Monday, April 29, 2019

Daniel Kennefick's "No Shadow of a Doubt"

Daniel Kennefick is associate professor of physics at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He is the author of Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves and a coauthor of An Einstein Encyclopedia.

Here he shares some thoughts on a big screen adaptation of his new book, No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity:
It’s not so difficult to imagine how the film world would decide to adapt my book for the screen, because it’s already been done! The story of the 1919 eclipse which confirmed Einstein’s theory of Relativity is of such scientific importance that the television movie Einstein and Eddington was made by the BBC in 2008. It starred David Tennant (of Dr. Who fame) as Arthur Stanley Eddington, the most famous of the Astronomers involved in the expedition, and Andy Serkis as Einstein. The movie was not without its flaws. The opening scene shows Eddington completing his preparations on the island of Principe the night before the eclipse with the scene illuminated by an enormous full Moon. Of course an eclipse of the Sun can only take place at the dark of the Moon! But it was quite entertaining with convincing performances. So, why even write my book if the story I’m telling is that well known? Well, the characters I wanted to bring to the fore were almost completely left out of the film. That’s common enough when adapting for the screen, but even written accounts have neglected or slighted these other astronomers, most notably the man who actually led the planning of the expeditions and who oversaw the analysis of the data they took. That man was England’s Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Watson Dyson.

Dyson was in charge of planning for all British eclipse expeditions at this time. He brought Eddington on board in this case because of the latter’s theoretical expertise but minutes of the planning meetings and letters between them show that Dyson was very much the senior man. This was because his own research dealt extensively with the kind of precision astrometry (the measurement of the positions of stars) which was required to test Einstein’s theory. The movie refers to Eddington as the “best measuring man in England,” but in real life, and for this specific task, that man was Dyson. Weirdly, the movie almost completely removes Dyson from the story. Much of his role is absorbed into a composite character, given the name of the English physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, who had nothing to do with the eclipse in actual history. Jim Broadbent, the well-known character actor, does a fine job with this role, and I rather like to think of him playing Dyson in a more fully rounded portrayal of the 1919 expeditions.

I say expeditions because there were two expeditions, one to Principe, off the coast of west Africa, and the other to the Brazilian city of Sobral. The movie has Dyson’s character assisting Eddington on Principe. In reality he was in charge of the other expedition, but did not travel to Brazil, leaving that task to two of his assistants. But it was this expedition which actually obtained the data which overthrew Newton and made Einstein famous. Eddington's data was of limited value because clouds almost completely obscured his view of the Sun. Thus it was Dyson who directed the analysis of the important data and it is his hand writing that is found on the data analysis sheets, written months after the eclipse, making the decisive statement in favor of Einstein. The movie hilariously has the data analysis performed by Eddington in front of an audience of fellow scientists in November 1919. Of course this famous joint meeting of two English learned societies was only arranged by Dyson after the team at his observatory in Greenwich (which did not include Eddington) had finished its painstaking analysis of the data. I hope my book will highlight his central contribution to this most famous of scientific experiments in this centenary year.
Learn more about No Shadow of a Doubt at the Princeton University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, April 19, 2019

Todd Strasser's "Summer of '69"

Todd Strasser is the internationally best-selling author of more than one hundred books for children and teens, including Fallout and The Beast of Cretacea, as well as the classics The Wave and Give a Boy a Gun, which are taught in classrooms around the world.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Summer of '69:
Like most people I love movies and good television, but in the nearly fifty years that I’ve been writing novels, I’ve never thought about what actors might play my characters. So this is sort of new to me.

Looking at contemporary actors for Summer of ’69 with the understanding that they’d be required to spend a fair amount of time acting -- or just plain being -- stoned, I think Ryan Gosling would be a good choice for the main character Lucas.

For his two close friends I’d choose Paul Dano for Milton, and Jonah Hill for Arno.

For his two love interests, I’d want Emma Watson for Robin, and Zooey Deschanel for Tinsley.

For his troubled cousin, Barry, it would have to be Joaquin Phoenix.

And David Oyelowo would make an excellent Charles, his draft counselor.
Visit Todd Strasser's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Dave Patterson's "Soon the Light Will Be Perfect"

Dave Patterson is an award-winning writer, musician and high school English teacher. He received his MA in English from the Bread Loaf School of English and an M.F.A. from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Soon the Light Will Be Perfect:
Let’s get weird. Imagine you could take the virtuoso skill set of Philip Seymour Hoffman with a dash of John C. Reilly and cram it all inside a twelve year old actor. That would be the dream for the lead role. This would allow for a striking gravitas, a deep humanity, and a disarming sense of humor for the lead. I imagine this movie demanding understated performances. There’s a menacing undercurrent to the life of this family that could be ruined by over-the-top performances. My hybrid Philip Seymour Hoffman/John C. Reilly clone would nail the nuanced darkness creeping in at the edges of the child lead.

