Keith Raffel's "Smasher"

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Keith Raffel is the author of Dot Dead and Smasher.

Here he shares some ideas for casting a cinematic adaptation of Smasher:

A pair of award-winning scriptwriters have picked up an option on my Smasher: A Silicon Valley Thriller. I do know the chances of actually seeing it on the screen at the cineplex are about the same as a Wall Street banker turning down her bonus. Still, like Willy Loman, a man "is got to dream." So humor me, will you, and play along?

Who should play the protoganist Ian Michaels? He's 37 or so, about six feet tall, dark hair. He's a Silicon Valley workaholic and a pretty good runner. Here are some candidates my kids and wife came up with.

Chris O'Donnell? Kind of a pretty boy. I don't think so.

My kids are big fans of the show Chuck and are plumping hard for its star Zachary Levi. He plays a klutzy spy on the show, but my wife is convinced he’s the guy.

Leo DiCaprio? Well, he is a genuine movie star and we'd get funded if he opted in, wouldn't we?

And what incredibly talented actor can take on Rowena Goldberg, 30, top homicide prosecutor and marathoner who's married to the aforementioned Ian? She's about 30, 5' 4", and brunette.

Here's my first pick to play Rowena, but I'm told she's no longer available. Sigh. If only.

Natalie Portman? If she doesn’t get the role, I am going to have a lot of irate friends, both men and women. (Like Rowena, she's even Jewish.)

And there's also Jill Flint from another of my kids' favorite shows, Royal Pains.

The English actress Rebecca Hall who plays Claire in Ben Affleck’s recent The Town may have the right looks, but my oldest daughter is not crazy about the American accent she used in the film.

Finally, there's the scene-stealer part – Ricky Frankson, a driven, Silicon Valley billionaire and fan of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Here's the description from the book:

All in all, Frankson looked about as good as a man of sixty-one could look. A field of wavy black hair showed nary a gray strand that might betray his age. A deep notch divided his eyebrows, but the forehead above them was unlined and his cheeks were smooth. The girth of his biceps, half-hidden by the sleeves of the T-shirt, substantiated the rumor that his early morning routine included weightlifting in a home gym. Scuttlebutt also had it that he invested tens of millions in biotech companies researching life extension. Maybe he was a beta tester. Or maybe he had a portrait up in his attic that aged in his stead.

If George gets the part, my wife promises she’d accompany me to the premiere.

Who plays driven better than Al Pacino?

Read an excerpt from Smasher, and learn more about the book and author at Keith Raffel's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue