Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Casting Call

I was thinking about how authors visualize their characters. I'm sure each author is different when they think about what their characters look like, what kind of clothes they wear, how they sound when they talk, all that jazz. I used to be able to visualize characters, fully, in my head without visual aid. With my current book I've had to rely more on pictures of actors to get a better picture. I have a vague picture in my head of each character but, in order to solidify it for me, I cast my book with real actors.*

So you get the joy of seeing the new cast list. I say "New" because the casting has changed quite a bit as my idea of each character has progressed. That being said, these are subject to change. And some of them I'm not exactly pleased with yet but they work for the time being. If you have no clue about the characters or whatever this post is just going to be a nice, ho-hum little list for you.

Here goes.



RILEY: Adam Gregory

I know he's on the new 90210 which isn't exactly a positive thing for me but I think he fits the look I picture for the main character.



RACHEL: Hayden Panettiere

Not exactly my first pick but, for some reason, she comes to mind when I think of Rachel. This character has been one of the harder ones to cast.




DYLAN: Evangeline Lilly

The latest face for Dylan is Lost's Evangeline Lilly. I think she's the closest I've found to what I picture in my head. I remember thinking "Why haven't I thought of her before?"




LYDIA: AJ Cook

I have been an AJ Cook fan ever since she played a supporting role in the short-lived series Tru Calling (interesting show, btw, wish it wouldn't have been cancelled). She might be too old to play Lydia for real but her look is exactly what I picture.



KENDRICK: Taylor Kitsch

He's most known for playing Gambit in the Wolverine movie. He would have to lighten his hair but he's got the look and I'm sure he could do the smart aleck thing real well. There is a picture of him with blond hair and it's totally Kendrick but this one shows the attitude better.



ALEX: Zooey Deschanel

Zooey has always been the face of Alex. Even when I was writing the rough draft. She's quirky and pretty enough to play the quirky and pretty witch.



ELI: Henry Cavill

The vampire hunter's face has changed a few times. Henry Cavill works and is possibly my favorite so far.




OLIVER: Zac Efron

He's come a long way from High School Musical which bodes well for him in my book. I think he showed his ability to act in 17 Again. I definitely think he could pull off Oliver and he definitely has the look I picture for him.



SEBASTIAN: Aaron Eckhart

From The Dark Knight it is apparent that Eckhart can play a tortured soul. He has also played many a leading man. It helps, too, that he is blond and very manly looking. It works.



ISIS: Eva Mendes

For those of you who have read the rough draft Isis is Regina. I have changed the name for several reasons (the biggest one being that I'm the author. ha!). I keep going back to Eva when I think of who could play Isis. She has to be a gorgeous, sexy, seductive woman and Eva fits the bill.



HENRY: Wes Bentley

He's already played a creep in Ghostrider. I'm sure he can do it again. ha!



VINCENT: Karl Urban

He's a great actor and is able to change his look in extreme ways which could come in handy were he to play the shady Vincent.



MAMA RAE: Dianne Wiest

She's such a sweet, softspoken lady. I have yet to find a more perfect face for Riley's grandma.




SERENA: Kim Raver

She would have to darken her hair but that's easy. Her face is perfect for Riley's mom. I thought she was great on 24 a few years back.

Wow. I did not realize how many characters I had. Well, I did. I just didn't mean to make you go through ALL that. That's not even all the characters either. Funny, instead of narrowing down to a handful of characters in the rewrite I have created more characters. I'm a mess. I think it's because I changed from first person perspective to third person so it gave me more freedom. So there you go. Let me know what you think of my casting.

*SIDENOTE: I recently had a dream that I am going to turn into a book. In this dream I not only got character descriptions and parts of their backgrounds but I also got a name for one of the characters! That has never happened to me! So maybe it's just this current project that has been harder for me to nail down the characters in my brain. It's still fun to do the casting just for my own entertainment.

(Images found on Google Image Search)

2 comments:

  1. wow, that's really cool to see. It makes me want to read the book and get to know the characters. Jeremy is really upset that his face didn't come to mind for one of the characters. Do better next time, Jake. Jeremy says,"Re-cast."

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  2. lol
    I've been doing what I call cameo appearances in my book of friends and family. Basically they get little bit parts such as waitresses/waiters, random people in shops, that sort of thing. I will certainly see if I can fit Jeremy in somewhere though! :)

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