Gurjinder Basran's "The Wedding"

Gurjinder Basran is the award-winning author of four novels: Everything Was Goodbye, winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and a Chatelaine Magazine Book Club pick; Someone You Love Is Gone; Help! I’m Alive!; and The Wedding. A Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio alumna hailed by the CBC as one of “Ten Canadian women writers you need to read,” Basran lives in Delta, BC, with her family.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of The Wedding:

The Wedding, an episodic novel told from fifteen unique perspectives about a lavish week-long Indian wedding would require a dream ensemble cast that was capable of portraying a high maintenance bride, an unsure groom, a conflicted wedding party, frenemies, gossiping aunties, a local bad boy, and a host of ever-watchful event staff. Since the novel is set in Canada and is multi-generational, and there are not a lot of well-known Indian actors, I’ll take some liberties in casting and draw from Bollywood and Hollywood past and present and cast just a few of the fifteen starring roles:

The Bride, Devi : Alia Bhatt, a British born Indian actress who is known for portraying strong women would be perfect to play the somewhat unlikeable strong willed bride Devi.

The Groom, Baby: If we could go back in time to the early 2000s, I would choose Bollywood heartthrob, Hritick Roshan because he was always able to portray vulnerability and strength.

The Groom’s brother, Gobind: Ishaan Khatter, recently made famous in North America for his role in The Perfect Couple and in the Netflix hit The Royals would be perfect to play the handsome older brother.

The Family Friend, Sonia, aka “Mottu”: Lilly Singh with her authenticity and comedy chops, would be perfect for this character who has loads of personality and is easily the most likeable character in the book.

The Photographer, Rish : Dev Patel would smoulder as the ever-romantic artsy eligible bachelor.

Dream Director would be Mira Nair who brilliantly directed Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala and can we get Mindy Kaling to produce because really, she has her pulse on bringing diverse characters to the big screen.

Visit Gurjinder Basran's website.

Q&A with Gurjinder Basran.

--Marshal Zeringue

Shirley Russak Wachtel's "The Baker of Lost Memories"

Shirley Russak Wachtel is the author of A Castle in Brooklyn. She is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Wachtel holds a doctor of letters degree from Drew University and for the past thirty-five years has taught English literature at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey. Her podcast, EXTRAordinary People, features inspiring individuals who have overcome obstacles to make a difference. The mother of three grown sons and grandmother to three precocious granddaughters, she currently resides in East Brunswick, New Jersey, with her husband, Arthur.

Here Wachtel dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Baker of Lost Memories:

My book, The Baker of Lost Memories, is about Lena, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Anya and Josef. Her parents were once bakers in their own shop in Lodz, Poland before World War II. Working alongside them was their young daughter Ruby, who had a club foot but was perfect in every other way. After tragedy occurs and Anya and Josef make a new home in America, their daughter Lena has questions about the sister she never knew, questions which are mostly met with silence. She feeds a desire to be a baker like her sister to gain her parents’ love. She finds herself confiding in her best friend, Pearl, but when Pearl disappears, Lena builds a new life, marrying and becoming a baker in her own right. Yet she still struggles with gaining her parents’ approval. Only when another unexpected tragedy occurs and Lena finds out about some buried truths, can she rebuild the family she has always needed.

Here is how I would cast the movie version of my book:

Lena—Joey King: Joey has wide dimension as an actress, most recently proven in her role as Halina in the TV drama, We Were the Lucky Ones.

Anya—Kate Winslet: She is a fabulous actress who shows depth in movies like The Reader.

Josef—Adrien Brody: Adrien is adept at tackling roles of tormented survivors, as we see in The Pianist and The Brutalist.

Pearl—Elle Fanning: Fanning possesses an ethereal quality and has recently displayed her ability in A Complete Unknown.

Luke—Austin Butler: A handsome and charismatic actor, Butler can be Elvis or the alluring Luke.

Kenny—Jonah Hill: Jonah has the body type to take on this role and can display the sweetness we find in this character.

Of course, I would choose my son, Charlie Wachtel to direct. Charlie won an Academy Award in 2018 as a screenwriter for the Spike Lee film, BlackKKlansman.

