OMG! Like, famous people! In your book!

Dan Jones

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Anyone ever get the idea, when you're beavering away on your WIP, that one of your characters would be just the perfect vehicle for some famous actor or actress? Usually this doesn't happen at all - writing with actors in mind seems daft even for a screenwriter, let alone a novelist, but during my WIP I got the distinct mental image of one of my MCs being played by Art Malik, and one of the supporting characters played by Tilda Swinton, to the extent that I can't help but see their faces in my mind when I read through it...

I suppose most of us won't ever get Hollywood making the phone call, but suppose they do - would you know exactly who to cast?
 
I had a past (stalled) wip where I cast all the main characters and then found it almost impossible to work with them. So now I try really hard NOT to cast characters in my head. :ROFLMAO:
 
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I actually find the idea extremely helpful. If an actor suits the character, then you have easy job of making sure your description continuity is spot on. This works particularly well in collaborative works, as you then both see the same physical imagery of the character. Not that I like heavy physical description, because I don't, but a general image is needed.
 
I have face blindness which makes visualisation hard (perhaps explaining my bare description) so, no. No faces. :( voices and a sense of the person but no faces.

Me too. I don't really notice what people look like, which is probably why I don't know what my characters look like, either. Except one in my mystery who I keep an actor's face in mind for, just to keep track of him. And no, it's not actually David Tennant. :p

Someone around here (was it Mouse?) keeps a file of movie things and faces for their books/stories, for visualization.
 
Yep, I do it all the time. First time, I wrote a character, described what she looked like, her commanding presence, and out of the blue I saw Glenn Close. That works for me.
 
Yes, Mouse has a Pinterest account which is like a mood board for all her 'stuff', one of which is characters.

I haven't done this yet. I'm not too bothered at physical description unless it's germane to the story, and usually go in the direction of idiosyncratic behaviour which highlights specific physical attributes. For example, Nestor twizzles the curly grey hair at his temples with a fat, yellowed finger. I suppose the nearest I have in my mind is Mr Pickwick. Josiah on the other hand is always taking his shirt off and I suppose he's reminiscent of the new Poldark.

pH
 
Not a clue. Apart from Brian Blessed. I've no idea for which role, but he would have to be in it.
Why wouldn't he be in the adaptation of TGP? He's in everything else. His work in Peppa Pig is particularly good.


Ph, it's funny, as when I read through your 1760s section I kept picturing Jim Broadbent as Nestor, and Tobias Menzies as Josiah - maybe it's just something I do to help me visualise. I don't go in for long physical descriptions of characters myself, but I maybe it's through the characters' mannerisms and habits that I start to picture actors and actresses.
 
Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring) from Breaking Bad is the voice I imagine when one of my villains talks. Probably not the way he looks, but his voice just fits perfectly.
 
One of my characters was an artificial human and from his description he could be played by Captain Black. Come to think of it, I think I could cast my entire story from Captain Scarlet characters. At least it would keep production costs down :)
 
My book's main protagonist was always visualised in my mind as Lost-era Matthew Fox, though when a friend read it they visualised 1980s Bruce Willis. Each to their own, I guess
 
Anyone ever get the idea, when you're beavering away on your WIP, that one of your characters would be just the perfect vehicle for some famous actor or actress? Usually this doesn't happen at all - writing with actors in mind seems daft even for a screenwriter, let alone a novelist, but during my WIP I got the distinct mental image of one of my MCs being played by Art Malik, and one of the supporting characters played by Tilda Swinton, to the extent that I can't help but see their faces in my mind when I read through it...

I suppose most of us won't ever get Hollywood making the phone call, but suppose they do - would you know exactly who to cast?

I'm learning screen writing now and aside from the strong differences in formatting and method there are many valuable tools and rules for such a writer. One if the biggest is to never write a screenplay with specific cast members in mind.

I think that as a writing tool if it helps you to focus on a character by likening them to an existing actor/actress then by all means, you should keep doing that.

Interesting subject! Cheers!
 

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