Terra Elan McVoy's "The Summer of Firsts and Lasts"

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Terra Elan McVoy is the author of the YA novels Pure, After the Kiss, and The Summer of Firsts and Lasts.

Here she shares some casting suggestions for a big screen adaptation of The Summer of Firsts and Lasts:

When I was writing The Summer of Firsts and Lasts, the whole thing was such a movie in my head,that it’s hard to think about what it would look like as a movie in real life! That said, I think I was definitely influenced by summer camp movies while I was writing, including Little Darlings and Wet Hot American Summer. At least in terms of getting the energy and tone of summer camp down.

Since tone is so important, I’d ask Amy Heckerling, director of Clueless, one of my favorite teen films, to direct. Though the characters and settings in that film and my book are all really different, I think she’d get the fun, bouncy, teenage-drama vibe just right.

In terms of casting, I wouldn’t want to cast a bunch of 20 year-olds to play high schoolers, as so often happens. I think getting real teenagers to play teenagers (a la John Hughes) is the way I’d want to go, and so many teen stars look a lot older than they really are, so it’s tricky. Elle Fanning would probably be a good choice for Daisy, the youngest of the three sisters in The Summer of Firsts and Lasts. Emma Watson is a little too old now to play Calla, the eldest sister, but rewind time a few years and she’d be perfect. Her or Emma Roberts. As for Violet, the middle sister, I think she’s the hardest to try and cast, because I can see her so clearly in my mind and I’m not sure there’s anyone out there who matches, but for bad-girl character Brynn, I’d pick Emma Stone. (Again, maybe a couple of years younger than she is now.) The guys are equally hard for me to cast, but I think Kevin McHale from Glee would be good to play Violet’s love interest, James, and Calla’s crush Duncan is definitely Aaron Johnson from Kick Ass!

Thanks for making me think about it. Of course, I’d be happy if this got made at all—even with a lot of unknowns!

Visit Terra Elan McVoy's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue