Elyssa Friedland's "Love and Miss Communication"

Elyssa Friedland graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 2007 and subsequently worked as an associate at a major firm.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Love and Miss Communication, her debut novel:

Ahh! This was truly an amazingly fun exercise, especially because I really believe my novel Love and Miss Communication is very cinematic. Any movie producers out there? I hope you’re reading this!

The book would definitely translate into a romantic comedy, and who better to star as Evie Rosen, my lovable, neurotic heroine, than Emma Stone? To be honest I didn’t picture Evie as a redhead when I was writing the book. Anne Hathaway was kind of in the back of my mind the entire time, but now that I have some distance from it I really see this role as perfect for Emma Stone. She was so amazing in Easy A, which is a really great movie and totally underrated, and while she is absolutely stunning I think she’s able to play an “everyday woman” equally well. Evie is strong, highly intelligent, funny, somewhat misunderstood and just a little bit off track in her life, and Emma Stone would nail that role.

The most fun role to pay in the book would have to be Bette Rosen, Evie’s ailing, big-mouthed grandmother. I like to think of her a bit as having the attitude of Maggie Smith, the dowager countess from Downton Abbey. But Maggie Smith doesn’t look right for the role. Too wrinkled (sorry Maggie!) and too regal. So I’m reaching for television talent to fill the role. Doris Roberts, the grandma on Everybody Loves Raymond, would be perfection as the beloved, nagging bubbe to Evie.

On to the men. I reached out to friends for this one. Jack, the celebrity chef who stole Evie’s heart and then trampled it carelessly, is very much a Hollywood bad boy type. He’s the guy every woman falls for even though she shouldn’t. So I see Colin Farrell fitting this role very nicely. Or Jon Hamm, channeling his jerky side from Bridesmaids. Dr. Edward Cooper is trickier. He’s really a good guy that Evie falls for over time. He should be handsome but not overtly reeking of sex appeal. I think Rob Lowe would do the trick.

The TWASPs (you’ll have to read the book to understand that acronym) would be amazingly portrayed by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, but alas I think that is something of a pipe dream…

Evie’s group of friends would have to be played by my own group of friends, because I’m pretty sure I made drunken promises to at least two of them that if this book gets made into a movie I will try to cast them.

Visit Elyssa Friedland's website.

The Page 69 Test: Love and Miss Communication.

--Marshal Zeringue