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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.Visit James Byrne's website.
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.
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