Visit Shirley Wachtel's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Castle in Brooklyn.

My Book, The Movie: A Castle in Brooklyn.

Q&A with Shirley Russak Wachtel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paul Vidich's "The Poet’s Game"

Paul Vidich's seventh and newest novel is The Poet's Game. His previous novel, Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy, was selected by CrimeReads as one of the best espionage novels of 2023. Vidich's debut novel, An Honorable Man, was selected by Publishers Weekly as a Top 10 Mystery and Thriller in 2016. It was followed by The Good Assassin. His third novel, The Coldest Warrior, was widely praised in England and America, earning strong reviews from The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. It was shortlisted for the UK’s Staunch Prize and chosen as a Notable Selection of 2020 by CrimeReads.

Here Vidich dreamcasts an adaptation of The Poet's Game:

The English director, John Madden, would be a good fit to make The Poet’s Game a movie. Madden directed Operation Mincemeat and much earlier in his career, he director the multiple- Oscar winner, Shakespeare in Love with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard. Both movies had ensembles casts and the story lines blended personal lives into an historical moment. The Poet’s Game shares those qualities: the tense political conflict between Moscow and Washington in 2018 provides the backdrop for a love story. Madden has the light touch of a director who can bring people’s stories alive and still sustain the suspense of a thrilling plot.

My main character, Alex Matthews, could be played by the chameleon-like Damian Lewis, whose remarkable range makes him a good candidate for the role. Lewis is a smart actor and has the right amount of devious sophistication to play a spy moving two steps ahead of surveillance. Against Lewis, I would cast Natalie Portman in the role of Anna, the young Ukrainian-American translator married to Matthews. Portman can move between being loving and vulnerable and cold and determined, the opposing emotional qualities that make up Anna’s personality.

The script could be written by Tom Stoppard, but if he’s not available, I would nominate Stephen Schiff, a friend, who wrote and served as executive producer on the hit TV series The Americans. Schiff understands how to pull off an actor’s seeming and being with artful dialogue.

Visit Paul Vidich's website.

Q&A with Paul Vidich.

My Book, The Movie: The Mercenary.

The Page 69 Test: The Mercenary.

Writers Read: Paul Vidich (January 2022).

The Page 69 Test: The Matchmaker: A Spy in Berlin.

Writers Read: Paul Vidich (October 2023).

My Book, The Movie: Beirut Station.

The Page 69 Test: Beirut Station.

Writers Read: Paul Vidich.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jessica Anya Blau's "Shopgirls"

Jessica Anya Blau was born in Boston and raised in Southern California. Her novels have been translated into many different languages, and featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN and NPR, and in Cosmo, Vanity Fair, In Style, Country Living, Bust, Time Out, Parade, Oprah Summer Reads, Oprah Daily and other national publications. The books have been optioned for film and television. Blau's short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines, journals and anthologies. Blau also works as a screenwriter, a ghostwriter, and sometimes as a writing professor. Currently, she lives in New York.

Here the author dreamacasts an adaptation of her new novel, Shopgirls:

A story about a young woman finding her way through life in day-glo, high-fashion, San Francisco in 1985.

Zippy is on a quest. She wants to 1. find her father as she is the result of a one-night-stand and her mother doesn’t remember her father’s name. 2. Figure out how to be an adult (her mother was no example). 3. Learn how to kiss a man and date (she was a theater geek in school). And, 4. Figure out how to make a living doing what you love (Zippy loves clothes and fashion).

The Cast:

Zippy: she’s 19 and grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store in San Francisco. When her mother’s boyfriend moved in, she slept in the hall beside the bathroom with the swollen, un-shuttable door.

Zippy has a great eye and an excellent sense of style. She buys some clothes from the Salvation Army, fixes them up, and gets a job at I. Magnin, the most exclusive department store in San Francisco.

Zippy needs to be played by someone whose name we don’t yet know. Anyone plucky, smart, joyful, and open to the world.

