Tuesday, January 28, 2025

James Byrne's "Chain Reaction"

James Byrne is the pseudonym for an author who has worked for more than twenty years as a journalist and in politics. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

Here Byrne shares some guidance for casting an adaptation of his new Dez Limerick thriller, Chain Reaction:
I quite literally had this conversation with a Hollywood producer in the spring of 2024.

When asked about casting, here’s what I said:

Yes, Dez Limerick is a strong, powerfully built fighter. But I don’t think anyone producing my books should worry about casting guys with “Marvel Cinematic Universe” muscles. As near as I can tell, most actors, when offered a couple million dollars, can bulk up. I wouldn’t call Tom Holland a gym rat, but he got pretty buff for both Uncharted and Spider-Man. (In Spider-Man, Tom Holland plays a nerdy high schooler who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains the power to attract Zendaya. At least that’s how I remember it.)

And yes, Dez is from the U.K. He moved around a lot as a kid and lived in Ireland, Scotland and near Liverpool. But I wouldn’t worry about casting a Brit. Many great actors can do convincing foreign accents. One of my favorite action TV series from the 2010s was Strike Back, which featured actors Philip Winchester as a British soldier and Sullivan Stapleton as an American soldier. Years later, I discovered that Winchester is from Montana and Stapleton is from Australia.

So what would I suggest, if casting Dez?

The basic thing to understand about this character is that he essentially is a comedic character in a dramatic story. The actor who plays Dez has to be funny.

That would be the key to casting, I told the producer. A guy who can deliver the comedy. Can he also look like he’d win in a fight? And can he carry off a U.K. accent? Then there you go. Enter Dez Limerick, stage left.
Visit James Byrne's website.

Q&A with James Byrne.

The Page 69 Test: Deadlock.

My Book, The Movie: Deadlock.

Writers Read: James Byrne.

The Page 69 Test: Chain Reaction.

--Marshal Zeringue