Boovie Stars

• Catherine Deneuve - she's too old now, but remember her in The Hunger?
• Gwyneth Paltrow - she's too tall to match the description in the book, but could definitely handle the acting part.
• Kristen Bell - I've actually never seen anything she's done, but she looks the part.
• Monica Potter - Jezzie in Along Came a Spider was cold and beautiful.
• Charlize Theron - nearly perfect. She was actually my number one choice until a friend suggested...

I read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" almost a year ago, and have been playing around with the cast in my head. Now, casting for the US version of the film is under way. I don't want my fantasy cast to be tainted by any actual casting, so here goes with the main characters...

Mikael Blomkvist is a middle-aged journalist/crusader, just out of prison after having lost a libel case. He doesn't want to further damage the reputation of magazine he runs, so he steps down from the board. I was thinking someone like Goran Visnjic, although he may be too dark - as in, not Swedish looking. On the other hand, it's my fantasy cast... However, I do have some runner-ups. Viggo Mortensen and Rob Lowe. I know! But just look at this picture from a Stand Up 2 Cancer ad, and you'll see what I mean.

So, Mikael is hired by gazillionaire industrialist Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance (murder?) of his niece Harriet some 40 years ago. Henrik is in his 80's now, in failing health but still a man to be reckoned with, and has never been able to get over not knowing what became of his niece. The obvious choice here is Paul Newman. Maybe a little too obvious. So, I've got another gentleman in mind. Alan Dale played Charles Widmore on Lost. I think he has the air of a gazillionaire industrialist. Plus he played one on TV.


Henrik is no fool. He had Blomkvist thoroughly checked out by Milton Security. The job was done by hacker extraordinairre Lisbeth Salander. She's mid-20's but could pass for a 14-year old boy. She's got some serious demons, but other than hacking, she pretty much minds her own business. Until she get shit on, and then she's ruthless. As with Henrik, there are two obvious choices here: Lori Petty and Fairuza Balk. And, as with Henrik, I've got some alternates, some more obvious than others. Consider Pink - not an actress, but she's got the attitude; a young Winona Ryder; a young Christina Ricci; a young Selma Blair (maybe too tall?); or, my choice, Emily Blunt.


What do you think of the cast so far? I'd love to hear your comments. In a future post, I'll give my picks for the supporting cast.

I recently read Cory Doctorow's latest novel, Makers. Since this is my first boovie casting, I am still a bit unsure about the cast I have pulled together, especially because it has an actor that just annoys the heck out of me on screen--and no its not Jackie Earle Haley, who is creepy but not annoying.

Megan's Boovie Casting for Makers:

Perry Gibbons--the tech engineer who starts a opensource revolution would be played by John Lennon--the only "non-actor"in my casting. Lennon

would be able to portray Perry's creative intelligence and his revolutionary but sometimes problematic and naive philosophy regarding free technology.

Lester Banks-Perry's engineering partner was a little tough for me to cast. In the begining of the book Banks is overweight, but he later becomes a "fatkins" with a genetically re-shaped, well toned, "perfect" body.

I chose George Clooney to play Banks based on Clooney in

Syrianna. Not only do we see Clooney with a few extra pounds but

with that sense of confused inadequacy despite his brilliance.

Suzanne Church--the tech blogger would be played by Katherine Hepburn.

Sophisticated and a firecraker.

Sammy--the evil Disney executive would be played by Colin Farrell. I thought of his role as an agent in Minority Report and how much of an annoying pest he can be when he is in a suit and tie. Sammy is the corporate sleeze who has no morals and Farrell would be perfect.

Rattoothed Freddy--a slandering blogger that just hates the world and would spit in your mom's eye for fun would be played by Jackie Earle Haley (who will play Freddy Krueger in the next Elm Street). Haley was also the voice of Rorschach in Watchmen and was Noyce in Shutter Island. From the first 10

pages of the book, I couldn't get the image of Haley out of my head for this role.

Death Waits-Death Waits is one of the best characters in the book. He is an emo goth punk that is disillusioned with Disney. Death becomes the leader of the goths to the point that you expect them all to have WWDD (What Would Death Do?) bracelets. Jake Gyllenhaal, circa Donnie Darko=GOLDEN CASTING CHOICE.

The last character I want to cast is the ad-hoc leader of Perry's slum. I can't remember his name in the book, but he is a crippled, alchololic, homeless guy that was a NASA engineer before the economic collapse. He is pretty kick-ass in the book. I cast an older-ish Paul Newman with the attitude of his characters in Cool Hand Luke and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Doctorow is a huge advocate for book ownership and despises ebook publishers that tweak copyright laws so that you can ever really own an ebook. His website craphound.com has links for free downloads for all of his books.

For everyone who believes that Tom Cruise was miscast as Lestat (even though he did better than I thought he would), this is your place. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the book. This is where we will fantasy cast books that have already been made into movies, and books that may or may not ever become movies. Whether they should or not is a whole other blog. And it's someone else's.


Some guidelines for posters:

• Cast anyone famous or infamous, celebrity or celebutante, sublime or ridiculous. Just don't cast your cousin or your best friend. The rest of us have to be able to visualize your choice.
• It would help to give a brief synopsis of the book, to put the character in context.
• Your choice can be living or not, as in "I think Abraham Lincoln could totally pull off playing Gandalf."
• Your choice can be from any era and any age. "A young Shirley Temple would have rocked as Petra from Ender's Game."