The Silver Screen Comes Calling

Which of your protagonists would make good movie characters, and who would you choose to play them?

by Paul D. Marks

Ha! Who would I choose to play my protagonists on the silver screen: anybody who comes-a-callin’. It would just be great to see one of my prose stories up there. But since I’m an “old movie” guy I often tend to think of classic movie stars for parts, and since some of them are dead (H. Bogart) it’s not ideal casting, though it would be perfect to me and the question doesn’t specify dead or alive. So in an ideal world…

There was a time when I saw many of my male leads as either Humphrey Bogart or Jack Nicholson. Harrison Ford. And for at least some of the female leads, Michelle Pfeiffer. Hey, when you’re dreaming dream big! And on occasion I came close to having that dream fulfilled. For example, I was working with a producer who had optioned a script of mine and he asked me who my ideal leads would be. I said Harrison Ford or Jack Nicholson for the male and Michelle Pfeiffer for the female. Now you might think that these were out of reach but not so because this producer had worked with them, knew them and could actually get them. Unfortunately that project went south, but it was exciting while it lasted. Oh, and how close other times. But close is no cigar or even a cigarillo. So, maybe what I’ll have to do is turn that script into a novel. Sell that novel to Hollywood. And then see about the casting. Though were it made today it would be a whole new ballgame of actors.

So onto casting for my prose, let’s see:

White Heat (Shamus-winning novel): A noir-thriller set during the Rodney King riots in L.A. Duke Rogers is a private eye who inadvertently leads a stalker to his prey. Then he and his sidekick Jack have to set things right and try to find the killer. Jack is rough around the edges to say the least, very unPC. The kind of guy who always says the wrong thing but does the right thing. How about Nick Nolte in his prime? And for Duke, Keanu Reeves. And for Rita, Duke’s love interest, Lupita Nyong'o.

Vortex (Noir Novella): Zach Tanner is just back from the war in Afghanistan. Tough, but wanting to get back to the real world, he’s had a change of heart about a get rich quick scheme he entered into with some of his army buddies. Unfortunately for him his friends haven’t. How about Ryan Gosling for Zach? And Mila Kunis for Jesse, his girlfriend. Yeah, I could live with that, even though both are probably a little too old for the parts as written.

Dead Man’s Curve (short story published in the Last Exit to Murder anthology): Ray Hood is a guy whose rock ‘n’ roll dreams have evaporated. I’ve always seen this as a movie and always with Jeff Bridges as Ray, though if any bankable A-List actor wants the part, more power to him. Ray’s a frustrated musician who has lost his ability to play and is aimless and foundering without it. He once played with Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys on the road—his claim to fame—and is trying for a comeback. He gets a chance to do a favor for an old friend by driving his classic car up the coast, playing music on the iPod, but things go wrong. Very wrong.  —And I’m talking Bridges today, gruff and grizzled, not the smooth young actor of yesteryear.

Howling at the Moon (Anthony and Macavity nominated short story, published in the 11/14 Ellery Queen): Darrell is a Native American ex-Marine, who comes back to visit the sacred lands of his grandfather and meets a treasure hunter. Johnny Depp would be good for box office, but maybe Adam Beach or Rick Mora would be good for the part. There’s only four people in this story and one of them is hardly a character. And Bud, the “yuppie,” could be played by a young Brad Pitt doing a character role instead of the leading man.

Ghosts of Bunker Hill (short story, coming soon to an Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine near you in the December 2016 issue): Howard Hamm is a detective in a baffling case where his best friend is shot and killed on the doorstep of his lovingly-restored, former Bunker Hill Victorian house. As I was writing this story there was only person I thought of for the part: Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order fame. And on the good news front, I’ve sold a sequel to this one to Ellery Queen, but no publication date has been set yet.

So, there you have it. Of course, we don’t want people to only see these actors in a part. It’s up to your imagination too. So feel free to cast whoever you want in my stories, you’re the casting director. I’m just the lowly writer…and in Hollywood, believe me, there’s pretty much no one lower than the lowly writer. And like I said, if you’re going to dream, dream big!

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Check out Akashic's St. Louis Noir anthology with my short story Deserted Cities of the Heart.

www.PaulDMarks.com

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