Kristina Springer's "The Espressologist"

Kristina Springer has a Bachelor of Arts in English Education from Illinois State University and a Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul University. The Espressologist, her first novel, was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in the fall of 2009.

Here she shares some ideas about the cast for a cinematic adaptation of The Espressologist:

I’ve always thought The Espressologist would make a super cute movie—as I wrote it, it kind of played out as a movie in my head. Though I have to say that I didn’t think of specific actors while writing.

Since, however, I’ve assembled my dream cast list: As the sweet and funny Jane: Selena Gomez from Wizards of Waverly Place. As the adorable and kinda goofy Cam: Cory Monteith from Glee. As best friend Em: Emma Roberts from Unfabulous. As arch enemy Melissa: Emily Osment from Hannah Montana. And finally, as the ever manipulative but hot frat boy Will: Taylor Lautner from Twilight.

Easy cast list to put together right?

Read an excerpt from The Espressologist.

Learn more about Kristina Springer and her books at her website and blog, and become a Facebook fan of The Espressologist.

Writers Read: Kristina Springer.

The Page 69 Test: The Espressologist.

--Marshal Zeringue

John McFetridge's "Let It Ride"

John McFetridge lives in Toronto and works as a staff writer for the TV cop show The Bridge, airing on CBS this fall. He is the author of the crime novels Dirty Sweet, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, and the recently released Let It Ride.

Here here suggests some actors who might best portray the characters of Let It Ride in a big screen adaptation:

Yes, I do cast my books in my head as I write them. My casting ideas don’t always make sense, sometimes I cast actors thirty or forty years younger than they are now, sometimes they aren’t even alive.

But I’ve worked a little in the movies and TV so when I’m writing a book I sometimes like to have things that I could never get on screen. I recently worked as a writer on the TV show, The Bridge, which will air on CTV in Canada starting March 5th and has been picked up by CBS in the USA (and 70 other countries), but no air date has been set. For that show we had six regular characters for each episode and six guest stars. We had two main standing sets and each episode shot three days in the studio and three days on locations. There was also some amount of night and day scenes that I never really understood.

So, Let It Ride has a lot of characters and a lot of locations. Some of the characters have been in my previous books and some are new to this one.

Of the new characters, the main one is Vernard ‘Get’ McGetty, a drug dealer from Detroit who joined the army and met some Canadians in Afghanistan shipping back huge amounts of dope. Get stayed in touch and in Let It Ride he comes to Toronto to make some deals. There are a lot of guys who could play the part. In my head it was a younger Don Cheadle. It could be Chris Bridges.

In Toronto Get meets Sunitha, a former massage parlour worker who’s now robbing spas. Writing the book I was thinking of Parminder Nagra from Bend It Like Beckham and ER. I hope the character is a little complicated and has some depth. She and Get have some candid conversations and start to question everything about their lives but are, I hope, realistic in their outlook.

JT has been in a few of my books now. I never believed that about characters taking on a life of their own but he really did. An unnamed ‘hangaround’ trying to join the biker gang in Dirty Sweet he became a character in Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and is back here. He’s Get’s contact from their military days. I always saw JT as a clean-cut, straightforward guy like Jason Priestly – maybe more from his 90210 days.

And there are a lot of other characters. The cops have been in previous books. Here homicide Detective Maureen McKeon is back from maternity leave (and having some trouble with that) and partnered again with Andre Price. I see McKeon as played by someone like Mary Lynn Rajskub and Price as Wes Williams, a Canadian actor who used to be known as the rapper Maestro Fresh Wes.

View the trailer for Let It Ride, and learn more about the author and his work at John McFetridge's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Let It Ride.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer Stevenson's "Fools Paradise"

Jennifer Stevenson is the author of four books that only look like they’re way too much about sex. She is a founding member of Book View Cafe, speed roller skater, swimmer, horsewoman, crow fancier, and messy gardener.

Here she lays out some casting ideas--and choice for director--should her latest novel be adapted for the movies:

Fools Paradise is my favorite book about my favorite men—stagehands, those blue-collar knights of chivalry, those workaholic, playaholic, unsung heroes behind the curtain.

