Steph Post is the author of A Tree Born Crooked (2014) and Lightwood (2017) as well as a short story writer, reader, teacher and dog lover (among many other things...).Here Post dreamcasts an adaptation of Lightwood:
Please, for the love of God, someone look at this casting list and decide to turn Lightwood into a film or television series just so I can see Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper fight it out in the church…Visit Steph Post's website.
That being said, here’s the official cast list for Lightwood. Martindale and Cooper are perfect as is, but many of the characters are paired with actors from specific movies or refer to performances the actor delivered ten years ago. So perhaps not all of the selections are entirely realistic, but I hope this list can give you a visual approximation of who I see when I think about the characters of my novel.
Sister Tulah- Margo Martindale
This is the only character-actor pair I actually had in mind while writing Lightwood. As far as I’m concerned, there is no one else who could pull off Tulah. Absolutely no one.
Brother Felton- John C. Reilly
Felton was a hard one, because I can see picture his character so clearly in my mind. However, I think John C. Reilly could definitely embody the kind of self-deprecation that would be needed for this role.
Judah Cannon- Sam Rockwell
Judah was the hardest character to cast of them all, most likely because he is the main character. Casting “character actors” in more over-the-top roles is always easier and so I really struggled with this one. I settled on Sam Rockwell, but I also considered Gary Oldman, John Hawkes, Josh Hartnett, and Edward Norton. All younger versions of themselves, of course.
Ramey Barrow- Jessica Biel
This is one of those choices that refers to a specific performance. Jessica Biel is certainly not the obvious pick for Ramey, but her role in Power Blue (an otherwise terrible movie aside from her part) won me over.
Sherwood Cannon- Chris Cooper
Come on, can’t you see Cooper and Martindale staring across the table from each other in the back of the Mr. Omelet? This match needs to happen!
Benji Cannon- Gustaf Skarsgard
For some reason, casting Benji proved almost as hard as finding an appropriate actor for Judah. Skarsgard might not leap to most peoples’ minds for the role of Benji, there is the whole Swedish thing going on for one thing, but I think this could actually be one of those genius casting moments. Vincent Cassel and Dominic Monaghan were also considered for the part and, as with Judah, I’d need all of the actors to roll back a few years.
Levi Cannon- Joaquin Phoenix
This was another choice that seemed odd at first, but now I can’t imagine anyone else playing Levi. I think Phoenix’s dead-eyed scowl matches perfectly with Levi’s temperament.
Jack O’ Lantern- Toby Stephens
Okay, this was mostly a “what redhead actors would work” pick, but then the idea of Stephens grew on me. I’d like to put Stephens and Davies in a room together and see what happens.
Slim Jim- Jeremy Davies
Davies might have to tone it down to play the more reserved character of Slim Jim, but I would love to see this casting. Hell, I’d put Davies anywhere in Lightwood just to see how he would navigate the story.
Shelia- Juliette Lewis
A lot of people are surprised to find that Shelia is actually one of my favorite characters from Lightwood. She’s so much fun to write and she’s one of those characters who just runs off the page once you set her down. Shelia needs an actress who can really pop on the screen and Lewis has the attitude to pull her off.
Writers Read: Steph Post.
--Marshal Zeringue
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