The Lifetime Salesgirls: It’s 1985 so they are all called "girls" no matter how old they are, and at work they are referred to as "Miss." Some are resentful of youthful, energetic Zippy, and some love her and want to help her navigate adulthood.

They could be played by:

Parker Posey — mean Miss Yolanda

Amy Adams — confused Miss Liaskas

Julia Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick — the snooty Miss Braughn and Miss Braughn

Lucy Liu — the phlegmatic Miss Lee

Viola Davis — the watchful Miss Karen

Da’Vine Joy Randolph — the gung-ho Miss Dani

Zippy's “family”:

Nicole Kidman — Zippy’s sweet but childish mother who works at the Hardware Depot (and loves it! She wants Zippy to work there, too).

Leonardo DiCaprio — Zippy’s mother’s boyfriend, Howard, who is hapless, kind, and loves watching PTL club and eating Tang out of the jar. He slips into what he thinks of as Elizabethan English when he’s been drinking, which he does every night.

Jenna Ortega — Zippy’s smart, worldly, rich-born roommate, Raquel.

There are other characters, too, but they’re a surprise when they show up, and I don’t want to give anything away!

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Anya Blau's website, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Jessica Anya Blau and Pippa.

The Page 69 Test: The Wonder Bread Summer.

My Book, The Movie: The Wonder Bread Summer.

The Page 69 Test: The Trouble with Lexie.

My Book, The Movie: The Trouble with Lexie.

Writers Read: Jessica Anya Blau (June 2016).

The Page 69 Test: Mary Jane.

Q&A with Jessica Anya Blau.

Coffee with a Canine: Jessica Anya Blau & Baby.

--Marshal Zeringue

Natalie Jenner's "Austen at Sea"

Natalie Jenner is the author of the instant international bestseller The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. A Goodreads Choice Award runner-up for historical fiction and finalist for best debut novel, The Jane Austen Society was a USA Today and #1 national bestseller, and has been sold for translation in twenty countries. Jenner is formerly a lawyer and independent bookshop owner. She was born in England and raised in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Austen at Sea:

I had the idea for my new novel Austen at Sea for many years, ever since learning of two Boston women in 1852 fangirling over Jane Austen to the point of writing to her last surviving sibling, Admiral Sir Francis Austen, and asking for her signature--which seemed to me a pretty bold gesture at any time in history!

When I eventually sat down to write a very fictional version of this anecdote, I immediately pictured the two female protagonists as the older Dashwood sisters in a 2008 BBC adaptation of Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. British actress Hattie Morahan had the angular looks I imagined for Henrietta Stevenson, the older, more restrained sister in my book—and Charity Wakefield the blonde, blue-eyed ones of younger sister Charlotte (which doubly came in handy when she takes part in a shipboard performance of A Tale of Two Cities as Charles Dickens’s Victorian angel, Lucie Manette).

A lot of movies inspired my book as well, especially Somewhere in Time with its famous opening scene line of “Come back to me". I reconfigured this in my own story as “May we come to you?" from the sisters’ second letter to Sir Francis, a line which will constantly refrain in his lonely ninety-one-year-old’s head. I even named my theatre impresario character Richard Fawcett Robinson in reference to Christopher Plummer’s theatre character of the same surname in that film, imagining the latter as a possible descendant of my own. The bedroom set design of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was another huge inspiration, leading not only to the bow window study of the admiral but also the large brass telescope on a stand, which turned out to become an even bigger plot point than this "pantser" knew setting out.

Finally, the romantic lead in Austen at Sea is the youngest member of the Massachusetts state supreme court, Justice Thomas Nash, who finds himself a most reluctant chaperone on board ship to my two female leads, daughters of his colleague Justice William Stevenson. I had only one actor in mind the entire time I wrote: Johnny Flynn from the 2020 Autumn de Wilde adaptation of Austen’s novel Emma. I spent the first few weeks of the pandemic in March 2020 watching this movie on repeat as a huge source of comfort while waiting for, and worrying over, the imminent release of my debut novel The Jane Austen Society at a time when bookstores everywhere were closed. I had been initially—and stupidly—resistant to the idea of Flynn’s casting in that film when it was first announced; since then, I have learned to trust the movie-making gods a bit better. In a way, using Flynn's performance in that film as inspiration for my romantic lead in Austen at Sea was my very whimsical and writerly attempt at atonement!

Visit Natalie Jenner's website.

Q&A with Natalie Jenner.

My Book, The Movie: The Jane Austen Society.

My Book, The Movie: Bloomsbury Girls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paulette Kennedy's "The Artist of Blackberry Grange"

Paulette Kennedy is the author of The Artist of Blackberry Grange (2025), The Devil and Mrs. Davenport (2024), The Witch of Tin Mountain (2023), and Parting the Veil (2021), which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. Her work has been featured in People Magazine, The Mary Sue, Paste Magazine, and BookBub. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in gothic fog.

Here Kennedy dreamcasts an adaptation of The Artist of Blackberry Grange:

Although none of my books have been optioned for film, I’ve had some interest, and it’s always fun to consider who might play my characters in a film adaptation. With my latest novel, The Artist of Blackberry Grange, which is set in the 1920s and centers on the experiences of a young caregiver who encounters a series of haunted paintings in her great-aunt’s mansion, I had some very strong ideas about who I would cast as I was crafting the novel.

Sadie Halloran, my main character, is a down-on-her-luck former flapper seeking a fresh start and financial security as her great-aunt’s caregiver. I picture Saoirse Ronan as Sadie, because she has the emotional range, appearance, and Irish heritage to embody my heroine, just as I imagined her. Plus, Saoirse just looks like she walked out of the 1920s, and I’ve admired her acting ever since she played Briony Tallis in Atonement.

For Marguerite Thorne, Sadie’s great-aunt, an acclaimed artist now suffering from dementia, whose story in the novel exists in two different time periods—the Gilded Age and the 1920s—I would cast Sadie Sink as young Marguerite. With her long red hair, expressive eyes, and her youthful, rebellious spirit, she would be perfect in the role. For the elder version of Marguerite, I picture Patricia Clarkson, who is the embodiment of worldly elegance and sophistication—but with a playful side that speaks to Marguerite’s passionate and spirited youth.

For Beckett Hill, Marguerite’s gardener and chauffeur, I’d cast Jeremy Allen White. I love him as Carmy in The Bear, and since Beckett can also cook, it would be fitting. Plus, White has the edge and emotional pathos to portray a man who hasn’t always had an easy way of things in life. With his muscular build, his gorgeous curls and soulful eyes, he fits Beckett’s description in the novel perfectly.

For Weston Chase, the main ghost haunting Blackberry Grange, I’d cast Matthew Goode. He has the refined charisma and morally gray appeal to embody my novel’s seductive, restless spirit. Debonair, charming, and darkly handsome, he’s the perfect gothic hero.

Visit Paulette Kennedy's website.

The Page 69 Test: Parting the Veil.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

--Marshal Zeringue

Adam Plantinga's "The Ascent"

Adam Plantinga’s first book, 400 Things Cops Know, was nominated for an Agatha Award and won the 2015 Silver Falchion award for best nonfiction crime reference. It was hailed as “truly excellent” by author Lee Child and deemed “the new Bible for crime writers” by The Wall Street Journal. His second book, also nonfiction, is Police Craft. Plantinga began his career in law enforcement in 2001 as a Milwaukee police officer. He is currently a sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department assigned to street patrol.

Here Plantinga dreamcasts an adaptation of The Ascent, his debut novel:

My debut novel The Ascent is a thriller set in a violent maximum security prison. The main character is Kurt Argento, an ex-Detroit street cop. After running afoul of a corrupt local sheriff's department, he's imprisoned under false charges. Julie Wakefield, a grad student and the governor of Missouri's daughter, is touring the prison for a grad school class. A malfunction in the prison's security system releases a horde of prisoners and a fierce struggle for survival ensues. Argento has to help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her state trooper handlers, make their way through the prison to safety.

I didn't start off with any particular actors in mind when I began writing The Ascent, although another character remarks that Argento looks like an even angrier Jason Statham. Argento is 5'9 and just over 200 pounds and exudes menace. He's one of the good guys but when you see him walking towards your car, you instinctively lock your doors. I think ideally the casting department would find him on a rugby field somewhere, possibly getting into a post-game brawl with the other team.

Julie Wakefield is cerebral and athletic, a distance runner who competes in endurance events. She doesn't have any of the training or experience Argento does, but she's tough and resourceful so when everything breaks down in the prison, she more than holds her own. I see her like a young Emily Blunt. Emily Blunt rules. She can range from playful (The Fall Guy) to convincingly gritty and dark (Sicario).

The Ascent was optioned by Universal for television last year so there's a chance, however slim, that it may find its way to the screen at some point.

Visit Adam Plantinga's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nancy Thayer's "Summer Light on Nantucket"

Nancy Thayer is the author of 35 novels, including Summer Love, Family Reunion, A Nantucket Christmas, and The Hot Flash Club. Her books are about families, friendship, and the beautiful island of Nantucket where she’s lived for 39 years with her husband Charley Walters and their spoiled cat Callie. Sometimes they invite their thousands of grandchildren to visit. She loves libraries, bookstores, and zoom parties.

Thayer's novels have appeared on the New York Times best-seller lists, in Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and Cosmo UK, and are translated into many languages.

Her novel Let It Snow was made into a Hallmark Christmas movie entitled Nantucket Noel in 2021.

A Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in 1983, she was awarded the RT 2015 Career Achievement Award for Mainstream Fiction.

Here Thayer dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Summer Light on Nantucket:

Blythe Benedict, 45, is on Nantucket with her four children, her ex-mother-in-law, her ex-husband, his new girlfriend, and two new really attractive boyfriends.

Kate Hudson would be perfect to play Blythe. She’s the same age, immediately likeable, and she loves to have fun.

Colin Farrell would be her Irish boyfriend, and James Norton would be her American boyfriend even though he isn’t American or even forty yet, because, well, look at the man.

Visit Nancy Thayer's website.

The Page 69 Test: Summer House.

The Page 69 Test: Beachcombers.

My Book, The Movie: Beachcombers.

Writers Read: Nancy Thayer (May 2015).

My Book, The Movie: The Guest Cottage.

The Page 69 Test: The Guest Cottage.

The Page 69 Test: Summer Love.

Writers Read: Nancy Thayer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alice Henderson's "The Vanishing Kind"

In addition to being a writer, Alice Henderson is a dedicated wildlife researcher, geographic information systems specialist, and bioacoustician. She documents wildlife on specialized recording equipment, checks remote cameras, creates maps, and undertakes wildlife surveys to determine what species are present on preserves, while ensuring there are no signs of poaching. She’s surveyed for the presence of grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, jaguars, endangered bats, and more.

Here Henderson dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest Alex Carter mystery thriller, The Vanishing Kind:

In The Vanishing Kind, wildlife biologist Alex Carter encounters rugged New Mexico terrain, threatening intruders, and mysteries surrounding an archaeological dig, all in search of elusive jaguars.

In addition to being about the importance of wildlife and habitat conservation, my books are suspenseful action thrillers. Chase scenes, blizzards, sandstorms, literal cliffhangers, and dangerous confrontations fill the pages. So I'd want an action director to tackle The Vanishing Kind, like Justin Lin, who directed some great entries into the Fast & Furious series, or Chad Stahelski, who directs the John Wick films, or the Russo Brothers, who directed some of the really action-packed, suspenseful Marvel movies.

As for actors, my wildlife biologist lead character is a smart adventurer. She knows the martial art Jeet Kune Do and how to survive in the wild. Scarlett Johansson would be perfect. She's phenomenal in action roles and can also take on moving, emotional scenes.

My recurring character Casey MacCrae is a daring, Scottish helicopter pilot who has taken on dangerous criminals in the past in his mission to set wrong to right. He's a bit haunted, mysterious, and unpredictable. Gerard Butler or James McAvoy would be great choices to play Casey because both actors are fantastic in action scenes and both are capable of expressing great depth and emotion on screen.

