Brad Smith was born and raised in southern Ontario. He has worked as a farmer, signalman, insulator, truck driver, bartender, schoolteacher, maintenance mechanic, roofer, and carpenter. He lives in an eighty-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie. Run Means Red, the first novel in his Virgil Cain series, was named among the Year’s Best Crime Novels by Booklist.Here Smith shares some ideas for adapting his new novel, Shoot the Dog, for the big screen:
Let’s make this movie in the 1940s. That way we get John Ford to direct it, and we get Henry Fonda to play Virgil. Fonda has that perfect laid-back demeanor, coupled with wry humor. I’m thinking Barbara Stanwyck would make a cool and sexy Claire – she’s so good at playing smart, caustic women; her fire would make a great contrast to Fonda’s taciturn Virgil. Claire Trevor, volatile and beautiful, would be Kari. Who else? Well, if Ford’s directing, we have to cast Victor McLaglen – possibly as Tommy Alamoso. (We might have to make him a drinker instead of a toker.) And we’d have to find something for Peter Lorre to do, because why would you miss out on a chance to work with Peter Lorre?Learn more about the book and author at Brad Smith's website and Facebook page.
Writers Read: Brad Smith.
The Page 69 Test: Shoot the Dog.
--Marshal Zeringue
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