Elise Juska's "Reunion"

Elise Juska’s new novel, Reunion, was named one of People Magazine’s “Best Books to Read in May 2024.” Her previous novels include The Blessings, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and If We Had Known. Juska’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Alice Hoffman Prize from Ploughshares, and her short fiction has been cited by The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize anthologies. She teaches creative writing at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Here Juska dreamcasts an adaptation of Reunion:

The main characters in Reunion are three college friends—Polly, Adam, and Hope—who are emerging from the pandemic and returning to their twenty-fifth reunion. They’re bringing with them not only mixed feelings about their college years but concern about their children, particularly Polly’s teenage son Jonah, who’s traveling with her to Maine.

When working on my previous novels I never had actors in mind, but strangely enough, for this one, from the beginning I pictured Polly as Catherine Keener. I am a huge fan of her performances as witty, slightly acerbic, vulnerable women in indie films like Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking and Please Give.

Adam is youthful-looking and young at heart—naturally my mind goes to Paul Rudd. Not only is Rudd seemingly age-defying, but I’ve been watching him since the nineties, in classics like Clueless, in which he looked how Adam might have in the novel’s flashbacks to his college years.

For Hope, upbeat and popular, the actor of my dreams is Reese Witherspoon. She’s so good at portraying women who are sunny on the surface and then gradually revealing their complicated, sometimes melancholic depths.

And for Jonah—sensitive, smart, pissed off at the state of the world—I’d fantasy-cast Dominic Sessa. He gave such an amazing, spiky, sympathetic performance as a high school student in the movie The Holdovers—another story in a campus setting, which is one of my favorite kinds.

Visit Elise Juska's website.

The Page 69 Test: Reunion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Marjorie McCown's "Star Struck"

Marjorie McCown spent 27 years in Hollywood working on the costumes for movies such as Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Her film career provides the inspiration for her Hollywood Mystery series of books that are set behind the scenes in the world of moviemaking and feature key costumer Joey Jessop as the main character. Her cozy murder mystery, Final Cut (2023) was chosen as an Amazon Editors' Pick in the best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense category. Deadly Pleasures Magazine named Final Cut as one of the best cozy mysteries of 2023. Her new novel, Star Struck, is Book #2 in her Hollywood Mystery series. McCown is a member of Sisters-in-Crime and Mystery Authors of America.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Star Struck.

Movie costumer Joey Jessop is working on a film with two of the biggest box office stars in the world. The leading man, Andrew DeRossi, is not only a serious actor but also a philanthropist and climate change warrior -- while his costar, Gillian Best, is an aging beauty who pours most of her time and energy into becoming the next celebrity entrepreneur with her start-up lifestyle brand.

When a fatal traffic accident happens within sight of the movie's shooting location in downtown Los Angeles, Joey realizes the car involved belongs to Gillian, and she starts to wonder if the star is hiding something. Gillian's strange behavior in the wake of the tragedy only deepens Joey's suspicions. When the authorities show no interest in further investigation of the circumstances surrounding the accident, Joey is faced with a choice: she can either maintain her professional detachment from the swirling orbits of the movie stars she works with and turn a blind eye to Gillian's scheming -- or she must launch her own search for the truth.

I have lots of ideas for casting the movie version of my book! Since I spent most of my career working as a costume designer and costumer for feature films, it's almost second nature for me to think about casting the characters.

I think Jennifer Lawrence would be perfect to play Joey. She projects an understated aura of personal confidence and competence that feels authentic on screen. And she has an easy intelligence about her along with a sense of humor that she just naturally brings to all her characters.

For Gillian Best, I think Gillian Anderson would be a wonderful choice, though I didn't select my character's name with her in mind when I began to write. But Ms. Anderson is the right age and she's still a great beauty. She's also a gifted actress with a grace and elegance about her that would allow her to portray the kind of entitled hauteur that is part of Gillian Best's persona without having it come across as caricature.

