Adele Parks's "Just My Luck"

Adele Parks is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck, as well as I Invited Her. Just My Luck is currently in development to be made into a movie. Her novels have sold 4 million copies in the UK alone, and her work has also been translated into thirty-one languages.

Here Parks dreamcasts an adaptation of Just My Luck:

Just My Luck is the story of a group of friends who have been extremely close since they met fifteen years ago, around the time they all had their first babies. The families have grown up together and their lives have become intrinsically linked: the kids go to the same schools, they go on holidays together, they meet socially all the time. One of their little rituals is that they do the lottery every week, as a syndicate. Until one evening, they quarrel. Two of the three couples leave the syndicate but the very next week the numbers come up and Lexi and Jake Greenwood have the winning ticket worth 18 million pounds/23 million dollars! This leads to all sorts of betrayals, jealousy and deception as the other couples go to extreme lengths to try to get a share of the money. And when I say extreme, think of pretty much every illegal activity you can and they try it…theft, bribery, kidnapping, extortion… This is a novel that looks at what money can, can’t, should and certainly should not buy!

It’s a novel where you are unsure who to trust and no one is exactly what they seem. I think actors would enjoy the challenge and range. Isla Fisher would be my absolute dream for the role of Lexi Greenwood. The earnest mom who works in the charity sector and firmly believes her friends and family are everything. Until, that is, she wins the lottery. Then she sees her family turn into avaricious, materialistic people, the very sort of person she abhors. Lexi has a heart of gold but is no pushover, I think Isla Fisher would nail the nuance. I’d cast Dominic Cooper as her husband, Jake Greenwood. Dominic Cooper has played the loveable rogue before and brilliantly projects an aloofness and unknowability whilst playing Jack-the-lad parts. That’s very Jake.

I’d cast Carmen Ejogo as Carla Pearson, the impossibly glamourous mother of three. In the novel Carla is drop dead gorgeous, a showstopper but also has a steely ambition that means she is prepared to turn a blind eye to her husband’s faults. Again, a level of complexity that would offer any actor a great opportunity to have fun. At the risk of there being too many Dominics on set, I’d cast Dominic West as Patrick Pearson. He could play the charmer who you really, really want to trust but should you? I’d like to see Rosamund Pike play the English Rose, Jennifer Heathcote. Jennifer is the devoted mother to one son, she is ‘old school English’ and monied. I think Rosamund would be marvellous in the role. She’s so elegant and refined, but again behind that cool, calm exterior there’s a firecracker! Fred Heathcote (Jennifer’s husband in the novel) would be played by Matthew Macfadyen. I think since he played Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, he is everyone’s quintessential English Gentleman. I also think it would be interesting to see him unravel.

You know, it’s really tricky to talk about casting without giving away spoilers! I am delighted to say that Just My Luck is currently optioned and so you never know, one day this wish list cast list might turn into something more than a dream!

Visit Adele Parks's website.

My Book, The Movie: I Invited Her In.

Q&A with Adele Parks.

My Book, The Movie: Lies, Lies, Lies.

--Marshal Zeringue