Michael Morse's "Mr. Wilson Makes it Home"

Michael Morse is a retired firefighter who received the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship from the Rhode Island Foundation this past year. He is the author of Rescuing Providence and Responding as well as numerous essays. He is a monthly columnist on the websites Fire Engineering and EMS World. He resides in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Here Morse dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, Mr. Wilson Makes It Home: How One Little Dog Brought Us Hope, Happiness, and Closure:

Mr. Wilson Makes it Home began as a dog rescue story but became kind of a love story between two complex people surviving a thirty year (so far) relationship. The main characters are My Wife, Myself and Our Dog, Mr. Wilson. The book is comprised of three parts, The Past, The Present and The Future.

If my book is made into a movie:

My Wife will be played by Evangeline Lilly, who also was Kate on Lost, as well as the Elf Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and The Desolation of Smaug. Kate (as I will always think of Evangeline as,) like my wife, Cheryl has the ability to drive me wild with desire, make me crazy, fill me with dread and convince me that there is absolutely nothing on earth as mysterious, charming, frustrating and capable as a good woman.

Myself has to be played by Will Ferrell. The scene in Old School where Frank the Tank, played by Will streaks through a college campus, totally nude, his love handles and skinny fat man body flapping in the breeze perfectly recreates the image I see every time I look in the mirror. There have been far too many times during my life that I have to stop what I am doing, reflect for a moment and think; “what would Will Ferrell do.”

Our Dog’s Voice needs to be done by James Spader, whose most recent role is "Red" in The Blacklist. James, like Mr. Wilson has the same tilt to his head when he thinks deeply, which is most of the time.

The rest of the cast could be filled in with cameo performances by Hollywood greats: Jason Statham will be Jeff, the truck driver who rescues and delivers the abandoned dogs through the Rt. 95 corridor; Cheri, the lady who fosters Mr. Wilson in Arkansas will be played by Kathy Bates; and Denise, the lady who runs the pet store, will be played by Drew Barrymore.

Michael Corrente (Outside Providence) will produce and direct the movie due to his familiarity with the Rhode Island culture, and his uncanny ability to capture the absurd in everyday life.

Visit the Mr. Wilson Makes it Home blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Michael Morse & Mr. Wilson.

--Marshal Zeringue