Andrew Porter's "In Between Days"

Andrew Porter is the author of the story collection The Theory of Light and Matter. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, The Threepenny Review, and on public radio’s Selected Shorts. Currently, Porter lives in San Antonio, where he is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Trinity University.

Here he shares some ideas for the main characters and director of an adaptation of his new novel, In Between Days:

In Between Days is about a family torn apart by divorce and is told through the alternating perspectives of each of the four family members: Elson (the father), Cadence (the mother), Richard (the son) and Chloe (the daughter.)

Since this is purely an exercise in fantasy, I’m going to go straight to the top of the “A-list” and say that George Clooney would make a perfect Elson, especially after seeing his amazing performance in The Descendents. And while we’re sticking with the A-list, I’d also love to see Julianne Moore as the mother, Cadence. Her ability to play characters that appear composed on the surface, while falling apart just beneath would make her an excellent fit for this role. For Richard, the son, I could imagine someone like Hunter Parrish, who plays Mary-Louise Parker’s eldest son on Weeds. Richard is a character with a very firm moral compass, though he doesn’t always follow it, very much like Parrish’s character on Weeds. And finally, for Chloe, maybe a newcomer like Mia Wasikowska, who did a great job in The Kids Are All Right—someone who could evoke both innocence and strength.

In terms of a dream director, I’d have to go with Sofia Coppola, who is probably my favorite contemporary filmmaker. No one captures the feeling of being listless and lost better than her!

Learn more about the book and author at Andrew Porter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue