Ben Tanzer's "You Can Make Him Like You"

Ben Tanzer is the author of the books Lucky Man, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, Repetition Patterns and 99 Problems. He also oversees day-to-day operations of This Zine Will Change Your Life.

Here he shares his thoughts on the above-the-line talent for an adaptation of his new novel, You Can Make Him Like You:

Once upon a time, and in a galaxy far, far away I was once asked to tackle the challenge presented by "My Book, The Movie" for my novel Lucky Man. At the time I expressed a handful of desires and recommendations.

One, that when Lucky Man was optioned, and for the record it's still available, so please do contact my representatives, quickly, I hoped that one result would be that Diane Lane would become so enamored with the movie's writing she would be compelled to finally return one of my calls. Still waiting for that, though my hopes are on the rise again with the release of my new novel You Can Make Him Like You.

Two, that the soundtrack would have to include songs by the still largely unknown band The Hold Steady, and this will not change with You Can Make Him Like You, a novel both inspired by and an homage to the now much more widely loved music of that very same band.

Three, that for the director, I would favor Larry Clark, Gregg Araki, Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach or Todd Field, among others, and I would still like to see any of these directors put their stamp on this project, though as these characters are in some ways the potentially adult versions, and survivors, of the characters who populate Lucky Man, Greg Arraki and Larry Clark may be much less appropriate, and regardless, Todd Field remains my favored choice.

And fourth, in terms of the cast, I had commented on how cool it would be to cast a group of young actors who seem to emerge fully formed on the scene, like with Diner or The Outsiders, and I am proud to say that the actors I was drawn to, Shia LaBeouf, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emile Hirsh, have certainly emerged in bigger, and sometimes, better ways since then.

In particular, I had wanted to cast Shia Labeouf as the knowing Sammy, and Amanda Bynes as his girlfriend Tara, and as both of them pop-up in supporting roles in You Can Make Him Like You, I am going to ask them to reprise their roles here. That however leaves our chief protagonist Keith, he of the conflicted and constricted views of the universe, his universe anyway, and while a slightly doughier Joseph Gordon-Levitt could own this, I'm concerned about his age and so I'm thinking James Franco, though I'm guessing he will be harder to land than he might have been six months ago.

This leaves his once best friend and confidant, John, he of the Midwest looks and Big Ten football player build, and for him I'm thinking we should reunite James Franco with his Freaks and Geeks co-star Jason Segel, who certainly has the required comedic chops, but hasn't been asked to go quite this dramatic as well before this; Keith's, lovely and funny, but slowly losing, though not wanting to lose, her patience wife Liz, hello Michelle Trachtenberg; and John's hot, definitely lost her patience, tough, but hurting wife Monica, and for her I am going to suggest America Ferrera who we haven't seen enough of recently but who does pain and humor as well as anyone.

A final comment might be, that one other recommendation I made with that earlier essay was that all the actors had to study the work of River Phoenix, Running on Empty in particular, and this still remains true; sensitive, smart, funny, conflicted, he did all of that, and I miss him and I hope any or all of these performers would channel him at his best.

Read an excerpt from You Can Make Him Like You, and learn more about the book and author at the official website.

My Book, The Movie: Lucky Man.

The Page 69 Test: You Can Make Him Like You.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Janice Eidus's "The Last Jewish Virgin"

Novelist, short story writer, and essayist Janice Eidus has twice won the O. Henry Prize for her short stories, as well as a Pushcart Prize, a Redbook Prize, and numerous other awards.

Here she develops some ideas for the cast of an adaptation of her latest novel, The Last Jewish Virgin:

In my ideal film version, Lilith will be played by Zooey Deschanel, who will look lovely and seductive dressed in Lilith’s various ensembles: vampire seductress; Middle East harem girl; casual jeans/T-shirt/sneakers girl; madcap, bubbly ingenue in polka dots and heels, and whose urgent, blue-eyed intensity and doe-eyed prettiness I find extremely compelling.

As for Baron Rock, the black haired, blue-eyed, art professor/is-he-or-isn’t-he-a vampire/is-he-or-isn’t-he Jewish, 40-something male lead, I’ll have him played by the (mostly) indie actor Eric Stoltz, whose early career includes Some Kind Of Wonderful -- in my opinion, the best romantic teen movie ever made.

Over the years, Stoltz has inhabited a wide range of complex roles in such films as Pulp Fiction and The House of Mirth. Blue-eyed Eric would have to dye his gorgeous red hair black to play Baron Rock, but he recently did just that for the Syfy Channel’s series Caprica, the “prequel” to Battlestar Galactica, in which he played a wealthy, ruthless technologist who somehow also manages to be incredibly vulnerable, loving, and sexy as hell.

