Allison Burnett's "Christopher"

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Novelist-screenwriter Allison Burnett on the film version of his novel(s):

The hero of both my novels, Christopher and The House Beautiful, and of my upcoming one, Death By Sunshine, is named B.K. Troop. B.K. is a tall, bald, middle-aged, potbellied, spindly legged, bearded, grey-toothed, dandruff-flaked, chemically imbalanced, erudite, witty, gay alcoholic. Sadly, Bea Arthur is past her prime. I am left with slim pickings.

I have adapted Christopher into a screenplay myself. In my discussions with agents and producers, some names have been bandied about: Kelsey Grammar, Harvey Fierstein, Alec Baldwin, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, Jack Nicholson, Jon Voight, and a brilliant Australian stage actor, unknown here, named Bille Brown. Other names have been mentioned that I rejected out of hand; namely, actors with great commercial value and talent, but who do not resemble BK: Dustin Hoffman and Ben Kingsley, to name just two. Another aspect of the discussion is should the actor be gay in real life? I tend to think it doesn’t matter. Should any of my readers have a favorite idea for an actor to play BK, I would love to hear it. We are casting now. To be precise, we are casting about for financing and finding the right actor would certainly help.

Visit Allison's official website to learn more about his books and to submit your casting ideas.

See the Page 69 treatment for The House Beautiful.

--Marshal Zeringue