Matt Haig's "The Radleys"

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Matt Haig is the author of The Labrador Pact, a UK bestseller narrated by a Labrador; The Dead Fathers Club, a widely acclaimed update of Hamlet featuring an eleven-year-old boy; and The Possession of Mr. Cave, a horror story about an overprotective father

Here he shares some thoughts on casting the big screen adaptation of his new novel, The Radleys:

This is interesting because I have actually written a screenplay of The Radleys, which is now in the hands of Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) who has acquired the rights. So, inevitably, I have thought and talked a little about how it could look on the big screen.

When I was writing it I kept on having images as to who should play the devilish, bloodthirsty uncle Will. I had the picture of a young Oliver Reed or even the Jack Nicholson of the early seventies (both impossible, of course). As to today's actors, I don't know... Robert Downey Jr? He'd be good at it. Someone with that gleam in their eye...

As to the others, well Rowan and Clara Radley would work best as unknown teen faces and their repressed mum could be played by anyone from Gwyneth to Julianne Moore. Never pictured who should play the Dad, Peter. American Beauty-era Kevin Spacey would have worked I suppose...

Read an excerpt, watch a video trailer, and learn more about the novel at the official The Radleys website. Visit Matt Haig at his official website.

The Page 69 Test: The Radleys.

Writers Read: Matt Haig.

--Marshal Zeringue