S.G. Browne's "Lucky Bastard"

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S.G. Browne worked in Hollywood for several years before moving to Santa Cruz to be a writer. He currently lives and writes in San Francisco. His novels include Breathers: A Zombie's Lament.

Here Browne dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest novel, Lucky Bastard:

While I see my books visually as I’m writing them and have been told that my short chapters and style of writing lends my novels to film adaptation, I didn’t have any actors or actresses in mind when I wrote Lucky Bastard.

Although I have a short list of actors I’ve come up with for the characters in my first two novels (Breathers and Fated), I didn’t come up with the lists until after the books were written. Had I imagined certain actors playing those roles, I think it would have influenced or affected the development of the characters as I was creating them. Imbued them with a voice or a demeanor that was similar to previous roles I’d seen those actors play in other films. So I just allowed my characters to become who they were before casting anyone to play them in the film version.

In case you’re curious, the actors on my short list for Breathers are Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Jake Gyllenhaal (Andy), Scarlett Johansson / Anne Hathaway (Rita), Bruce Campbell (Andy’s dad), and Christopher Walken (Ray). The actors I imagine playing the characters in Fated include Ryan Reynolds (Fate), Rose McGowan (Destiny), Jonah Hill (Gluttony), Seth Rogan (Sloth), and Gary Oldman (Death).

As for Lucky Bastard, I could see Ryan Gosling as a possible Nick Monday. Although I’ve never seen him do straight comedy, I think he could pull off being an amusing, sarcastic, smart-ass detective. Though if I could create a gap in the space-time continuum and grab an actor from another era, Val Kilmer in his late 20s would have been perfect for the role. A young Robert Downey Jr. would have been perfect, too.

Other roles could go to Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad (Bow Wow), Ken Watanabe (Tommy Wong), William Fichtner (Barry Manilow), John Malkovich (The Albino), and Scarlett Johansson or Rose McGowan as Tuesday Knight.

Apparently, I have a thing for Scarlett Johansson and Rose McGowan.

Learn more about Lucky Bastard and the author at S.G. Browne's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Breathers: A Zombie's Lament.

The Page 69 Test: Lucky Bastard.

Writers Read: S.G. Browne.

--Marshal Zeringue