This book more than any other came about through a collage. I knew it would begin with a Porsche Targa full of live smelt. I knew the hero and heroine would be trapped in a family feud, powerless to stop it from exploding, until they fake a betrothal that carries them way beyond sanity.

I didn’t know the characters.

Then I did the collage.

I found two faces in magazines who are two models, as far as I know. I haven’t been able to identify either of them. (If you can name them, email me and I’ll send you a free copy of the ebook!) The guy (center) is such a perfect combination of not-as-dumb-as-I-look and pure hunk that I fell in love with him. The girl (upper left) looks like every Catholic high school girl who ever wore enough makeup to look slutty-sweet. When I realized that they were surrounded by tough-looking old men, the book came to life.

But we need actors for the movie, not so-far-nameless models.

Cast: Shrek in his Shrek 2 “handsome Shrek” mode would be perfect for Bobbyjay, if he’d be willing to dye his hair blond for the role. Bobbyjay Morton is widely considered the dumbest of the five stagehands named Bobby Morton, all of them his own relatives. He cleans up their messes out of family loyalty. But when he falls for Daisy Ditorelli, granddaughter of his family’s worst enemy, he’s willing to risk everything to make her happy. I loved Shrek’s willingness to sacrifice his own happiness for love—that makes him a perfect Bobbyjay.

Amanda Seyfried would be a wonderfully delicate Daisy Ditorelli. Daisy flunked out of high school by goofing off. Now she keeps house for her doting but strict grandfather. She wants to be a stagehand like the men in her family, but her grandfather won’t let his angelina preciosa anywhere near those animals. She cooks, she cleans, she fights off her sexually-harrassing cousin, and she dreams of wearing steel-toed boots and packing a crescent wrench and getting, you know, like, paid to work sixty hours a week. I’d love to see Seyfried make that transformation from household drudge to kick-ass girl stagehand.

Dennis Quaid should play sexy older roadie, Badger Kenack, Daisy’s childhood heartthrob. There’s something so hot about those weathered roadies. That’s why many groupies prefer them to actual rock stars—roadies are chivalrous and horny, well-travelled yet down-to-earth, hunky without the star ego. Plus, Quaid looks yummy in Levis.

I would pick Eli Wallach for Marty Ditorelli, Daisy’s Machiavellian grandfather. You can easily believe he dotes on his granddaughter and supports his ne’er-do-well grandsons—but also that he once kneecapped a rival with a baseball bat, led his own soldiers in bottle-to-bottle bar fights, and has run for office against his enemy, once his best friend, for more than twenty years, purely to mess with his head.

I’d want Gene Hackman for Bobby Morton Sr., the not-as-nice-as-he-seems patriarch of Bobbyjay’s family. Bobby Sr. stole Daisy’s grandfather’s girl back when they were young stagehands and best friends. His likeable Joe facade conceals a political animal who mercilessly uses his soldiers—especially Bobbyjay—to get himself elected.

Do I get to pick my favorite director / producer, too? Judd Apatow. That guy understands that today’s hero can be coarse, vulgar, stupid, even stoned, and yet tender, self-sacrificing, kind-hearted, generous, and oh yeah good in bed.

Fools Paradise is now available on Kindle, Smashwords, and BookViewCafe.com.

Visit Jennifer Stevenson's BVC page and Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue

Chris Knopf's "Short Squeeze"

Chris Knopf is author of the Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery series, including The Last Refuge, Two Time, Head Wounds, and Hard Stop, which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery. A copywriter by trade, Knopf is a principal of Mintz & Hoke Communications Group. He lives with his wife, Mary, and dog, Samuel Beckett, in Avon, Connecticut, and Southampton, New York, where he sets sail on the sacred Little Peconic Bay.

His new novel is Short Squeeze.

Here he sketches out some casting choices as well as options for director for an adaptation of the new book:

When I did the casting for the film version of my book Two Time a few years ago, I made what some thought was a bold decision to give the part of Jackie Swaitkowski, in a crucial supporting role, to Drew Barrymore. Well, now that Jackie has a series of her own, beginning with Short Squeeze (St.Martin’s, Jan 2010), I feel even better about that choice. While Drew continues to exercise her significant comedic abilities, she also proved her depth and versatility when she played Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens. Jackie is impetuous on the verge of reckless, intelligent, pig-headed, but occasionally stricken with a loss of confidence, a perennial wise-cracker, but sometimes overwhelmed by tender sentiment, tomboyish but eager to be a girl in the right circumstances, not so great at commitment, but deeply fond of certain nut job friends, a quirky dresser and all-out slob of a housekeeper. And uncontrollably curious and determined when on the hunt of a killer. Doesn’t that sound like a woman played by Drew Barrymore?

Her boyfriend Harry Goodlander, the 6’ 8” bald logistics expert, looks like Harlan Coben only much taller. Harlan’s a writer, not an actor, so we’d have to get Tim Robbins, who’s 6’5”, to shave his head and put lifts in his shoes.

Since Richard Gere is often seen around the Hamptons, I think he’d make a fine Sam Acquillo. (He played Clifford Irving in The Hoax, based on a book published by The Permanent Press, who also publishes the Sam Acquillo series.) He’s a bit older, but still ruggedly handsome, intelligent and capable of both comedic and tragic turns, which would suit Sam.

Ross Semple, the over-educated, oddball police chief would be played to perfection by Kevin Spacey. We’d just need wardrobe to get him a pair of thick black-framed glasses and a polyester shirt.

Jim Belushi has Detective Joe Sullivan written all over him. Except for the hair. Sullivan has a blond crew cut. We’d have to get make-up in on the screen test, but I’m sure Jim would do what it takes to land such a sought-after part. Jackie and Joe have a mutual love-want-to-kill relationship. Comic, irritated, long-suffering. Belushi and Drew could riff on that all day.

As far as the less pleasant characters go, Rainn Wilson is Fuzzy Wolsonowicz, no question. He’s got it all – creepy facial hair, twitchy face, haunted eyes.

His adopted mother, Eunice, is Helen Mirren. Haughty, whippet thin, cagey, slightly regal (hey, she played Queen Elizabeth…) You can easily see her deep disappointment when contemplating Rainn, her adopted son.

We don’t get to see much of him, but the part of Sergey Pontecello, the Russo-Italian tin-plated European nobleman and soon-to-be mangled corpse was actually written with David Strathairn playing Pierce Patchett in L.A. Confidential in my mind’s eye. Just age him a bit and add the accent. (I wonder how David would react to my writing that a cartoonist would draw Sergey’s face as a rat.)

Who directs? I’d love to have Mike Nichols, who did such a great job on Charlie Wilson’s War. He’s about 79 years old at this point, but Clint Eastwood, also 79, has proven age is hardly a barrier to directorial excellence. At this writing, I don’t know if Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for best picture. If not, I think we can afford her (somebody call New York).

Visit Chris Knopf's website.

My Book, The Movie: Two Time.

--Marshal Zeringue

David B. Coe's "The Dark-Eyes' War"

David B. Coe is winner of the William L. Crawford Award for his first series, The LonTobyn Chronicle. He is also author of the popular Winds of the Forelands series.

Here he shares some ideas for the principal cast and director of a cinematic adaptation of the newly released The Dark-Eyes' War:

I love this site's concept and I'm happy to be a part of the fun.

My newest novel, The Dark-Eyes' War, is the third and final volume in my Blood of the Southlands trilogy (the other two volumes were The Sorcerers' Plague and The Horsemen's Gambit). Blood of the Southlands is an epic fantasy about prejudice and revenge and the unintended consequences of both. The population of the Southlands is divided between two races: the Qirsi, white-haired, pale-complexioned sorcerers who are physically frail, but wield powerful magic, and the Eandi, who are more like the people of our own world.

There are five characters in The Dark-Eyes' War who I'd like to cast, but finding the right actors exclusively from today's crop of Hollywood talent strikes me as too difficult. So, I'm going to take the liberty of traveling back and forth between Hollywood generations.

Grinsa ja Arriet -- Grinsa is a Qirsi Weaver, the most powerful kind of sorcerer. Weavers can bind together the magics of many Qirsi and wield them as a single weapon. They also tend to be more hale and physically powerful than other Qirsi. I think I'd like to see him played by Sean Bean (Boromir, from LOTR). Bean would have to grow his hair out and dye it white/blond, but he'd be terrific in the role.

Cresenne ja Terba -- Grinsa's love. She began (in an earlier book in my previous series, Winds of the Forelands) by seducing him on behalf of a renegade Qirsi Weaver, and then trying to have him killed. But she became pregnant with his child and eventually they fell in love. Long story; much drama. But back to the point: I'd like to go back in time for this one and cast a young Eva Marie Saint (North By Northwest, On the Waterfront) in this role. She'd be perfect both physically and because of her gentle strength.

Tiryna Onjaef -- an Eandi woman, and a captain in the army of Qalsyn. She is beautiful, ambitious, tough as hell. She's also rash and impetuous. I'd give this part to a young Katherine Ross (from The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).

Enly Tolm -- an Eandi man, also a captain in the Qalsyn army. A rival of Tirnya's, and also a former lover. Let's just say they have a fiery relationship. I'd have Goran Visnjic (of ER fame) play Enly.

Besh -- My favorite character in the series. Besh is an old Eandi conjurer who leaves his home to try to keep the Southlands from descending into civil war. He's devoted to his family, but driven by a sense of duty. He's stubborn, opinionated, high tempered, but he's also compassionate and courageous. I would give this part to Ben Kingsley.

I have a little room left, and so I'd like to choose my director. I've always been a huge fan of Peter Weir, who manages to bring mystery and darkness, but also epic sweep to his movies. He'd be my first choice as director.

Again, thanks for the chance to play along. This has been fun.

Read sample chapters from The Dark-Eyes' War (and Coe's other books), and learn more about the books and author, at David B. Coe's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mark Greaney's "The Gray Man"

Mark Greaney has a degree in International Relations and Political Science and is pursuing his Masters in Intelligence Studies with a concentration in Criminal Intelligence. He's reputed to speak good Spanish and bad German.

Here he shares some thoughts about the principal cast of a big screen adaptation of The Gray Man, his debut novel:

The Gray Man has been optioned for film by a Hollywood/London studio partnership, so I am constantly asked who I see in a big screen adaptation of my book. Consequently I’ve had time to consider this, though as far as I understand these convoluted film contracts, they could make my hard edge thriller into an animated film or a Bollywood dance spectacular, or they could populate the roles with cats or Claymation characters if they chose to do so. I have no say in the matter… but if I did?

The hero, Court Gentry, is the Gray Man. He travels the world in a low profile manner; he’s the guy that sat on the bench next to you at the train station who you never noticed, the man on the street that no one remembers one second after he passes. But both mentally and physically he is a coiled spring of potential energy, ready to go into action if the need arises. I like Casey Affleck in the role; I’ve never seen him in anything remotely like this character, but I bet he’d be great.

Sir Donald Fitzroy, Gentry’s venerable English handler, would best be played by Sir Michael Caine. Fitzroy is a tad younger, but Caine could best exemplify both the urbane sophistication of a cultured English gentleman, as well as the cynical and crafty hard edge of an aged spymaster who cut his teeth battling the IRA by running doomed agents in the back alleys of Belfast.

Lloyd, the young, well-educated attorney for the evil French corporation LaurentGroup, is at once intelligent and a bit of a nut case. In order to save a massive natural gas contract for his firm he must bring the head of the Gray Man to the president of Nigeria. He’s in over his head, his very life is dependent on the success of his assignment, and as both the Gray Man and the clock begin to defy him, there is absolutely nothing he won’t do to achieve his ends. I like James Franco or Topher Grace in this role.

Kurt Riegel is the German Security Chief for LaurentGroup. He is tough but fair, a man of honor working a dirty job for a corrupt company. He endeavors to bring about the Gray Man’s destruction because it is his duty to uphold the wishes of his employer, but he derives no pleasure from it. He sees Gentry as an honorable man, though it is his job to kill him, and Lloyd as a reckless fool though they must work together for the good of their masters. I wrote the book long before I saw the Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds, but when I saw Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, I thought he’d be extraordinary in the part. Sadly I just looked up the spelling of his name on IMDB, and I see he is 5’8”; Kurt Riegel is described as 6’5”, so Hollywood special effects would need to come into play!

Lazlo Szabo is the crippled Hungarian forger who Court must visit for documents. I see Peter Stormare in this role. Maurice, Court’s dying instructor at the CIA’s Autonomous Asset Development Program, could be played by Scott Glenn. Clare Fitzroy, the eight-year old granddaughter of Sir Donald, plays a key role in the novel, but I don’t know a single eight-year old English actress, so I’m at a loss for this important part.

Read an excerpt from The Gray Man, and learn more about the book and author at Mark Greaney's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Gray Man.

--Marshal Zeringue

Graham Brown's "Black Rain"

Graham Brown is a former pilot, lawyer and executive at a small health care company. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he is currently at work on his second novel, a sequel to the recently released Black Rain.

Here he shares some casting ideas for a cinematic adaptation of Black Rain:

What a great idea this blog is. What writer hasn’t cast their movie a hundred times in their own heads?

First, a little about the plot. Black Rain is a techno-thriller that takes place in the jungle. It meshes the actual Mayan creation legend with a race for elements that could bring about working cold fusion and provide the energy source of the 21st century.

The characters include Danielle Laidlaw, the young, attractive team leader, thrust into the spotlight when her mentor is called back to Washington D.C. An ex-CIA mercenary who goes by the name of Hawker. Unlike most “rogue cops,” Hawker played by his own rules and got burned. He’s now a fugitive and a pariah, hired only because he is expendable. He’s ready to let go of any moral compunction if it means getting back to the world’s good graces. The third main character is a university professor named McCarter. He’s grieving from the loss of his wife after a long battle with cancer and joins the team despite its seemingly absurd goals, just to get away from himself.

So who to play these characters? They’re somewhat archetypical, but I think I’ve taken a fresh angle on all them. The readers will have to be the judge of that.

In many ways, Danielle is the main character, and the most difficult to cast. She has to come across as smart, formidable. That’s far more important than her being beautiful, on the other hand if we can cover all the bases… Angelina Jolie would work, the character is roughly thirty, attractive and forced to be manipulative to get what she’s after. And she’s smart. Whatever some people think about Angelina, she’s definitely smart, stunning and if can be manipulative if she needs to be: a force to be reckoned with, I like that. But if she wasn’t available, Olivia Wilde immediately comes to mind, (Dr. Remy 'Thirteen' Hadley on House). Those eyes, that smile and she always seems like the sharpest blade in the room when I watch her. So definitely Olivia would be great. As she said “smart is sexy.”

That brings us to Hawker our ex-CIA mercenary. Of course George Clooney would work. The guy never gets his props for being a great actor but he can downright pull off the deep roles. In this case, the I ruined my life through my own arrogance role (anyone who saw Michael Clayton knows this – and if you haven’t you’re really missing a great movie.) But I have a feeling he’s not into this type project. So who? Either of the main leads from Lost would do a great job. Matthew Fox brings incredible intensity to the screen. Josh Holloway, who plays Sawyer is fantastic as the handsome, world weary traveler with a self deprecating sense of humor. Both are traits I’ve tried to instill in the character. So yeah, I’ll take either of those guys.

Finally Professor McCarter, this is the one role I have always known who to cast in, right from day one. James Earl Jones where are you, sir? This character is the moral centerpiece of the story; in many he pulls the group together and acts like a mentor as they threaten to splinter apart. He has to have gravitas, depth. I swear I could hear Mr. Jones’ voice every time McCarter had some dialogue. I’ve never pictured anyone else for it and I never will.

Read an excerpt from Black Rain, and learn more about the book and author at Graham Brown's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kathleen Rooney's "For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs"

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press and the author of Live Nude Girl.

Here she shares her view on the biggest casting decision should her latest book, For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs, be adapted for the big screen:

The movie of my book would be animated. Since it is a collection of 11 individual essays, I am the only character who appears in each one. I would like to be played by Lisa Simpson. Her essential optimism—often misunderstood, often comically disappointed—makes her perfect for the role.

