Colin Mills's "Bitter Passage"

Colin Mills graduated from the University of Queensland in 1987 with a BA in arts, majoring in Japanese language and literature. He spent most of the next eighteen years in Japan, where, after a brief career as a wire service reporter, he spent ten years in investment banking in Tokyo and a further decade in the portfolio management industry. He left the financial services industry in 2008 and is currently pursuing a PhD in creative writing at the Queensland University of Technology.

Here Mills dreamcasts an adaptation of his debut novel, Bitter Passage, a work of historical fiction:

Set in 1849, Bitter Passage features two junior Royal Navy officers—Lieutenant Frederick Robinson and Assistant Surgeon Edward Adams—engaged in a search in the Arctic for the lost explorer, Sir John Franklin, and his 128 men. The two men have contrasting motivations but are forced to work together to seek the missing expedition.

I’ve never imagined either character as classically handsome, so when dreamcasting, I keep thinking of character actors rather than leading men.

Lieutenant Robinson: Robinson is someone who outwardly projects confidence, even arrogance, but privately battles with self-esteem. Cynical and self-interested, he thinks mostly of his own career prospects. He hates himself for it, but can’t escape an inner urge to please his aloof father, and pines for his terminally ill wife back in England. I once pictured Guy Pearce as Robinson, but Guy is getting a little old for the role now. Instead, Nicholas Hoult, Rupert Friend and Matt Smith could all pull it off successfully, I think.

Assistant Surgeon Adams: The younger of the two main characters, Adams projects naivete, piety and vulnerability, but when the chips are down displays unexpected resilience. Will Poulter would be great, or possibly Daniel Radcliffe.

Seaman Billings: This is challenging. Billings is in his early twenties and physically imposing. Paul Mescal might be appropriate, but if not, I’d go for an unknown actor.

I’m less familiar with film directors, but I loved the gritty, visceral atmosphere of The Revenant (2015), so its director Alejandro G. Iñárritu might be a good fit.

Visit Colin Mills's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kate MacIntosh's "The Champagne Letters"

Kate MacIntosh is always in search of the perfect bottle of wine, a great book, and a swoon worthy period costume drama. You’ll find her in Vancouver making friends with every dog she meets, teaching writing, and listening to true crime podcasts while lounging on the sofa in sweats and spouting random historical facts she finds interesting.

Here MacIntosh dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Champagne Letters:

There are few things I enjoy more than a sweeping period piece so I would adore if they made my novel into a film (or a lovely Netflix series- I’m open!) One of my dreams would be to run wild in the costume department trying on various outfits. Not to mention I would insist on being present during filming in France, because who doesn’t need a nice long trip to France? Paris! Rolling vineyard hills and musty cellars! Art museums! Bakeries and wine! Sign me up.

When it comes to casting this is where I admit having a huge crush on Ryan Reynolds and would cast him for this reason alone. He could play any part he wanted if it meant I got to hang out with him on set.

Once I get past my desire to run away with Ryan, I would cast Reese Witherspoon as Barbe-Nicole. She’s the person I saw in my mind as she matches some of the historical descriptions (petite, blond, feisty.) The paintings we have of the real Widow Clicquot are from when she was older. I like to imagine her when she would have been in her thirties and forties and taking on the world.

Melissa McCarthy would play the modern-day character Natalie. I want an actress that women would feel they identify with, who could play that sense of being awkward, but also someone who will do brave (maybe sometimes foolhardy) things. As for Sophie, the woman who works at the hotel, I would think of someone sleek and sophisticated a Grace Kelly type.

I would also love to hear what other people think when they read the book. I can picture them all so clearly in my mind, but it’s always interesting to me how others see them.

Visit Kate MacIntosh's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Champagne Letters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Catriona McPherson's "Scotzilla"

Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, then immigrated to California where she lives on Patwin ancestral land. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalist Strangers at the Gate. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime, of which she is a former national president.

