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.Visit Colin Mills's website.
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.
--Marshal Zeringue
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