Visit Kathleen Rooney's website.

The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

--Marshal Zeringue

Matt Beynon Rees' “The Fourth Assassin”

Matt Beynon Rees is the author of the acclaimed series of novels featuring Palestinian detective Omar Yussef: The Collaborator of Bethlehem, which won the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger award, A Grave in Gaza, The Samaritan's Secret, and the newly released The Fourth Assassin.

In 2007 he shared some thoughts on who might play his main character in an adaptation of The Collaborator of Bethlehem. Here he revisits the issue:

I didn’t need to think of an actor. Not until I’d finished my book. Then the thinking really started.

The Palestinian detective hero of my books, Omar Yussef, is based on a real Palestinian friend of mine who lives in the Dehaisha Refugee Camp on the edge of Bethlehem in the West Bank. I had no problem visualizing him when I wrote about Omar, because I saw him most days. We spent a lot of time together and, with a gentleman as frequently cantankerous as my real-life chum, believe me, I got the full tour.

Then came publication of the first of my Palestinian crime novels, The Collaborator of Bethlehem. The estimable Marshal Zeringue invited me to write a post for this blog. Instead of having a famous actor always in mind, I had to run through potential candidates.

My wife insisted Pacino was just right for Omar. But I preferred the quiet, gentle Swiss actor Bruno Ganz – who proved he could do cantankerous when he played Hitler a few years ago in Downfall.

At the Leipzig Book Fair last year, my Berlin-based film agent chatted with me about some negotiations with a German tv channel which wanted to make a series based on Omar. As we talked, crowds of local kids dressed in “Manga” costume milled about (apparently this is some Japanese animation thing that has cult dressing-up status among people young enough to make me feel very old.) He asked if I had an actor in
mind for Omar. I mentioned Ganz.

“No, it won’t work,” Roland said.

“Why not?” I asked, as I was bumped from behind by some German kid dressed up as a vampire samurai.

“He’s not Arab. It really ought to be an Arab. But it’s difficult to find an Arab actor who’s well-known enough to carry a production and also speaks German.”

“So Pacino’s out too, I guess.”

“Well, movies are different from tv,” he said, “and if it sold in America, things might be different, too.”

I think they might be different now that The Fourth Assassin has been released. In this new installment of my Palestinian series, Omar comes to New York for a UN conference, only to uncover an assassination plot. The suspect: his own son.

I’d guess the New York setting might make the series seem just that little bit less dauntingly foreign – without betraying its core and making it into just another American detective story.

Which leaves me free to name names.

So here it is: Tony Shalhoub. He showed great dramatic range in The Siege, which was written by Lawrence Wright, a journalist colleague of mine who later won a Pulitzer for The Looming Tower, a nonfiction account of the story behind the 9/11 terrorists. Shalhoub had a nice cameo in 1408, an otherwise typically over the top Stephen King thing. I don’t really watch tv, but I gather Monk is great.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Tony Shalhoub’s an Arab. He’s descended from Lebanese immigrants.

I hope that’s good enough. I mean, don’t make me find an actor big enough to carry a Hollywood movie who’s actually Palestinian…

The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Assassin.

Visit Matt Beynon Rees' website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jessica Verday's "The Hollow"

Jessica Verday wrote the first draft of her debut novel, The Hollow, by hand, using thirteen spiral-bound notebooks and fifteen black pens. She likes: things that smell nice, rainy nights, old books, cemeteries, Johnny Cash, zombie movies, L.J. Smith books, abandoned buildings, trains, and snow. She is currently hand-writing the continuation of Abbey and Caspian’s story from her home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

Here she shares her preferences for the actors in an adaptation of The Hollow:

For my two main characters, I picture Abbey being played by Alexis Bledel and Caspian being played by either Tom Felton or Gaspard Ulliel.

For Nikolas I've pictured mostly Johnny Cash or Michael Caine.

As far as the rest of the cast, they are still part of my imagination although I think I'd like to hear my readers' thoughts.

Watch the video trailer for The Hollow, and learn more about the book and author at Jessica Verday's website.

--Marshal Zeringue