Here McPherson dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Scotzilla:

This was supposed to be a trilogy, about Scot-out-of-water Lexy Campbell and the happy band of weirdoes and misfits that become her new friends when she’s forced to move into the Last Ditch Motel, in fictional Cuento, California.

But Scotzilla – Lexy’s wedding – is book seven, so already you can see why I think maybe if the Coen brothers felt like revisiting the cheerful chaos of Raisin’ Arizona they’d make a great film of my book. (They could start with the first one, Scot Free, and I think it would be called Nothing Goes Boom. The later books’ plots would be in the HBO spin-off series.)

This is fun!

Okay, Lexy is Scottish and I want to be able to watch my own adapted book so the woman who plays her needs to be Scottish too (and not a plucky New Yorker with a good line in “Celtic vibe”). Fern Brady is not actually an actor – she’s a comedian – but hey, it’s a comedy and she’d be perfect. She is quick, witty and deadpan but never cruel. That’s my comedy home: more Schitt’s Creek than The Office (UK – I’ve never seen the US one. It might be as kind as Ted Lasso for all I know.)

Lexy’s newest BFF, Todd (Téodor) Kroger né Mendez, could be played by – Wait, we need a time machine! Can I have a time machine? Thank you – a younger Benjamin Bratt. He has camped and vamped in his acting past (Miss Congeniality) and he has the central qualification of being drop dead gorgeous. But would it be better to have a gay actor playing Todd? Definitely.

Her other BFF, Kathi, is a character I have a very clear mental image of. The nearest actor I can think of to this image is Frances McDormand. This might be a failure of imagination on my part, driven by the fact that Kathi never wears make-up or frou-frou clothes and neither does McDormand. At least she might be predisposed to doing a Coen brothers movie. Right? And again, it would be better to have a gay actor in the role. But all the ones I know are too glamourous. Would Rosie O’Donnell play such a plain part? Let’s say she would. Frances McDormand is fired. I hope the Coens don’t walk off set in solidarity.

Lexy’s final BFF – she really did settle in well to the Ditch – is another drop-dead gorgeous character, Della. Lexy often notes that she feels normal standing beside Kathi but when she moves near Todd or Della she turns into Shrek. Della is younger than the rest and there would be no time machine needed to have her played by . . . Eiza González Reyna. Absolutely no one would be willing to stand next to her for photos at the premiere, though.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

--Marshal Zeringue

Yvonne Battle-Felton's "Curdle Creek"

Yvonne Battle-Felton was born in Pennsylvania and raised in New Jersey before moving to Maryland. She currently lives in Yorkshire, England with her family. Battle-Felton holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University. She is an associate teaching professor and the academic director of creative writing at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education. Her debut novel, Remembered, won a Northern Writers’ Award, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize.

Here Battle-Felton dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Curdle Creek:

Curdle Creek, the film, would be set in a rural town with grand houses on one side and smaller houses on the other. One of the houses would be a big pink and white Victorian house similar to the one I grew up in. The rest would look bespoke with handcrafted embellishments, a lion or two on a stoop. The town would be clean swept and nearly festive. It would look like a self-sustaining town with local shops all along Main Street, a bustling Town Hall, a farm or two, one stop light, and an abundance of bells. On the surface, Curdle Creek could be any rural town.

Osirus would be played by Denzel Washington and have more lines in the movie than he does in the book. Angela Bassett would play Constance or Mother Opal. Both are powerful characters and because she is Angela Bassett, the choice would be hers. Taraji P. Henson would make a wonderful Constance. Osira is the lead and not the first to be cast. But in the film rolling through my mind, Regina King could really capture Osira’s complex character. The role of Jeremiah, another of Osira’s best friends, would be played by Michael B. Jordan. It’s an ever growing, sometimes changing casts. The more roles I see these and other dynamic actors play the more I’d love to see them bringing Curdle Creek to life on the screen.

Visit Yvonne Battle-Felton's website.

The Page 69 Test: Curdle Creek.

--Marshal Zeringue