Christina Lynch's "The Italian Party"

Christina Lynch’s picaresque journey includes chapters in Chicago and at Harvard, where she was an editor on the Harvard Lampoon. She was the Milan correspondent for W magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, and disappeared for four years in Tuscany. In L.A. she was on the writing staff of Unhappily Ever After; Encore, Encore; The Dead Zone and Wildfire. She now lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Lynch is the co-author of two novels under the pen name Magnus Flyte. She teaches at College of the Sequoias.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of The Italian Party, her debut novel:

I was delighted when Publishers Weekly said that my main character in The Italian Party, Scottie, would have been played by Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn. I agree! I had Grace Kelly in mind when I wrote her. The Italian Party takes place in 1956, and Scottie is 20 and somewhat naïve at the beginning of the novel, but a very capable woman by the end. Today I think she would be played by Margot Robbie.

Scottie’s husband Michael is darkly handsome, but insecure and anxious about the many secrets he is keeping. I think Ben Whishaw would be excellent casting—I loved him in The Hour, which was set in the same time period.

For Carlo, the Italian aristocrat/horseman, Raoul Bova would be great. Carlo’s wife, Franca, is still tortured by the death of their son during the war. I think Asia Argento or Monica Bellucci would be able to play all her layers.

Robertino is 14 and needs to be able to ride a horse really well, so that’s hard. I don’t know any 14-year-old Italian actors, but I loved Call Me By Your Name, so I would trust Luca Guadagnino to cast the perfect Robertino.

Sebastian is the most fun role in the book – I don’t want to spoil it, but he’s British-Italian and deliciously deceptive. I would love to see Jeremy Irons play him, or maybe Benedict Cumberbatch, just because I love him in Sherlock so much.

I’m sorry that Anthony Minghella and Saul Zaentz are no longer with us—they would have done beautiful things with this material, as they did with The English Patient. I worked in Hollywood for many years and have written lots of scripts, so I would definitely want to write the movie, but if I couldn’t, I would want Emma Thompson to do it. I loved her script for Sense and Sensibility.

Even though we need more women directors, I must admit I’d love to see Tom Ford or Luca Guadagnino direct the movie. I thought of Tom while I was still writing the book, because of his sense of style and because he knows what it’s like to be an American in Italy. Plus there’s a fox terrier in it, which he would love. As I said, I loved Call Me By Your Name, and I think Luca would capture the lazy beauty of summer in Siena in 1956.

Oh, and for Ecco the dog, I’d like to bring back Asta from The Thin Man, of course!

Visit Christina Lynch's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Daniel Livesay's "Children of Uncertain Fortune"

Daniel Livesay is associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna College.

Here he shares some insight about a big screen adaptation of his new book, Children of Uncertain Fortune: Mixed-Race Jamaicans in Britain and the Atlantic Family, 1733-1833:

In general, the thought of Hollywood being remotely interested in what I do feels pretty laughable. But, in some ways I think that a movie actually could be made about my book. Although there is a lot of historical context and analysis that runs through Children of Uncertain Fortune, it’s also largely a collection of stories about individuals. In this case, the stories are about mixed-race Jamaicans – the children of white men, and free and enslaved women – who leave the Caribbean for Britain to escape colonial persecution, but find new challenges across the ocean.

I do think that there are ways to make characters out of the subjects of the book. A number of the mixed-race migrants I trace have really remarkable stories. Some are born into slavery before being manumitted and sent to elite schools in England. Some wear disguises to hide their African heritage when interviewing for positions in Britain. Some travel on to India to try to make their own fortune. Others arrive in Britain, struggle to become accepted by their families, and return to Jamaica. So there are a lot of great accounts to work with.

A number of the subjects in the book are women, and I would love for their stories to come out. If I had to choose an actress to play one of those women, it would have to be Antonia Thomas. She is a terrific actress who has been in a number of great TV shows, including “Lovesick” and “The Good Doctor.” Antonia actually emailed me years ago after she discovered my dissertation online, so she already has an historian’s eye. It would be terrific to see her playing one of the individuals from the book.

Learn more about Children of Uncertain Fortune at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Children of Uncertain Fortune.

Writers Read: Daniel Livesay.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sara Sheridan's "England Expects"

Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based novelist who writes cosy crime noir mysteries set in 1950s Brighton and historical novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers.

