Aaron Jackson's "The Astonishing Life of August March"

Aaron Jackson is a writer and comedian. With Josh Sharp, he optioned and adapted a screenplay of their stage musical Fucking Identical Twins which is currently in development with Chernin Entertainment. He was recently a cast member on Comedy Central's The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and has also appeared on Broad City, The Detour, Crashing, The National Lampoon Radio Hour, and Funny or Die’s Jared and Ivanka, a series he also cowrote. He lives in New York City.

Here Jackson dreamcasts an adaptation of The Astonishing Life of August March, his first novel:

My book is about a boy who was born and raised in a New York City theatre during the middle of the 20th century, so it's full of over the top, theatrical characters.

It's tricky to cast the main character, August, as it's a coming of age novel and he goes from birth to his late thirties. No matter his age, he's always precocious, adventurous, rebellious and opinionated. For the adult August, I think someone like a young Ben Whishaw would've been great.

Percyfoot is so fun to think about casting wise. He's a celebrated, pompous stage actor. I've always imagined Stephen Fry who I grew up watching in A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. Kevin Kline would obviously be amazing. A younger Ian McKellan would've been divine.

Miss Butler is the ancient and stubborn laundress who finds and "adopts" August. Angela Lansbury, Cecily Tyson, Maggie Smith. Any iconic legend would do.

Most of the book takes place in New York City. The whimsy and comedy of a Woody Allen New York would serve nicely. Also, since much of it takes place in a theater, to capture the busyness and bustle of a cramped theatre, the long tracking shots of filmmakers like Alfonso Cuarón or Joe Wright in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice would be amazing to set the mood.

Follow Aaron Jackson on Twitter.

The Page 69 Test: The Astonishing Life of August March.

--Marshal Zeringue