Simon Toyne's "Sanctus"

Simon Toyne has worked in British television for twenty years. As a writer, director, and producer, he has worked on several award-winning shows, one of which won a BAFTA. He lives in England with his wife and family. Sanctus is his first book and the first volume of the Ruin trilogy.

Here he shares some insights on casting a cinematic adaptation of Sanctus:

There is already serious movie interest in Sanctus so I feel I should tread carefully here so I don’t offend anyone who may or may not end up playing the main characters.

Sanctus has a very strong female lead and I always refer to her as my Jodie Foster character – resourceful, vulnerable, brave - but sadly Ms. Foster – for all her talent - is probably slightly too old to get away with playing a 29 year old these days. When I was writing the book I had a character document as a reference tool and I pasted pictures of various people into it to help me visualise them. These included:

Liv Adamsen – New York investigative journalist – (not Jodie) but Emily Blunt with blonde hair – I found a picture, not sure what movie from.

Gabriel – the ex-US special forces hero – either Jake Gyllenhaal or a younger John Cusack (circa Grosse Pointe Blank).

Kathryn Mann – Gabriel’s mother and head of an international aide agency with a darker side – was Monica Bellucci.

And for the baddies I went British.

The Abbot of the secretive Citadel was Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose and The Prelate was Peter O’Toole in Stardust.

Can’t beat the Brits for menace…

Learn more about the book and author at Simon Toyne's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue