Renée Rosen's "Dollface"

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As clichéd as it sounds, Renée Rosen is a former advertising copywriter who always had a novel in her desk drawer. When she saw the chance to make the leap from writing ad copy to fiction, she jumped at it. A confirmed history and book nerd, the author loves all things old, all things Chicago and all things written.

Rosen is the author of Every Crooked Pot and Dollface, A Novel of the Roaring Twenties.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Dollface:

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve played “Central Casting” with Dollface. When I started working on this book about ten years ago, I had it all mapped out, only now I fear some of my picks are too old for the roles! But back in the day, Natalie Portman was a dead ringer for Vera, Adrien Brody was Shep Green, Sean Penn was the perfect Hymie Weiss, Scarlett Johansson was Dora and Bradley Cooper with dark hair could be Tony Liolli. For Vera’s mother I could see Susan Sarandon (it’d be good to get her and Natalie Portman together again!) And I’m not sure where Robert Downey Jr. fits in, but if he wants to jump on board, I’ll take him.

As far as directors go, I would love to see what Martin Scorsese (the master of gangster films) could do with this material since it’s told from the woman’s POV. I also love Robert De Niro’s directing in A Bronx Tale. Aside from those two, I wouldn’t be opposed to Robert Redford or Ron Howard or Penny Marshall or, as long as we’re dreaming here, how about Alfred Hitchcock?

Learn more about the book and author at Renée Rosen's website, blog, and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Every Crooked Pot.

--Marshal Zeringue