For Dan Lomax, Gillian Best's shrewd, attractive, and ambitious personal manager, I'd love to cast Ben Mendelsohn, who can play anything. He's a brilliant actor whose performances are always layered and nuanced; his characters are complete people.

For Andrew DeRossi, though the part is small, it is still pivotal to the success of the story. I think Ryan Gosling would be superb. He has a mischievous charm that he brings to every role, and he's also got that "it" quality -- he looks like a movie star.

Visit Marjorie McCown's website.

Q&A with Marjorie McCown.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nolan Chase's "A Lonesome Place for Dying"

Nolan Chase lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.

A Lonesome Place for Dying is his first book featuring Ethan Brand.

Here Chase shares some ideas for the above-the-line talent for an adaptation of the novel:

Clint Eastwood is my favorite director—no other American filmmaker better embodies what Keats called ‘negative capability;’ in films like Bird, Mystic River, Honkytonk Man, The Bridges of Madison Country, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Unforgiven of course, he’s able to tell stories about complex personalities without putting his hand on the scale. He’d direct the hell out of A Lonesome Place for Dying.

As for Ethan Brand, the small-town chief of police and former Marine, a younger Clint might be great—or Scott Eastwood, who was very good in a film called The Outpost—but Jon Bernthal would be my pick. He brings depth to his roles, yet there’s part of him at remove from the world, watching it. Ethan is heroic at times, vulnerable at others, and something of a damaged romantic. I think Bernthal can portray the same qualities.

For Brenda Lee Page, the department’s senior officer and Ethan’s very literal-minded rival for the top job, Vera Farmiga or Indira Varma would be great.

Visit Nolan Chase's website.

Writers Read: Nolan Chase.

The Page 69 Test: A Lonesome Place for Dying.

--Marshal Zeringue

Peter Colt's "The Judge"

Peter Colt was born in Boston, MA in 1973 and moved to Nantucket Island shortly thereafter. He is a 1996 graduate of the University of Rhode Island and a 24-year veteran of the Army Reserve with deployments to Kosovo and Iraq. He is a police officer in a New England city and the married father of two boys.

Here Colt dreamcasts an adaptation of his new Andy Roark mystery, The Judge:

In the winter of 1986 Boston based Private Eye, Andy Roark is hired by Judge Ambrose Messer because he is being blackmailed by people who want him to throw case in which industrial waste has poisoned a community. The Judge is paying for a romantic indiscretion and hires Roark to handle it. Roark’s case brings him into contact with Messer’s beautiful and loyal clerk, Angela Estrella, Detective Sergeant Billy Devaney, and Criminal Defense Attorney Johny O’Day.

The Andy Roark that I envision is a guy with life experience, and a weathered look. He’s tough, he’s got skills, but he’s not built like something out of the MCU. I think that Scoot McNairy (Narcos Mexico, Speak No Evil, Killing Them Softly) embodies all of that. McNairy has delivered solid performances and brings an honesty to his roles that allow them to transcend the tropes of their respective genres.

Ambrose Messer, who is the pivotal character in the book, is in his sixties, well to do, and a man with a secret. I would want an actor who can portray the turmoil created by trying to do the noble thing and also realize that his indiscretion can potentially harm the people who are counting on him. I see Ed Harris as being the perfect actor to convey the emotional range of a fundamentally decent man, who is grappling with the fact that his choices might harm the very people he is sworn to defend or at the very least will destroy him.

Angella Estrella is Messer’s fiercely loyal and protective clerk. She is the go between for the Judge and Andy Roark. She is also Roark’s romantic interest in the novel. Angella has a similar upbringing and blue-collar background to Roark and is almost as tough. I would love to see the criminally under-utilized America Ferrera play the part of Angella. She has the acting chops to portray Angella’s toughness, brains and of course beauty.

Detective Sergeant Billy Devaney is a frenemy of Andy’s from the “old neighborhood” South Boston, “Southie”. Billy is objectionable and bigoted, but he is loyal to Andy in his own, crass way. Bill Burr is the only actor who could pull off both sides of the character and still seem likeable.

