Kevin Sites's "The Ocean Above Me"

Kevin Sites is an award-winning journalist and author. He has worked as a reporter for more than thirty years, half of that covering war and disaster for ABC, NBC, CNN, Yahoo News, and Vice News. He was a 2010 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University and a 2012 Dart Fellow in Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. For a decade he lived and taught in Hong Kong as an associate professor of practice in journalism at the University of Hong Kong. He’s the author of three books on war, In the Hot Zone, The Things They Cannot Say, and Swimming with Warlords. He lives in Oregon.

Here Sites shares his character breakdown sheet for the cast of an adaptation of his new novel, The Ocean Above Me:

Lukas Landon, 46 (Journalist)

Former war correspondent now working in Charleston, SC on a special newspaper series about a black, female shrimping captain and her misfit crew. Everything is about his loss of connection. Divorced. Uses interviews to probe others while remaining enigmatic himself. Has a terrible war secret.

Wishful considerations for the role: Adam Driver or Bo Burnham

Clarita Esteban, 40 (Shrimp Boat Captain)

Former army staff sergeant from Charleston, SC. Drove recovery vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wounded, bronze star and purple heart. Learned shrimping from her daddy, a former Vietnam Vet. Bought a bucket of bolts trawler named Philomena (after patron saint of lost causes). Tries to hold it all together when the odds are clearly against her.

Wishful considerations for the role: Sonequa Martin-Green or Kristen Ariza

Lorenzo (Enzo) Ortiz, 46 (Engineer/First Mate)

Has history with Philomena. Came to America onboard her during the Cuban Mariel boatlift. His wife and childhood sweetheart died of ovarian cancer. No children. Came back to work the Philomena with his troubled, younger cousin Chuy.

Wishful consideration for the role: Oscar Isaac

Floyd (Junior) Swain Jr., 30 (Deckhand)

The only one of the Philomena’s former deckhands who stayed with the ship after Carita Esteban bought it. Hard worker that respects the new captain. But has plenty of inner demons. Father AWOL, mother left when he was child. During his down time whittles wooden sea creatures, but meth makes him moody and sometimes unreliable.

Wishful consideration for the role: Garret Hedlund

Jesus (Chuy)) Ortiz, 28 (Deckhand)

Comes off as prickly and acerbic. Treats the Haitian cook with disrespect and cruelty for unknown reasons. Still, a hard worker trying to do his best despite always being in the shadow of and in debt to his older cousin, the first mate.

Wishful consideration for the role: Michael Mando

Emmanuel Etienne, 35 (Cook)

Haitian immigrant. Only family member to survive a tragic sea crossing to Florida. Preternaturally quiet, preferring to lose himself in a worn, black book notebook he always carries. But while appearing withdrawn he’s deeply aware of everyone and everything that happens on the ship.

Wishful considerations for the role: Jimmy Jean-Louis or Edi Gathegi

Olveda Esteban, 19 (Greenhorn Deckhand)

She’s the captain’s daughter but was mostly raised by her grandmother while Clarita was driving trucks for the army in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was a high school basketball star who lost a scholarship and potential pro career to a torn ACL. Her mother hoped to lessen the distance between them by bringing her onboard as a deckhand. But the gulf of years and disappointment has proven difficult to bridge.

Wishful considerations for the role: Yara Shahidi, Storm Reid or Zendaya

Visit Kevin Sites's website.

--Marshal Zeringue