Tina Connolly's "Copperhead"

{[['']]}

Tina Connolly lives with her family in Portland, Oregon, in a house that came with a dragon in the basement and blackberry vines in the attic. Her stories have appeared all over, including in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Here Connolly dreamcasts an adaptation of Copperhead, the sequel to her Nebula-nominated historical fantasy debut, Ironskin:

I always find this a challenging question – I think because I spent so much time in the theatre myself that my first instinct is always: well, I'd like go hold some auditions ... I bet there'd be some good unknowns out there ... also it takes so long to get a movie rolling into production that surely anyone I pick would have aged out by the time we're ready to cast!

Still, here are some random picks for Copperhead:

Helen – Carey Mulligan. I love Mulligan's work, and she brings such complexity to her roles that I think she would be great with Helen, who tries to pass herself off as superficial, but is actually warm-hearted, stubborn, and capable of much change over the course of the book.

Jane – Keira Knightley. I liked Mulligan and Knightley together in Never Let Me Go. The first book in the series, Ironskin, was Jane's journey, and Copperhead is Helen's. But plenty of interesting things happen to Jane in Copperhead. I think Knightley would look the part, and do a good job with angry, cursed Jane.

Rook – Mm, good question. A young Robert Downey Jr. would be a lot of fun for this quirky, funny, passionate young man with a past full of secrets.

Frye – Frye's a tall, flamboyant theatre actress, a bit of an Auntie Mame type. I'd love some great character actor like Allison Janney—someone who'd have fun swanning around a bit.

Alberta – someone with a lot of strength. Gina Torres would be nice here. And I believe she's a musician, which would be perfect for the character.

Grimsby – I'll go for a classic and say Alan Rickman for the biting, cold-hearted leader of the Copperhead party. Grimsby's got tragedy in his past, so Rickman would have some interesting levels to play.

Learn more about the book and author at Tina Connolly's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue