When Books Become Movies: A guest psot from author Kathleen Kole

When Books Become Movies

When writing my books, there’s no question I have a mental image of my characters in my head. It’s pretty much impossible to write without that mental image, as it allows me to give meaning and depth to their movements, expressions and conversation.

That being said, I think it becomes great fun to take things one step further and ask the question, “Whom would I cast in each character’s role, should this book ever see the light of film?” Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to share my vision with you, as Michelle was kind enough to offer me the chance by asking me to write my guest post about this very thing!

Here is a list of actors I could see stepping into my character’s shoes and bringing them to life on screen. Let’s see if you happened to visualize the same people, or at least individuals who are a very close match. Here we go!

April:
When I first began writing April, I hadn’t assigned any one known female to represent her in my thoughts. However, upon reflection, I’d say Drew Barrymore would absolutely fit the bill to bring April to life. Drew has that girl-next-door quality I imagined in April, is about the same build and has shown herself to be able to adapt to many different roles and make you believe in whomever she is in that moment.




Kevin:
Kevin is definitely a man who would be called handsome, as opposed to pretty. He’s a great looking guy, but would make an ugly woman. He’s strong and solid and carries himself with confidence; thus I believe the actor, Nathan Fillion, would be a perfect match to portray him on screen.



Gerritt:
This character was an easy one for me. Gerritt is charming, lean, unconventionally good looking, worldly - who better than Isaiah Mustafa to bring him to life?




Jessica:
April’s sister took me a while to match to a current actress in her mid-thirties. It was actually my husband who was able to give a face to her character and I think he did a great job. The talents of Christina Hendricks seemed the ideal match to Jessica. She matches Jessica’s curvy build and comes across as a strong and intelligent woman - just like Jess.



Carol and Deborah:
Almost from the inception of this book, I had an image of both Carol and Deborah in my mind’s eye. The talented Edie McClurg would be the perfect person to breath life into Carol’s character and Parker Posey would possess and bring fantastic animation to the role of Deborah.





Denise and Heidi:
I believe Margaret Cho would be brilliant in the role of Denise. As her sidekick, Heidi, I’d happily cast Melissa McCarthy - both of these actresses are funny and charismatic, exactly what I believe these characters would need when on screen.





Ed and Bob:
And, finally, the husband’s of Carol and Deborah. I think it would be fun to see Carol’s husband, Ed, embodied by none other than Jeffrey Jones. (Yes, for all you “Ferris” fans, it would be a fun hat tip and that’s an added bonus in my world!) As for Bob, I believe Kevin James would be spot on to bring to life Deborah’s patient and slightly downtrodden husband.





Well, I think that wraps it up - or not! Don’t for a moment think I’ve forgotten the unique and smile worthy Thomas! I would love to see Thomas brought to the big screen by the talented and charming Craig Ferguson. Imagine Craig "aged up" by approximately ten years with unruly Einstein hair, a Van Dyke beard, eclectic clothing and charming Scottish brogue - what fun it would be to see that!



Okay, that really does wrap this post up. A huge thank you to Michelle for giving me this fun opportunity. If you already had character ideas of your own in your mind’s eye, wonderful. If not, then I hope these actors will breath an added dimension of vitality into the book as you read.

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Kathleen Kole was born in Edmonton AB and graduated from college with a Diploma in Radio and Television Arts. Her career path has included writing in the fields of advertising, television and newspaper - and most recently novel writing. Kathleen relocated from Edmonton to Kelowna BC and resides there with her beloved husband, adored son and their happy-go-lucky dog. Dollars to Donuts is Kathleen's second published novel and she is currently working on her third, to be published in December.

Visit Kathleen at her website and on twitter.