Kathleen George's "Hideout"

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Kathleen George, author of police thrillers, was an Edgar finalist for best novel for The Odds. A trade edition of The Odds was released last month.

Here she develops some ideas for the cast of an adaptation of her new novel, Hideout:

I read the other morning that Tom Cruise is slated to play Lee Child’s 6’5” huge, broad, tough, military, no-nonsense hero, Jack Reacher. After I screwed my head back on, I sat sighing about the possibility of losing characters I love—I mean love—to the screen. It doesn’t happen every time. It happens often. Once they’re changed drastically, are they ever yours again?

Right now, mine are still in my head. I may be poorer, but they’re what I had in mind. Often composites of people I’ve seen or known and you can’t do that in movies.

My new book is Hideout. It features Addie Ward and she’s almost 83, beautiful, earthy, natural. She always dresses with a little dash. She’s willing to climb to her roof to repair it. She keeps a vegetable and flower garden. Dirt doesn’t scare her. Almost nothing does. Most days she has food on the stove or a cake in the oven and though she’s alone, someone might come visiting and she is ready to feed them. Addie is very American. Why do I keep seeing Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins? Oh, yes, I saw a wonderful actress in The Royal Family. Jenny Sterlin. I looked her up and she’s born in England, too. Well, that tells me something. All these actresses are charming and subtle and my Addie has a lot going on.

Is it possible to clone Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad? He could play both young desperate look-alike brothers, Ryan and Jack Rutter. They were born in England (what is it with me?). They’re pale, thin, angry, desperate.

Actually a Hollywood subagent asked me to cast my last book, The Odds. There were those flickers of interest that, well, disappear after the flicker. Talk about a tough assignment. I’d look up and cast kids to play my four children characters and one year later, they were no longer right for the roles.

But my casting of the series detectives holds. It’s (and has been) Gabriel Byrne or someone who acts like his character on In Treatment. Though I didn’t originally picture Richard Christie like Byrne, the acting is right on target. Brooding, thoughtful, charming, charismatic. For his wife Marina I thought maybe Michelle Forbes or in a stretch Anne Hathaway. She’s beautiful, dark, a diva. For Colleen Greer, Melissa George or Scarlett Johansson. Colleen is very sexy even when she’s working to put a lid on it. Also, she’s smart, tough, determined, workaholic.

I wish I had a role for Aiden Gillen. I’m admiring everything he does in The Wire and Game of Thrones. Oh, and Allison Pill. I think she’s fantastic.

Maybe I’ll write characters based on them.

Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen George's website.

The Page 69 Test: Hideout.

--Marshal Zeringue