Maxine Kenneth's "Spy in a Little Black Dress"

Maxine Kenneth is the writing team of Maxine Schnall and Kenneth Salikof. Their new novel is Spy in a Little Black Dress.

Here Maxine Schnall shares some suggestions for cast and director of an adaption of the novel:

When we first started writing Paris to Die For, the debut novel in our Jackie Kennedy (Jacqueline Bouvier) spy series, Anne Hathaway was the person I had fixed in my mind for the lead in a movie based on the book. Not only did she resemble Jackie physically, but she projected that same self-possession and adventurous spirit hiding beneath a “good girl” exterior. Our sub-agent for the movie rights, Rich Green of Creative Artists Agency, also suggested Natalie Portman, another great choice and one who, we were told, was interested in the project. Carey Mulligan, a very appealing young actress with Jackie-like qualities, had just burst on the scene in her breakout role in An Education, and was someone else we talked about for the role.

We couldn’t think of anyone more suited to play Jacques Rivage, the swarthy French roué who was Jackie’s co-agent and love interest, than Olivier Martinez, so incredibly sexy in Unfaithful. In that movie, he even had the same dark hair that hung down below his ears like a cocker spaniel’s. Absolutely perfect!

Three years later, we have a whole new crop of exciting under-30 actresses who could play 22-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier in Spy in a Little Black Dress, now a more seasoned CIA agent. My personal favorite is Mila Kunis, who is 29 but looks younger. I was blown away by her compelling portrayal of Natalie Portman’s rival ballet dancer in Black Swan, which earned Kunis Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Dark, throaty-voiced, and lithe, the vibrant, self-assured Kunis was a marvel of shrewd watchfulness, making her perfect for Jackie in Spy in a Little Black Dress.

As for the male co-star, I would love to see Hispanic hunk William Levy play Emiliano Martinez, Jackie’s Cuban contact, a passionate revolutionary who looks like a young Fernando Lamas yet is scholarly and shy. I can just imagine how the steamy sexual chemistry between Kunis and Levy would burn up the screen. Another Hispanic heartthrob who played Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries and would bring sensitivity to the role is Gael García Bernal. I first saw him in Y tu mamá también, and have been in love with him ever since.

No one could do more justice to the role of Jackie’s mother, Janet, than the incomparable Meryl Streep. Janet, a domineering, driven social-climber, calls to mind Streep’s brilliant performance as the bitchy, demanding fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Like Miranda, Janet seeks perfection in her possessions and imposes exacting standards on everyone around her, not letting Jackie out of the house unless the seams of her nylon stockings are perfectly straight. The battles between Streep as whip-cracking, Social Register-worshipping Janet and Kunis as independent-minded Jackie fiercely resisting the society matron role pre-ordained for her would make for some memorable scenes.

Doug Liman would be my pick for director. He is no stranger to action thrillers, having directed The Bourne Identity in 2002 and executive produced the The Bourne Supremacy in 2004 and The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007. But it’s his skillful directing of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the comedic thriller, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, that makes him such a good choice for directing Spy in a Little Black Dress, and the prequel, Paris to Die For. The Jackie spy series is different from the usual run of thrillers in that the death-defying exploits, suspense, and romance are all blended with high fashion and tongue-in-cheek humor—something Liman did so well in his movie about a suburban husband and wife secret assassins hired to kill each other. And we all know how that turned out in real life.

Read more about Spy in a Little Black Dress, and visit Maxine Schnall's website and Kenneth Salikof's Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Corey Redekop's "Husk"

Corey Redekop has been many things: actor, waiter, disc jockey, cameraman, editor, lawyer (almost), and now the fabled trifecta of publicist/librarian/author. His debut novel, Shelf Monkey, is either a work of insane genius or an intolerable left-wing screed, depending on which review you read. Stunningly handsome, supremely talented, superbly gifted at hyperbole, Redekop abides in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Here the author shares some ideas for casting an adaptation of his latest novel, Husk:

I hate to specify certain body types of actors, as I really don’t like casting based on appearance. But my hero Sheldon gradually rots away to nothing, especially in the third act, so I reluctantly have to insist that the actor portraying him be relatively slim in build. It just isn’t feasible to use an actor with a larger frame, unless we shell out tonnes of money for CGI, and no one wants that.

Sheldon would be an excellent part for either Jay Baruchel or Topher Grace. Both are relatively slight, and both have unique comedic timing that I think would help accentuate the ridiculousness of the situation. Husk is a comedy, despite the gallons of viscera I spread about the pages. But there’s a dramatic side to much of the proceedings, so my final answer would have to be Joseph Gordon Levitt. I hated 3rd Rock from the Sun, but since then, he’s proved himself one of the best actors out there. Watch Brick and see if I’m wrong. He’s bulking up a bit lately, and he’s a touch young for the role, but we could get around that.

For Duane, Sheldon’s awkward paramour, that’s where we go with the pretty. Duane is a C-list Disney television actor, but we cannot cast exactly that way, as we want actual acting, i.e. no Saved by the Bell pretending to act allowed. Ugh. We could try Channing Tatum, who’s proved himself a bit heftier as an actor than we previously believed, or Zac Efron (but he might be too pretty). I’d almost say Taylor Lautner, but I’m so far unconvinced that there is anything there.

Rowan, Sheldon’s agent, needs a woman who can play practically sociopathic. She needs to be a force unto herself, a woman who completely gets her own way through any means necessary. I’d like to go with unexpected casting on this, so Daryl Hannah or Demi Moore would be my picks.

And without giving too much away, Lambertus Dixon, the astonishingly old gentleman whose part in the novel shall remain spoiler-free here, would have been a perfect role for the late great William Hickey. He wouldn’t have needed a spot of makeup. I’m tempted to try R. Lee Ermey, who would need a little aging, but as this is a zombie novel, I’m going to go old-school and cast Christopher Lee. Because everything goes better with Christopher Lee.

And Doctor Rhodes, the surgeon with the impossible-to-place accent? Gary Oldman. Have at it, sir! Chew scenery with abandon!

Read more about the novel and author at the Shelf Monkey blog and Corey Redekop's website.

The Page 99 Test: Shelf Monkey.

My Book, The Movie: Shelf Monkey.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Yona Zeldis McDonough's "A Wedding in Great Neck"

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of the novels A Wedding in Great Neck, Breaking the Bank, In Dahlia's Wake, and The Four Temperaments, as well as nineteen books for children. She is also the editor of two essay collections and is the Fiction Editor at Lilith magazine. Her award-winning short fiction, articles, and essays have been published in anthologies and in numerous national magazines and newspapers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, two children and three very yappy Pomeranians.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of A Wedding in Great Neck:

I think my new novel A Wedding in Great Neck, would make an ideal movie because it is so tightly focused: it takes place in a single day and pretty much in a single setting. There are four generations represented and five differing points of view. For the mother of bride, Betsy, I would love to see Meryl Streep because I think she lends such presence and depth to any film she is in. The bride herself could be beautifully played by Anne Hathaway whose dark grace would be perfect for the role. The older sister, Gretchen, is a less clear to me. Perhaps Julianne Moore’s quirky and offbeat charm would make her a good candidate. There is also an 80+ grandmother in this novel—for that role, I’d like to see Barbra Streisand (with plenty of age-adding make up) because I think she has the feistiness necessary to play the part. I’d love to see a young Lindsay Lohan, back in the day, for the troubled teen-aged daughter, Justine. And Lincoln, the accidental hero of the story, could be nicely played by Jeff Bridges or Michael Douglas.

Learn more about the author and her work at Yona Zeldis McDonough's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Yona Zeldis McDonough & Queenie, Willa and Holden.

The Page 69 Test: A Wedding in Great Neck.

Writers Read: Yona Zeldis McDonough.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Stephen R. Bown's "The Last Viking"

Stephen R. Bown is the author of several critically acclaimed, award-winning books on the history of exploration, science, and ideas. His latest book, The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen, covers the incredible exploits of the famous Norwegian explorer who was the first to reach the South Pole on skis and dog sled, the first to sail the Northwest Passage, and the first to fly over the North Pole.

Here he shares some observations about adapting The Last Viking for the big screen:

People often say to me "That story is incredible - why doesn't someone make a documentary or a movie about it." I usually brush it off politely, because I know the story to be too complex or to require too much back-story to be make any sense to someone who hadn't already read the book. This is often the problem with non-fiction; the story, or parts of it, might be incredible but to remain true to the known facts you can't just adjust the story for length or dramatic impact, or make characters more admirable or likeable.

My latest book The Last Viking was no exception. Roald Amundsen is chiefly known for beating the British Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole in 1911. But in a remarkable career that spanned decades he also sailed the famed and feared Northwest Passage, sailed the Northeast Passage and then turned to airplanes when he couldn’t get his ship through the ice to the North Pole. Then he died mysteriously when his bi-plane disappeared into a fog bank on a rescue mission for another Polar explorer in 1928. I discovered hundreds of interviews, profiles and articles in the New York Times archives that revealed an entirely new aspect of his personality and showed that he was a famous celebrity in the United States for at least ten years before he died. He travelled the country delivering amusing and exciting slide lectures to audiences that included the political and cultural elite and was frequently in the news. How do you put all that into a 2 hour film?

Amazingly, I recently read that a major Hollywood movie is being planned featuring Amundsen, but focussing on only one of his dramatic adventures. The Race to the South Pole, according to various sources, is being produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for Warner Brothers with Casey Affleck set to play the role of Robert Falcon Scott. No word yet on who will play Amundsen.

While The Race to the South Pole is not based on my book The Last Viking, which is only just published, as an author who has spent the past two years researching Amundsen's life I can hope that the portrayal of Amundsen is not as the dour, ruthless and dastardly foil to a heroic Scott, as he is sometimes stereotyped by Scott admirers. Certainly he was single-minded - or goal oriented as we say these days - when he was on an expedition. But afterward on the lecture circuit he was a charming and amusing eccentric, a great storyteller with many admirers, particularly in the US.

I suppose I will have to wait and see. Of course I'm open to consultation!

Learn more about the book and author at Stephen R. Bown's website and Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Michelle Cooper's "The FitzOsbornes at War"

Michelle Cooper's novels include The Rage of Sheep and The Montmaray Journals trilogy.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, The FitzOsbornes at War:

The FitzOsbornes at War is the final novel in the Montmaray Journals trilogy. The royal family of Montmaray fled their remote island kingdom in 1937 when the Nazis attacked. But now that war has come to England and the rest of the world – nowhere is safe.

When I began writing this series, I envisaged Prince Toby, the charming but indolent heir to the Montmaravian throne, as a young Jude Law. I now have a few readers who are convinced that Sam Claflin would be ideal for the role of Toby. However, as I haven’t seen any of Sam Claflin’s performances, I think I’ll go with Bradley James, because he can do a posh British accent and knows how to handle a sword.

Toby’s enigmatic cousin Simon needs to be played by someone tall, dark and broodingly handsome – perhaps Ben Barnes or Matthew Goode.

Princess Veronica, Toby’s other cousin, is a fiery intellectual who speaks Spanish. She can be played by a young Penélope Cruz. (I’m assuming that I have access to a time-travelling machine here.) Veronica’s journalist friend Daniel would be ably portrayed by Mathew Baynton, who is both adorably geeky and highly experienced at playing characters from previous historical eras. (I’ve been watching a lot of Horrible Histories lately.)

For the FitzOsbornes’ friend Julia, who is a glamorous London socialite turned ambulance driver, I’m thinking Emily Blunt, an actress who can convey both strength and vulnerability. Her brother Rupert could be played by a young James McAvoy. Their uncle, Colonel Stanley-Ross, has a mysterious job in the Secret Service. He can be played by Samuel West, who did such an excellent job of being a spy in Foyle’s War and Cambridge Spies.

Helen Mirren can take on the role of Aunt Charlotte, the FitzOsbornes’ imperious aunt, with Helena Bonham Carter as Barnes, her devoted maid.

