Doug Magee's "Never Wave Goodbye"

Doug Magee has been a photojournalist, screenplay writer, children’s book author, death penalty activist, film producer and director, war protester, college football player, amateur musician, and the basis of the Aidan Quinn character in Meryl Streep’s Music of the Heart.

Here he shares some thoughts about casting an adaptation of Never Wave Goodbye, his first novel:

I've been a screenwriter for a number of years and have had my heart broken when actors I had hoped would play roles weren't available, didn't want to do the role, etc. So when I wrote Never Wave Goodbye I didn't have actors in mind. Now that it's making the rounds in Hollywood I've been doing some dreaming. I'd like Naomi Watts to play Lena Trainor, an oncologist who puts her nine year-old daughter Sarah on a bus to camp, not knowing its a fake bus. I'd like Ethan Hawke to play her husband. And I'd like to find somebody to play against type for the role of Chase Collins, the guy who pretends he's a counselor from the camp, a young comedian maybe.

Read an excerpt from Never Wave Goodbye, and learn more about the book and author at Doug Magee's website.

Writers Read: Doug Magee.

The Page 69 Test: Never Wave Goodbye.

--Marshal Zeringue