Here she shares some thoughts about dreamcasting an adaptation of her new novel, England Expects, for the big screen:

I run a list at the back of my diary of actors I think could play roles in the Mirabelle books. Sometimes I spot a character actor in a minor role in a TV drama and I just know they’d be perfect for someone in the series so I take a note. But the thing is, I can’t tell you. I’m not going to tell you - because then if that person doesn’t get the part and somebody else does, well, it’s not polite, is all. And I’m British and very well brought up so - I can’t imagine spilling the beans! So Mum’s the word. But the series is currently with STV Productions and they are working with a screenwriter (hurrah) so maybe we’ll get to see who actually plays Mirabelle soon. I hope so!

Visit Sara Sheridan's website.

Learn more about England Expects.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kelli Stanley's "City of Sharks"

Kelli Stanley is a critically-acclaimed, multiple award-winning author of crime fiction (novels and short stories). She makes her home in Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco, a city she loves to write about.

Here Stanley dreamcasts an adaptation of her new Miranda Corbie Mystery, City of Sharks:

I had one actress in mind when Miranda Corbie introduced herself to me in City of Dragons.

Rita Hayworth.

Miranda looks like a young Rita, can turn on the kilowattage like a young Rita (think Gilda), and, underneath her hardboiled defenses, is an exquisitely sensitive soul. Her armor is as tough as she is vulnerable … indeed, that’s why the armor exists.

Rita could express that kind of vulnerability, even in more traditional (i.e. misogynistic) femme fatale roles (think Lady from Shanghai) … and, for my money, her performance as Gilda—the play of conflicting, competing emotions that played across her face in so many scenes—was one of the best in the entire noir oeuvre. Rita combined intelligence, strength, wit, sexual allure, romanticism, beauty and vulnerability in a way few actresses ever have.

But now we’re in the fourth book of the series—City of Sharks. Actresses that could’ve played the role several years ago—Charlize Theron, for example—have aged out of it. Could a contemporary younger actress capture Miranda? And capture her in a way that both evinces 1940 and transcends it?

Maybe. But the list is short.

Top choice, were I to ink a deal tomorrow, would likely be Haley Bennett, a young actress who can steal scenes from Emily Blunt and linger in your memory (she was one of the few good things in Girl on a Train). Haley’s got the acting chops and charisma, at least from what I’ve seen of her.

Other actresses in the age range (late ‘20s to early ‘30s) include Rebecca Ferguson, though I think she looks a bit too beautifully Scandinavian, and Margot Robbie, who played twitchy so well in both Suicide Squad and I, Tonya. Talent-wise, any of these three may be able to pull off the complex role of Miranda Corbie … Haley capturing Miranda’s vulnerability, Rebecca her decisiveness and courage, Margot her pain and determination.

As for directors, Patty Jenkins would far and away be my first choice, followed by Ava DuVernay and Todd Haynes.

And until all of this happens, I can at least queue up Gilda in the DVD player … and dream.

Learn more about the novel and author at Kelli Stanley's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Kelli Stanley & Bertie.

The Page 69 Test: City of Sharks.

--Marshal Zeringue

Damian Dibben's "Tomorrow"

Damian Dibben is the creator of the internationally acclaimed children's book series the History Keepers, translated into 26 languages in over 40 countries. Previously, he worked as a screenwriter, and actor, on projects as diverse as The Phantom of the Opera and Puss in Boots and Young Indiana Jones. He lives, facing St Paul's Cathedral, on London's Southbank with his partner Ali and dog Dudley.

Here he shares some ideas about the above-the-line talent for a big screen adaptation of his new novel, Tomorrow:

My background is in screenwriting, having worked in the UK and Hollywood for ten years before I started writing novels. (Actually my first book, The History Keepers, was originally intended as a screenplay & when it was completed, Working Title bought the movie rights) That said, Tomorrow may just be un-filmable. It is filmic certainly, taking in an epic sweep of history from the reign of Elizabeth I of England, through the gruesome wars of the 17th century, Versailles, the golden age of Amsterdam and up to nineteenth century Venice, but it is also narrated by a dog and his voice, its reflective, philosophical quality is vital to the power of the story.

Of course, having originally been an actor too, I always think of casting. I would hold open auditions for the two principal dogs of the story, 'I' & 'Sporco', - the latter an endearingly eccentric stray from the alleyways of Venice - but the equally important human characters of 'the Master' and 'Vilder', both middle-aged but immortal, would provide great opportunities for two heavyweight British actors. 'The Master' would be Daniel Day Lewis, if he could be coaxed out of retirement. He would bring gravitas to this honourable, brave, but flawed gentleman. Colin Firth would do an excellent job too. 'Vilder' needs to have an altogether more dangerous, unpredictable edge and I would cast either Ralph Fiennes or Gary Oldman. (All four you'll note are Academy best actor winners.)

As far as directors are concerned, to tackle the tricky balance of epic, historical sweep and distinct narrative voice, it would need to be a visionary of the likes of Ang Lee (who did such a great job of another un-filmable book, The Life of Pi) or Guillermo del Toro. Personally I would never have started writing stories if it were not for the early films of Spielberg. The way he brought together real life, fantasy and profound emotion in films such as E.T. would make him an ideal choice.

Visit Damian Dibben's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Dennis Palumbo's "Head Wounds"

Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter (My Favorite Year; Welcome Back, Kotter, etc.), Dennis Palumbo is a licensed psychotherapist and author of Writing From the Inside Out. His mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Strand and elsewhere, and is collected in From Crime to Crime. His series of mystery thrillers (Mirror Image, Fever Dream, Night Terrors, Phantom Limb, and the latest, Head Wounds, feature psychologist Daniel Rinaldi, a trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police.

Palumbo applied the Page 69 Test to Head Wounds and reported the following:

After writing five books in my Daniel Rinaldi series, I have a pretty good feel for the continuing characters who populate my “mean streets” of Pittsburgh.

My lead character, Dr. Daniel Rinaldi, is an Italian-American psychologist who---like his author---was born and raised in the Steel City. He’s passionate about his work treating crime victims, is stubborn and opinionated, and has a snarky sense of humor. He’s also a former amateur boxer (Golden Gloves, Pan Am Games), so casting him for a film isn’t easy. I could see any one of Hollywood’s “usual suspects” like Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac or Michael Fassbender, though I really like Viggo Mortensen. A few years ago, he played Sigmund Freud in the film A Dangerous Method. I thought then what I think now: if Mortensen was good enough to play the father of psychoanalysis, he’s good enough to play Daniel Rinaldi.

For Noah Frye, a paranoid schizophrenic and Rinaldi’s best friend, I think I’ll stick with the actors I envisioned the last time I did this exercise: either Zach Galifianakis or Jonah Hill. Both are fine comic actors with just the right amount of pathos and lunacy in their eyes. Then there’s Joaquin Phoenix, another solid choice.

For Eleanor Lowrey, the beautiful Pittsburgh PD homicide detective whose relationship with Rinaldi goes from professional to personal, again I like my previous choices: either Kerry Washington (from Django Unchained and the TV series Scandal) or award-winning actress Viola Davis (from the film Doubt and the TV series How to Get Away with Murder). I also think Halle Berry would work in the role.

In Head Wounds, I depart from the usual structure of my novels and reveal the identity of the killer quite early on: a delusional computer genius who engages in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with Daniel Rinaldi. I could definitely see Ewan McGregor (American Pastoral, The Ghost Writer, etc.) as the obsessed Sebastian Maddox, though either Michael Shannon, Sam Rockwell or Jude Law would make fine choices, too.

Finally, as the gruff, seen-it-all veteran police sergeant Harry Polk, I’d be happy with either Michael Chiklis or Woody Harrelson. Though, as I’ve written previously, the perfect choice would be one of my all-time favorite character actors, the late, great Jack Warden. In fact, he’s who I envision as I write the character.

Thanks for indulging my cinematic imagination!

Learn more about the book and author at Dennis Palumbo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Head Wounds.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jerry Gershenhorn's "Louis Austin and the Carolina Times"

Jerry Gershenhorn is Julius L. Chambers Professor of History at North Carolina Central University.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, Louis Austin and the Carolina Times: A Life in the Long Black Freedom Struggle:

It’s March 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, in Durham, North Carolina, where African Americans are segregated and oppressed by Jim Crow-era white supremacy. Blacks attend segregated, woefully under-financed primary and secondary public schools. There is also a black public college in Durham, North Carolina College for Negroes (NCC), which suffers because of weak financing from the state government, and unlike the nearby white institution, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), NCC has no graduate or professional programs. The movie opens with four black men driving a 1928 Model A Ford from Durham to nearby Chapel Hill. In the car are two local lawyers in their early 30s, Conrad Pearson and Cecil McCoy; a black journalist, 35-year-old Louis Austin, the editor and publisher of Durham’s Carolina Times; and 24-year-old Thomas Raymond Hocutt, who dreams of becoming a pharmacist. However, no black college in North Carolina offers a pharmacy program. So Hocutt, backed by Pearson, McCoy, and Austin, has decided to mount the first legal challenge to segregated education in the South. A courtroom scene follows the opening scene, in which UNC’s registrar rejects Hocutt’s application.

Although my book chronicles Louis Austin’s life in the black freedom struggle in North Carolina from the late 1920s to the early 1970, the movie focuses on the Depression and World War II eras, highlighting the early decades of the long black freedom struggle before the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. In addition to Hocutt’s lawsuit, scenes would include a white soda jerk’s 1931 attack on the state’s most prominent black businessman, C. C. Spaulding, because Spaulding transgressed the color line; an early voter registration movement led by Austin in the early 1930s, with tremendous opposition led by the white supremacist editor of the Raleigh News and Observer Josephus Daniels; and the 1944 murder of a black soldier, Booker T. Spicely, by a white bus driver, Herman Lee Council, following the soldier’s refusal to move to the back of the bus, and the subsequent trial of the bus driver.

Optimally, the film would be directed by the incomparable Ava Duvernay (Selma, 13th), with an amazing cast: Thomas R. Hocutt (Michael B. Jordan), Louis Austin (David Oyelowo), Louis Austin’s wife, Stella Austin (Tessa Thompson), C. C. Spaulding (Dennis Haysbert), Josephus Daniels (John Goodman), Conrad Pearson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Booker T. Spicely (Anthony Mackey), Herman Lee Council (Brad Garrett), and Louis Austin’s father, William Austin (Morgan Freeman).

Learn more about Louis Austin and the Carolina Times at The University of North Carolina Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Louis Austin and the Carolina Times.

--Marshal Zeringue

Matthew Restall's "When Montezuma Met Cortés"

Matthew Restall is Sparks Professor of History and Director of Latin American Studies at Penn State. He is the author of Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. He has had numerous conversations over the last thirty years with screenwriters and filmmakers in the US and Mexico interested in making a feature film, mini-series, or documentary on the Conquest of Mexico.

The challenges they faced are similar to those Restall considers here, as he dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest book, When Montezuma Met Cortes: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History.

It would seem simple to cast three central characters in the epic tale of the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire: Benicio del Toro playing Hernando Cortés as a ruggedly handsome, fascinatingly flawed hero; one of the current Latina rising stars, like Ana de la Reguera (already a telenovela star in the Spanish-speaking world) to play Malinche, Cortés’s native interpreter and lover; and a Native American actor like Zahn McClarnon or Raoul Max Trujillo to play a brooding, doomed Emperor Montezuma.

But it is not that simple. Such a casting reflects the racist romanticism of the traditional narrative, in which Montezuma surrenders his empire and Malinche her heart to an irresistible Cortés—a metaphor for the providential inevitability of Spanish triumph. Such a movie might have worked in the mid-20th century, but today it would seem absurdly and offensively outdated. The reality of the co-called Conquest of Mexico was a brutal war of invasion, marked by massacres, mass enslavement, and horrific mortality rates among combatants and civilians. The true tale was dark, not romantic.

Cortés should thus be played by an actor who can foreground his flaws and insecurities (if it must be a star, Gael García Bernal or Diego Luna); in fact, the conquistadors should be an ensemble cast, with Alvarado, Sandoval, and several others given equal screen time (so, ideally, García Bernal and Luna). Malinche was a child of 12 or 13 when conquistadors acquired her as part of a grim trade in sex slaves; it would be a travesty to cast an adult star, especially a “hot” one, in the role. Both her and Montezuma should be played by native speakers of Nahuatl, as they should be speaking that language for most of their screen time. Trujillo spoke passable Yucatec Maya in Apocalypto (2006), so I’d enjoy seeing him manage Nahuatl as Montezuma or another of the Nahua protagonists, such as Ixtlilxochitl—an Aztec prince to whom I would give a central role, as he was more of an architect of Tenochtitlan’s fall than was Cortés.