For the parents, I’d love, love, love to see thirty-something versions of Frances McDormand and Gary Sinise as the mother and father. It just blew my mind a little to envision their performances in the roles of a sick-with-cancer mother and an out-of-work father. They would bring a fire to this family on the brink of collapse.

The dream director to guide my child prodigy and in-their-primes McDormand and Sinise: Alan Ball of Six Feet Under and American Beauty fame. The humanity he injects into his characters always dazzles. He achieves a tone that at once feels both uplifting and terrifying--like tragedy can strike at any moment, but so can profound beauty. You’re never sure what’s around the corner in an Alan Ball production, but you know it will be something riveting. He’s also great at navigating the murky waters of family dynamics, as evidenced most recently in HBO’s Here and Now. He allows each family member to become their own idiosyncratic human being, then he has these character continually bash into each other in poetic and violent ways.

Okay, now I’m excited. How do we make this happen? It can’t be hard. We just need a cloning kit, a time machine, and a hundred million dollars.
Visit Dave Patterson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, April 12, 2019

Suzanne Hinman's "The Grandest Madison Square Garden"

Suzanne Hinman holds a Ph.D. in American art history and has been a curator, gallerist, museum director, professor, and an art model. She owned an art gallery in Santa Fe and then served as director of galleries at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the world's largest art school. Her interest in the artists and architects of the American Gilded Age and the famed Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire grew while associate director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. The author continues to reside near Cornish as an independent scholar.

Here Hinman dreamcasts an adaptation of her new book, The Grandest Madison Square Garden: Art, Scandal, and Architecture in Gilded Age New York:
The Grandest Madison Square Garden: Art, Scandal, and Architecture in Gilded Age New York considers in detail the design, planning, and construction of the magnificent 1890 Madison Square Garden, the second to stand on Madison Square. But it is also essentially the story of two men, chronicling the lives and collaboration of arguably America’s grandest architect Stanford White and the equally talented sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who completed two versions of the nude goddess Diana to top what would be the Garden’s and America’s tallest tower. The nature of their intimate relationships, with each other as well as their wives and lovers, are examined as well as their aesthetic achievements.

As to who should play them, my immediate response would be George Clooney and George Clooney! He would portray both the effusive, exuberant, ever-on-the-prowl red-haired Stanford White, with his great mustache, as well as Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the more streetwise, moodier, and obsessively perfectionist sculptor, with his darker-red beard—by which they might conveniently be told apart.

Somewhat more seriously, I might suggest ginger-haired Scottish actor Kevin McKidd for Stanford White, again with mustache, or perhaps another Scotsman, Douglas Henshall; for Saint-Gaudens, Henshall’s partner on the series Shetland, the Brit Marc Bonnar.

But truly, I’ve always imagined that rather than a Hollywood film, that the book would make a wonderful Ken Burns-style documentary series. There are so many larger-than-life characters and themes of consequence for examination, not only for the Gilded Age, but issues that persist into our day. Aside from the obvious complexities of the period, the fabulous wealth and the stark contrast between classes, there lies the threat of urban terrorism; a flood of immigration; continuing political corruption; the emergence of new roles for women, including both artist and nude model; the amazing technological advances, especially electricity (with the Diana the first sculpture to be so illuminated); the fabulous expositions including the Chicago World’s Fair and the White City to which Saint-Gaudens’s first version of Diana was exiled; the beginnings of “contemporary” art and architecture; and the emergence of the nature of homosexuality from the pyscho-medical shadows and the development of a vital gay culture in New York.

In addition, to add to the real-life drama, the book reveals a little-known national scandal regarding Saint-Gaudens and nudity, while also proposing a surprising new theory regarding White’s “murder-of-the century” on the top of Madison Square Garden—both of which are better examined through a documentary lens.
Visit Suzanne Hinman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Katy Loutzenhiser's "If You're Out There"

Katy Loutzenhiser grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dabbling in many art forms and watching age-inappropriate movies. After graduating from Bowdoin College, she found an unlikely home in the Chicago comedy scene and regularly sang improvised musicals in public. These days she writes YA books in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband. She is probably eating a burrito right now.

Here Loutzenhiser shares some casting suggestions for some of the characters in an adaptation of her new novel, If You're Out There:
It's actually incredibly difficult for me to dream-cast the main characters in If You're Out There, maybe because they're such precious, unique little snowflakes in my mind! But I can definitely picture the characters around them.