One main character in the novel is Dr. Enrique Espinoza, a kind, jovial, light-hearted archaeologist who is threatened by hostile vigilantes. He and his team are excavating the gravesite of a 16th century conquistador. Michael Peña would be an excellent choice for Espinoza because Peña is terrific with roles involving humor and action, as he was in Ant-Man.

The main baddie in The Vanishing Kind is the head of the group of anti-immigrant vigilantes who terrorize a town in New Mexico, harass the nearby archaeology team, and threaten Alex Carter's work conserving jaguars. A federally-listed, critically endangered species, jaguars struggle to cross obstructions along the U.S./Mexico border. Jaguars need to be able to disperse in order to find mates, sources of food, and new habitat. But the vigilantes want a single, impenetrable wall across the entire border. Walton Goggins would be a great choice for this role. He's fabulous with dangerous, unpredictable, and extreme roles full of vitriol, as we see with his roles like in Justified.

Visit Alice Henderson's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Vanishing Kind.

--Marshal Zeringue

Charles B. Fancher's "Red Clay"

Charles B. Fancher is a writer and editor, and a former senior corporate communications executive for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He also worked as a journalist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Detroit Free Press, and WSM-TV, as well as a publicist for the ABC Television Network. Fancher was previously a member of the School of Communications faculty at Howard University and the adjunct faculty at Temple University. He lives in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

Here Fancher dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Red Clay:

Red Clay is a multigenerational family saga told through the shared memories of Adelaide “Addie” Parker, an elderly white woman when readers meet her, and Eileen Parker, a Black college student still in her teens. Although they share a surname and roots in the same southern Alabama town, the two women have never met until a cold winter day in 1943, when Addie shows up after the funeral of Felix H. Parker, Eileen’s grandfather, and announces: “A lifetime ago, my family owned yours.”

It is the beginning of a conversation in which the story of Felix, an enslaved boy on the plantation owned by Addie’s family when the Civil War ends, unfolds against the backdrop of Reconstruction and eventually the arrival of the Jim Crow era. Neither Addie nor Eileen knows the full story—one of many twists and turns and secrets within secrets—but together they weave a rich tapestry of societal change and racial animus that continues to reverberate through contemporary American life.

Through it all, Felix, an unwitting eight-year-old pawn in a scheme by the plantation owner to save face and fortune—perseveres to achieve success for himself and for his family. By the time he dies, in his late eighties in 1943, Felix has faced hard times and good times and has emerged as a man of substance, tempered by all he has experienced.

Red Clay has many distinctive characters, but the principal ones (with the dream castings in parentheses) are:

--Felix Parker, an enslaved boy who matures into a respected carpenter and Black community leader after Emancipation (as an adult, Michael B. Jordan)

--Plessant Parker, Felix’s father and valet to the Road’s End plantation owner (Idris Elba)

--Elmira Parker, Felix’s mother and big-house cook (Viola Davis)

--Zilpha Parker, Felix’s wife (as a young woman, Zendaya; as an older woman, Halle Berry)

--John Robert Parker, owner of Road’s End plantation (George Clooney)

--Marie Louise Parker, wife of John Robert (Emma Stone)

--Addie Parker, youngest child of John Robert and Marie Louise (as a young woman, Florence Pugh; as an old woman, Sissy Spacek or Linda Purl)

--Claude Parker, middle child of John Robert and Marie Louise (as a young man, Paul Mescal; as a mature man, Brad Pitt or Chris Pine)

--Jean Louis Parker, eldest child of John Robert and Marie Louise (Timothée Chalamet)

--Jimmy Flowers, Felix’s best friend (as an adult, David Oyelowo)

The Felix Parker, Jimmy Flowers, and Addie Parker characters have significant roles as children, but rather than suggest specific individuals, I would hope that a casting director would see all three as requiring actors who appear youthful, but whose skills would enable them to convey a loss of innocence at young ages.

Visit Charles B. Fancher's website.

The Page 69 Test: Red Clay.

Q&A with Charles B. Fancher.

--Marshal Zeringue