
Here Inman dreamcasts the leads for an adaptation of his new novel, Villages:
Would my new novel Villages make a good movie? You bet. I’ve worked for years as a screenwriter, and I believe this story has all the ingredients for film – authentic characters, a compelling plotline, conflict, love, courage and hope. Am I being immodest? Why not.Visit Robert Inman's website.
Now, who to play the lead – a young war veteran, wounded in body in spirit, trying to come to grips with the traumatic experience that has turned his life upside down. My vote is for Timothée Chalamet. I’ve been following his career since the beginning, and I admire his innate ability to inhabit complex characters and bring them relatably to life. I point especially to his role in Beautiful Boy as a youth struggling with addiction, and his most recent turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. He’s the real deal.
The other key character in Villages is a small-town doctor who has been my veteran’s friend and mentor for all of his young life. Here, I give the nod to Bill Pullman. Bill was in my first movie, a Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of my novel Home Fires Burning. He was just getting started, but he already had all the great acting chops. At the beginning of the filming in Georgia, the cast and director and I sat down for a table reading of my script. There was a wrenching scene involving Bill’s character, and he read the part with such incredible depth of emotion that he had all the rest of us teary-eyed. I’d love to see him portray my doctor the same way.
I love movies. I love writing for movies, especially adapting my own work. It’s telling the story but using the special language and perception of film. I could do Villages in a heartbeat.
The Page 69 Test: Villages.
--Marshal Zeringue