In an endnote in When Montezuma Met Cortés, I speculate that one reason projected movies of the last thirty years on this topic were never made was because of the logistics and costs of re-creating and then destroying the Tenochtitlan of 1519. Advances in CGI now make that technically possible, but perhaps no less expensive. Two potential solutions that would also avoid the trap of the traditional narrative would be either to structure the movie as a Rashomon-style series of survivor perspectives (placing much of the movie in a more manageable post-Aztec early Mexico City, and reducing the screen time of the traditional big three characters), or to borrow the artifice used in También La Lluvia (2011), which was partly a film about making a film set in the Spanish Conquest era. In several scenes the actors playing actors debated the treatment of native peoples, permitting an airing of contrary perspectives that would be anachronistic in a movie set entirely in the 16th century. If When Montezuma Met Cortés were to be structured that way, García Bernal could reprise his También La Lluvia role as a Mexican film director, and Benicio del Toro could be deliberately miscast as Cortés.

Learn more about When Montezuma Met Cortés at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: When Montezuma Met Cortés.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alma Katsu's "The Hunger"

Alma Katsu is the author of The Taker, The Reckoning, and The Descent. She is a graduate of the Master’s writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University. Prior to the publication of her first novel, Katsu had a long career as a senior intelligence analyst for several US agencies and is currently a senior analyst for a think tank.

Here Katsu dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Hunger:

It’s fun to play this game this time around because The Hunger, unlike my previous books, has already been optioned for film. And by none other than Ridley Scott. His son Luke Scott is going to direct, and they’re working on the script now for Fox. I still can’t get used to saying that. Still, whether it will actually be made into a movie one day is a long shot, or so I’ve been told, and so being a ruthless pragmatist I’ve refused to dwell on it. This is actually the first time I’ve let myself think about it!

The Hunger is an ensemble cast and with few exceptions, the characters are based on real people. One of the main characters is Tamsen Donner, wife of George Donner, feckless leader of the wagon party. I’ve portrayed Tamsen as a bewitchingly beautiful, intelligent woman who is tired of being subject to the whims of men—which, given the times, can only lead to trouble and frustration. In an earlier era, Vivian Leigh would be the perfect Tamsen, but among today’s actresses, Jessica Biel (The Illusionist) or Olivia Wilde would be good choices for their cool beauty.

Charles Stanton is the closest thing to a hero in the novel. A bachelor, he makes a long, treacherous journey through wilderness to get supplies when the wagon party first runs out of food. He returns even though he has no familial ties, nothing to compel him to come back. There are a lot of actors I could see in this role but I’ve picked Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad). He looks like he could play someone haunted by a terrible incident in his past and, let’s face, given his lineage probably looks good in a cowboy hat.

I changed James Reed’s character for the book, giving him a fatal flaw that I’m sure he didn’t have in real life (and which I won’t reveal here so you’ll be surprised when you read it). An Irish immigrant who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, James Reed became the de facto leader when George Donner crumbled. This may seem like a funny choice, but I could see Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries) in this role. A little devilish, a little cunning, and hiding a big secret.

Several women in the wagon party emerge as leaders once things start going badly, and Mary Graves is one of them. It would be a great role for any young actress. The only requirements are that she should be tall and have a sincerity to her.

It will be hard for the setting not to run away with the movie: the story of the Donner Party transpired over flat-out gorgeous territory, from the red rock spires of Chimney Rock in Wyoming to the desert of the Bonneville Salt Flats to the lush mountain greenery of the Lake Tahoe area. The actors will have to work hard not to be outshone by the scenery.

If the movie ever gets made, let’s make a date to check back and see how accurate my picks were.

Learn more about the book and author at Alma Katsu's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Taker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Phillip Margolin's "The Third Victim"

Phillip Margolin has written over twenty novels, most of them New York Times bestsellers, including Gone But Not Forgotten, Lost Lake, and Violent Crimes. In addition to being a novelist, he was a long time criminal defense attorney with decades of trial experience, including a large number of capital cases. Margolin lives in Portland, Oregon.

His new novel is The Third Victim.

Here Margolin dreamcasts the leads for an adaptation of The Third Victim:

There are two major characters in The Third Victim. Robin Lockwood earned part of her tuition at Yale Law School fighting in mixed martial arts tournaments, so I need a very athletic, mid-twenty-year old in the part. Alicia Vikander from Ex Machina and the new Lara Croft movie would be perfect.

The other lead is Regina Barrister, a dynamic criminal defense attorney and Robin’s idol, who is experiencing the onset of dementia in the middle of a death penalty case. Sigourney Weaver would be excellent in the role.

Visit Phillip Margolin's website and Facebook page.

My Book, The Movie: Woman with a Gun.

My Book, The Movie: Violent Crimes.

Writers Read: Phillip Margolin.

--Marshal Zeringue