Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Edgar Cantero's "The Supernatural Enhancements"

Edgar Cantero is a writer and cartoonist from Barcelona working in Catalan, Spanish and English.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his novel The Supernatural Enhancements:
First off, if my book were made into a movie, I’d want to be part of it. Even if I’m not allowed to take decisions.

I actually talked to producers already regarding The Supernatural Enhancements. When asked who would I cast to play the most charismatic role in the story—mute, punk-haired, Catholic-raised Niamh—, my answer was, “no one I know.” It still is. I’m not up to date on teen actresses, but Niamh seems too young to be played by anyone who has built up much of a name. Her partner and chronicler A. is slightly older, but I think anyone who reads the book will agree that Niamh is the real heroine, and I wouldn’t like a male star to steal the spotlight from her. So I’d go for relatively unknown actors in the lead roles.

One person I’d love to recruit for a supporting role: Carel Struycken as Strückner. Struycken is a Dutch-born character actor who played Lurch in the Addams Family films and was also Jack Nicholson’s servant in The Witches of Eastwick. I remember I checked his entry on IMDb once years ago, and there was a single thread in his discussion board, with the subject line “He’s my uncle,” allegedly started by Struycken’s proud nephew, explaining how his uncle was the nicest guy ever, although he was always unfairly cast as a freak because of his height. And I thought then it would be fun to create a redeeming character for Struycken—a seven-feet butler working in an eerie mansion who happened to be the kindest, most soft-spoken man in the world. I even named him after the actor, and I had Struycken’s picture up on my plot board while I wrote.

As for Aunt Liza, that’s where I let my ambition loose. Gemma Arterton is the least crazy of my options.
Visit Edgar Cantero's website.

--Marshal Zeringue