie and TV fan. When I was a child, my mother was so
worried about the hours I spent in front of the television, she sent me to
nursery school. And this was way before preschool was the norm. Once I learned
to read, books became an equal obsession, and poor mom would have to force me
outside to play.
That ardor didn’t change as I grew into an adult. Until I started writing
seriously, I was always a voracious reader. And once I worked as a broadcast
producer for a local department store. Part of my job was to show buyers their
commercials, so naturally I had a TV in my office. For some reason, it always
seemed to turn itself on around the time Days of Our Lives aired. When I left
that job, the advertising department gave me a plaque inscribed with this: I
LOVE TELEVISION. WITHOUT IT LIFE WOULD BE AN ENDLESS STREAM OF REAL EXPERIENCES.
Recently, I’ve had a chance to put my two loves together. I came across a
fantastic site called Storycasting.com. It lets you take your favorite books
and "cast" them as if you were turning them into a movie or TV show. I couldn’t
wait to get in there and cast my books. For Two Lethal Lie, I chose
Thorsten Kaye as the hero, Mitch Turner. Thorsten is a ruggedly handsome actor
from All My Children. Christina Hendricks, from Mad Men, was the
model for my heroine, Neesy Brown. And I cast John Hamm—also from Mad
Men—as the gorgeously charming villain, Dutch.
You can do this with any book, so in addition to my own, I checked out some of
my favorites to see how other people cast them. Sometimes, I found lots of
controversy! Lots of people like Gerard Butler as Jamie Fraser in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. But many more
point out that Butler is too old now. Personally, I think Sam Worthington
(Avatar) would be great. People greeted the casting of Katherine Heigl as
Stephanie Plum with howls. On Storycasting, the preference is for Sandra Bulluck.
I had so much fun! Among the stars I cast for my own books were Tom Cruise and
Frances McDormand as the hero/heroine of Blind Curve; Ben Browder and
Claudia Black as the H/H of Blackout; and Sam
Worthington and Lena Heady as the H/H of One Deadly Sin.
So now it’s your turn. What are your favorite books and how would you cast them
if you could?
Comments
9 comments posted.
Re: Annie Solomon | Going Hollywood
I had never thought of doing that; i just started a new paperback and will have to give it a shot. sounds like MUCH FUN!!
(Barbara Studer 11:16am October 9, 2010)
Storycasting what am idea I love it what fun, now my mind is rolling trying to figure out who fits what I seen in my mind.
(Vickie Hightower 11:32am October 9, 2010)
I'm going to check out the site for one of my favorite books: Archangel's Kiss. And found someone had tried it!
(Diane Sadler 12:55pm October 9, 2010)
Congrats on the new release, Annie. I can see Gerard Butler as any of Julie Garwood's Scottish heroes.
(Jane Cheung 5:52pm October 9, 2010)
I agree about Sam Worthington for Outlander. I must do this more when I read. It IS fun.
(Mary Preston 6:09pm October 9, 2010)
There are two authors that someone got me started on for a change of pace. One is Janet Evanovich. I devoured her series!! I've never given a thought as to who could play Stephanie Plum, let alone the other great characters in her books. Being a knitter, I've also gotten into Jennifer Cheaverini's Elm Creek Quilt books. There are quite a few characters in her books, and it would take quite a bit of thought to figure out who would be cast for her books. It is a fascinating concept, though. I, like you, have always devoured books at a young age of all genres.
(Peggy Roberson 10:04pm October 9, 2010)
Hi everyone! Sorry I didn't
get here yesterday--was at a
book conference and then a
wedding. So glad you enjoyed
reading about storycasting.
Hope you all will take a
chance at looking at the site!
And don't forget to stop by my
web site--www.anniesolomon.com
for an excerpt from Two Lethal
Lies and lots of fun behind-
the-scenes stuff.
(Annie Solomon 10:03am October 10, 2010)
Interesting site. I don't watch enough
movies to know who the current actors
are. looking at those listed, I know
few of the younger ones. I think it is
more valid for the author to cast their
books. They know what they saw in
the characters as they wrote them. It
would give us more of an insight as to
who the character is supposed to be.
Our castings are just our impressions
of who these characters could be. I
guess in a way that does give the
author some feedback about their
descriptions and development of their
characters.
(Patricia Barraclough 1:23pm October 10, 2010)
What fun being casting directior for pretend and using real people. As a voracious reader I never thought about the movie crossover thing, except hearing how a select few bestsellers are optioned for movies.
(Alyson Widen 3:31pm October 10, 2010)
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