J.T. Ellison's "The Cold Room"

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J.T. Ellison is the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Taylor Jackson series, including All the Pretty Girls, 14, Judas Kiss, and The Cold Room. She was named “Best Mystery/Thriller Writer of 2008” by the Nashville Scene.

Here she sketches out some casting options for a big screen version of The Cold Room:

I normally shy away from giving detailed ideas of who I think would be a good actor or actress to play my characters would they get made into a movie, because I don’t like to put someone in the mind of the reader before they have a chance to decide on their own.

But my wonderful readers have lots of ideas about who should play homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson, and FBI Profiler John Baldwin. Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Blake Lively are all favorite contenders, though I’d have to throw Amanda Righetti into the mix as well – she’s got the exact profile I imagine for Taylor. And Baldwin is always a clean-cut up Hugh Jackman, or Thomas Gibson, though Baldwin’s green eyes are one of his commanding features, so I’m not sure the perfect actor has been picked for him yet. I’ll throw a new thought out there… Depending on how he ages, Chace Crawford wouldn’t be a bad choice.

The Cold Room has a couple of new characters in it, namely Renn McKenzie, Taylor’s new partner, and James “Memphis” Highsmythe, the Viscount Dulsie, and Detective Inspector for New Scotland Yard. McKenzie is hard – he’s serious, and not everything he seems on the surface. Someone like Leonardo DiCaprio would be a good fit.

Memphis, on the other hand, leaps off the page at people. I based him on a very psychical version of Daniel Craig and features of Trevor Donovan, but my editor, with no reservations whatsoever, immediately saw him as Simon Baker. We’re both big fans of The Mentalist, and ever since she said that, I haven’t been able to get Baker out of my head when I’m writing Memphis.

So there you have it. An Aussie to play an upper-class Brit. I bet he could pull it off!

Learn more about the book and author at J.T. Ellison's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: the Taylor Jackson series.

The Page 69 Test: The Cold Room.

--Marshal Zeringue