Paul Rudd would make for a killer Zan's dad. (He's made some mistakes in his life, but oh man--with Paul in the role we'd root for him!)

I've had a longstanding daydream of Amy Adams playing Zan's flustered, extremely Irish Spanish teacher, Señora O'Connell.

And I think Lana Condor would make for a delightful Samantha, Zan's potty-mouth law student coworker at the vegan diner where she works.

Oh, and for director: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey or Mindy Kaling. Just imagining it makes me swoon. If only!
Visit Katy Loutzenhiser's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, April 8, 2019

Randy Overbeck's "Blood on the Chesapeake"

Randy Overbeck is a writer, educator, researcher and speaker in much demand. During his three plus decades of educational experience, he has performed many of the roles depicted in his writing with responsibilities ranging from coach and yearbook advisor to principal and superintendent. His new ghost story/mystery is Blood on the Chesapeake. As the title suggests, the novel is set on the famous Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, home to endless shorelines, incredible sunsets and some of the best sailing in the world. Blood is first in a new series of paranormal mysteries, The Haunted Shores Mysteries.

Here Overbeck dreamcasts an adaptation of Blood on the Chesapeake:
The producer who lands the movie rights for Blood on the Chesapeake will discover very fertile cinematic ground. Complex and layered characters of different ages, breathtakingly beautiful settings of small seaside towns, and scenes upon the majestic Chesapeake Bay that are sometimes tranquil and picturesque and other times terrifying and harrowing, will combine to make the movie version compelling and memorable. Throw in the eerie quality of the ghost story and the puzzle that viewers get to unravel along with our heroes and you have the potential for successful moviemaking. Even the demographics are right for film audiences. The story features two heroic couples, one in their teens and a second in their twenties, both struggling against the status quo. For good measure, there is even another pair of good guys, a couple in their forties. And perhaps, most important, the story at the core—the tragedy of racial injustice—is as real and raw today as it was in the earlier decades depicted in the narrative.

Ah, but all of this begs the question, where would you find such a broad cast to pull off this cinematic accomplishment? I’ve seen my share of movies—though I must confess I usually prefer the book version—but I’m no expert. Still, I take a stab at playing casting director.

For Darrell Henshaw, our flawed but focused ghost hunter and protagonist (not to mention high school teacher and football coach) I think I’d tap Logan Lehman. He can pull off the almost handsome look of Darrell and has shown the range to be able to capture both Darrell’s terrors and triumphs. His partner, Erin Caveny, would be played by Brie Larson, provided her screen time won’t be monopolized by the Avengers movies. She already demonstrated she can pull off the tough, but tender role Erin plays in the story. For Al and Sara McClure, I had fun in choosing Matt LeBlanc and Juliette Lewis. Matt is a logical choice for the wise-cracking Al and Juliette is a good fit for the steady Sara. (Yes, I realize Juliette often plays darker characters, but her work is evidence of the range she would need for the role of Sara.)

For the teens in the story, selecting actors was a little more challenging. After some consideration and some help, I’d tap Molly Caitlyn Quinn for the young Kelly, her Irish heritage and red hair giving her an advantage. For Hank, I’d send a casting call to the young British actor, John Boyega, who is, like Hank, black, quite large and handsome, and can act well without talking.

No casting effort can be complete with finding great talent for the antagonists. For the trio of Williams, Dr. Remington and Officer Brown, I’d select the gifted character actors of Richard Roxburgh, Stacy Keach and John Goodman.

I know, all together, considerable star power.
Follow Randy Overbeck on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, and check out his webpage.

Writers Read: Randy Overbeck.

--Marshal Zeringue

Friday, April 5, 2019

Robert Dugoni's "The Eighth Sister"

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon best selling author of The Tracy Crosswhite series, My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, and The Trapped Girl.

Here Dugoni dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, The Eighth Sister:
When I wrote The Eighth Sister I had Denzel Washington in mind to play Charles Jenkins. Jenkins is African American, over the age of 60, but fit and very competent. I’ve since had people suggest making Jenkins younger so that Will Smith or Idris Elba could play him. All of them would be fantastic and it would be an incredible lead.

The other lead is the antagonist, FSB Agent Viktor Federov. Russell Crowe would be great in the role, as would be Gerard Butler.

As for Jenkins wife, Salma Hayek would be perfect for the role.

There are many other characters, but those are the leads.
Learn more about the book and author at Robert Dugoni's website.

--Marshal Zeringue