For Lilith’s mother, Beth Katz-Zeremba, I’d cast Sarah Jessica Parker, because I adore her face – those beautiful, Semitic-style angles and lines. Beth, a complicated, multi-faceted woman, is deeply concerned about how to make Judaism a truly feminist and multi-cultural religion. In other words, her concerns are very different from Carrie’s in Sex and The City. Playing Beth would help SJP to break free of the confines of those tight, surely-bunion-causing, Manolo Blahnik shoes – shoes that Beth, a fierce feminist, would never be caught dead in (at least not until one climactic scene toward the end of the novel).

Colin Abel, Lilith’s other love interest, the young, socially idealistic artist, would be played to perfection by Jesse Eisenberg. He strikes me as very smart and genuinely well-meaning, and he was absolutely amazing in Noah Baumbach’s bittersweet film, The Squid and The Whale, about a brilliant, dysfunctional, artistic family from Brooklyn, where I currently live (just over the bridge from downtown Manhattan, where much of The Last Jewish Virgin takes place).

So… I’m ready for some popcorn, as well as to kick back and relax in the theater and watch Deschanel, Stoltz, Parker, and Eisenberg bring The Last Jewish Virgin to life. Want to join me?

Read an excerpt of The Last Jewish Virgin, and learn more about the book and author at Janice Eidus's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Jewish Virgin.

Writers Read: Janice Eidus.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Elizabeth Buchan's "Separate Beds"

Elizabeth Buchan is the author of several highly acclaimed and bestselling books of fiction, including the bestselling Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, The Good Wife Strikes Back, Everything She Thought She Wanted, and Consider the Lily.

Here she shares some ideas for cast and director of an adaptation of her latest novel, Separate Beds:

They did make my novel, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman into a film – to be precise, a CBS Primetime Drama with Christine Lahti as the lead, Rose. So, in that respect, I have been lucky.

For Separate Beds, I would lay siege to Kate Winslet to play Annie. Matt Damon for Tom (he gave such an ace performance in True Grit). Or Leonardo DiCaprio might like to reprise the pairing with Kate of Revolutionary Road – with the incentive that it is a happier ending. For the children, Mia Wasikowska as the estranged Mia, Claire Foy as Emily and James McAvoy or Andrew Buchan (no relation) as Jake.

If my cup was to run over and I would be granted every wish, then Ang Lee would be directing. His take on the family – whether it is the fracture of The Ice Storm or the comedy of manner and morals of Sense and Sensibility is always fantastic.

Learn more about the book and author at Elizabeth Buchan's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Separate Beds.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Buchan.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Imogen Robertson's "Instruments of Darkness"

Imogen Robertson is a writer based in London. Her first book Instruments of Darkness was published in the U.K. in May 2009, and is now available in America. Her second novel Anatomy of Murder comes out at the end of April 2010 in Britain.

Here she shares some casting ideas for an adaptation of Instruments of Darkness:

Before I started to write full time I was a TV director, so it’s usual for me to see my books as I write them, just as I used to see the scenes I wanted to film. That said, I rarely have a particular actor’s face in front of me as I work, but when I started writing Lady Thornleigh in Instruments of Darkness, she appeared in my mind looking exactly like Angelina Jolie, only speaking with an English accent. It was rather strange.

I would be overjoyed if the lead, Harriet Westerman, impulsive, frustrated, clever, were played by Emma Thompson. She could write the screenplay too. If she’s not available then it would have to be Cate Blanchett who is simply one of the best actors in the world.

For the reclusive anatomist, Gabriel Crowther, whom Harriet persuades into investigating a murder with her, I’ll have  Gabriel Byrne, please. He is the perfect mix of compelling and challenging. Of course, if George Clooney is interested he can play any role he likes.

I’m not optimistic about a film deal though. Having had to work on small budgets in TV for a long time, I really let myself go writing Instruments. Riots in London, battle scenes during the War of Independence. I have written the sort of book that makes production accountants cry.

Learn more about the book and author at Imogen Robertson's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Instruments of Darkness.

Writers Read: Imogen Robertson.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Louise Dean's "The Old Romantic"

Louise Dean's novels include Becoming Strangers, which was awarded the Betty Trask Prize in 2004 and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award, This Human Season, and The Idea of Love. She lives in Kent, England.

Here she shares a casting suggestion for the main role should her new novel The Old Romantic be adapted for the big screen:

Michael Caine is the only real contender for the lead role, the ‘Estuary’ accent, the British flinching peevishness, the sly sentimentality - he’s the man. I sent him a copy of the book in homage and supplication, but I’ve had no reply. I get the occasional plea too, as it happens, offering me hundreds of millions of dollars if only I will send just a few hundred to a bank account in Ghana. I always reply, most cordially, to each and everyone, and have a lot of email friends with surnames for christian names who use capitals to convey their excitement.

Learn more about the book and author at the publisher's website and Louise Dean's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Old Romantic.

Writers Read: Louise Dean.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Elizabeth Stuckey-French's "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady"

Elizabeth Stuckey-French is the author of a novel, Mermaids on the Moon, a collection of short stories, The First Paper Girl in Red Oak, Iowa, and, with Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft.

Here's a synopsis of her new novel, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady:

Seventy-seven year old Marylou Ahearn is going to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs come hell or high water. In 1953, he gave her a radioactive cocktail without her consent as part of a secret government study that had horrible consequences. Marylou has been plotting her revenge for fifty years when she accidentally discovers his whereabouts in Florida and her plans finally snap into action. She high-tails it to hot and humid Tallahassee, moves in down the block from where a now senile Spriggs lives with his daughter’s family, and begins the tricky work of insinuating herself into their lives. But she has no idea what a nest of yellow jackets she is stumbling into. Before the novel is through, someone will be kidnapped, an unlikely couple will get engaged, someone will nearly die from eating a pineapple upside-down cake laced with anti-freeze, and that’s not all…

And to take this story from the page to the big screen:

Definitely Kathy Bates to play Marylou Ahearn, the so-called Radioactive Lady. I kept picturing her as I was writing it, especially her character in Misery. She was wonderfully innocuous looking, but brother, look out. A lot of anger underneath all that chipperness.

And I’d love for the Coen brothers to direct it. I’m absolutely in love with their movies, and I think their sensibility is similar to mine.

Learn more about the book and author at Elizabeth Stuckey-French's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Stuckey-French.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Mark Alpert's "The Omega Theory"

A self-described lifelong "science geek," Mark Alpert majored in astrophysics at Princeton University, writing his undergraduate thesis on an application of Einstein's theory of relativity. After earning an MFA in poetry at Columbia and working as a reporter, he became an editor at Scientific American, where he simplifies bewildering scientific ideas for the magazine's readers.

Here he explains his casting preferences for a cinematic adaptation of his new novel, The Omega Theory:

This science thriller is a sequel to my first novel, Final Theory. The film rights to this book were sold to Radar Pictures, and Nicolas Cage has expressed an interest in playing the role of the hero, David Swift. David is a historian of science, a Columbia University professor in his forties who stumbles upon a secret theory discovered by Albert Einstein just before the great physicist's death in the 1950s. It's nothing less than the Theory of Everything, the unified theory that would explain all the forces of nature. Einstein began the quest for this theory back in the 1920s, and contemporary physicists are still pursuing it today as they develop string theory and other quantum hypotheses. The premise of Final Theory was that Einstein actually succeeded in conceiving the Theory of Everything but had to keep it secret because it would enable the development of weapons even worse than the atomic bomb. In The Omega Theory, all of Einstein's worst fears come true as a militia of religious fanatics tries to use the Theory of Everything to hasten the apocalypse.

I was very pleased when Cage was attached to the project. He's an action-movie star who can handle serious films as well. I loved him in Adaptation and Leaving Las Vegas.

David Swift's love interest in both Final Theory and The Omega Theory is Monique Reynolds, a quantum physicist loosely based on several real scientists whom I met while working as an editor at Scientific American. I think Halle Berry would be the perfect actress to play Monique, and I can honestly say that I had her in mind from the beginning. In fact, when I was writing the passages describing Monique, I actually put a picture of Halle Berry up on my computer screen so I could glance at her face while I was writing.

The other primary female character in both novels is Lucille Parker, a sixtyish FBI agent who pursues David and Monique in the first book and teams up with them in the second. Kathy Bates would be a wonderful choice for playing Lucille, who dresses like a Bingo-playing grandmother but is the toughest character in the story.

The most difficult role to fill would be Michael Gupta, the autistic teenager who is Albert Einstein's great-great-grandson. In The Omega Theory I wrote several chapters from Michael's point of view, and to get the right voice for the character I studied the books of Temple Grandin, the autistic writer and veterinary specialist who has written so eloquently about the disorder. It's a great challenge to convey the state of mind of a person with autism, and I have no idea which actor would be best for the part. I'll keep thinking about it.

Learn more about the book and author at Mark Alpert's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

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