Johnny O’Day is a criminal defense attorney and not a very good one at that. But he hustles and scrapes and someone ends up in the middle of things. If he can’t make it on brains or looks then he’ll bend a few rules to get buy. I would love to see James Franco play the part. Franco’s range and likeability could best convey the part of a guy who thinks he has it all figured out.

Visit Peter Colt's website.

My Book, The Movie: Back Bay Blues.

The Page 69 Test: Back Bay Blues.

Q&A with Peter Colt.

The Page 69 Test: Death at Fort Devens.

My Book, The Movie: Death at Fort Devens.

My Book, The Movie: The Ambassador.

The Page 69 Test: The Ambassador.

The Page 69 Test: The Judge.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jeff Zentner's "Colton Gentry's Third Act"

Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Books The Serpent King and In the Wild Light, as well as Goodbye Days and Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, and the International Literacy Association Award, been long-listed twice for the Carnegie Medal, and been a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville.

Here Zentner dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Colton Gentry's Third Act:

Colton Gentry’s Third Act is the story of Colton Gentry, a country musician approaching middle age and for whom some things are going very well. He has a hit song climbing the country music charts and he’s married to Maisy Martin, one of country’s hottest acts who’s preparing to make the jump to pop music. But other things are not so good in his life. He recently lost his best friend in a mass shooting at a country music festival. His wife has been in the tabloids with rumors of infidelity. And he’s always sought comfort from heartache in the bottle. So one night, he takes the stage, drunk, before an arena ground, and offers up his opinion on guns. And it goes over...poorly. His career and marriage implode and he moves back home to his small town in Kentucky, where he begins his third act in life, part of which involves taking on a new vocation and reconnecting with a high school flame.

I love book to movie adaptations and the Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People was one of the inspirations for Colton Gentry’s Third Act. So, if I were able to pick a director to adapt it, I’d want Lennie Abrahamson and Hettie MacDonald, who did that adaptation. I’d also be a big fan of Ray McKinnon, who did Rectify, which was another one of the inspirations for Colton.

As for who to play the leads? I’d love to see Rachel Brosnahan playing older Luann (the story has two timelines⏤high school and present day). I think she’d bring steel, wit, and intelligence to the part. I could see her giving orders in the kitchen (she runs a restaurant). As for older Colton? I’d love to see Brandon Sklenar, whom I saw and loved in 1923. He has this soulful intensity that I really enjoy and a great, charismatic, onscreen presence. I could see him playing a haunted country music star trying to rebuild his life. He doesn’t play much humor on 1923, but I could see him nailing Colton’s sense of humor. And I think he’d play great opposite Brosnahan. My second choice for Colton would be Garrett Hedlund, who’s already done a fantastic job playing country musicians in the past.

As for young Colton and young Luann? I’m afraid I don’t know young actors well. But I know this: I love to see some unknown absolutely crush it in a first big role. I still remember picking my jaw up off the floor after seeing Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone. So my official vote is to get talented unknown young actors who look vaguely like Rachel Brosnahan and Brandon Sklenar and turn them into stars. Ditto Luann’s eight-year-old twin girls.

As for Colton’s best friend, Derrick Giles? He’s way too big for a supporting role like this, but Michael B. Jordan would be excellent. And Zöe Kravitz would be phenomenal as his wife, Gabrielle. Again, for teenage Derrick, get some talented unknown.

I think Laura Dern would be really fun as Colton’s mom.

Finally, for Colton’s friend Duane, what we really need is Owen Wilson. But Owen is about twenty years too old for the part, so we need someone with Owen Wilson’s look and, more importantly, his energy. Far easier said than done, I know.

But you know what, Hollywood? I just want to see Colton Gentry’s Third Act onscreen. So I’m open to negotiation on all of this.

Visit Jeff Zentner's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Serpent King.

The Page 69 Test: The Serpent King.

The Page 69 Test: Goodbye Days.

--Marshal Zeringue