And finally, Princess Sophia, my narrator, should be played by either Saoirse Ronan or a young Romola Garai. However, I suspect our film’s budget will have blown out by now, so we’ll probably have to use an unknown young British actress – who will, of course, be catapulted into international fame and fortune when the film of The FitzOsbornes at War is an enormous success!

Learn more about the book and author at Michelle Cooper's website.

Writers Read: Michelle Cooper (May 2011).

Writers Read: Michelle Cooper.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Amanda Bennett's "The Cost of Hope"

Amanda Bennett's books include In Memoriam (1997, with Terence B. Foley), The Man Who Stayed Behind (1993, with Sidney Rittenberg), The Death of the Organization Man (1990), and the recently released memoir, The Cost of Hope.

Here Bennett shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of The Cost of Hope:

The most important characters to cast in The Cost of Hope are Terence, and me. The book is the story of our stormy relationship, and what we became, and especially what his illness brought to our lives. It’s about how the two of us met in a China so long ago the capital was still called Peking, of how we fought like street dogs, got married, raised a family, how I became an investigative journalist and he became a professor and we moved all around the country and then he got cancer and together we fought it and then he died. It sounds like a movie script, but it was our life. After he died, I went back and got all the records and re-interviewed the doctors and everyone who took care of us and tried to make sense of the choices we had all made.

Our life was full of movies. We loved film noir. He loved madcap comedy. (I hated it). The movies we watched were full of prototypes for the dueling-couples-in-love motif. How about Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier in the 1940 Pride and Prejudice? We must have watched It Happened One Night a dozen times so I could see Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. I can’t help returning to the 1940s and ‘50s in thinking about casting Terence. He was elegant, given to bow ties and well-cut charcoal suits so I think Cary Grant. His Midwestern sense of right and wrong, and righteous ire at the forces of evil suggest Jimmy Stewart. But he was also hilarious, so maybe this would be a good serious dramatic part for Robin Williams or Jack Black.

As for me honestly, I’d say if I were God the only right thing to do would be to resurrect Ingrid Bergman to play me. Not because I’m anything like Ingrid Bergman, but just because I’d like that.

Since my teens I’ve banned the use of the word “perky” in any description of me. The fact that decades later, I still have to threaten harsh actions to enforce this ban suggests a consideration of Meg Ryan or Sally Field.

The book spans 25 years of our life, from my early 30s to mid-50s as I change from an obnoxiously mouthy opinionated, stubborn foreign-correspondent girlfriend in China to, 20 years later, a devoted wife who throws her entire being into trying to save her husband’s life. Maybe Anne Hathaway’s career trajectory, from hem-tripping would-be royalty in The Princess Diaries to hollow-eyed, drug-addicted harridan in Rachel Getting Married would mean she could make the journey along with me.

Sometimes when my friends ask who I’d like to see play me, I say Janeane Garofalo. They laugh, of course, but then a few of them pause and say… hmmmmm. So maybe there could be a version that stars both her and Jack Black. That might help the case I make to people that even though this is a book about a guy who gets cancer and dies, it’s actually a pretty funny story.

Visit the official The Cost of Hope website and Facebook page.

See--Amanda Bennett's five best tales of stormy couples.

--Marshal Zeringue

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Dan Josefson's "That’s Not a Feeling"

Dan Josefson has an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and lives in Brooklyn. He has received a Fulbright research grant and a Schaeffer Award from the International Institute of Modern Letters.

Here he dreamcasts That’s Not a Feeling, his first novel:

That’s Not a Feeling is set on the grounds of a strange, therapeutic boarding school named Roaring Orchards, where things are slowly coming apart at the seams. There are lots and lots of characters, but I’ll try to cast only the most important of them.

The narrator, Benjamin, is a bit of a cipher: he observes, and reports, and quietly seethes. Sometimes not so quietly. Initially I was thinking of a young Bud Court for this role, but I think Paul Dano might be a better choice. Benjamin’s friend Tidbit is smart, unpredictable, and only marginally honest. I could see Lena Dunham playing her really well. Another of Benjamin’s friends, Andrew Pudding, is a very funny and somewhat sad character. I’d love to see Jonah Hill in that role.

As for the administrators of Roaring Orchards, there’s Doris, the assistant director and Aubrey, the headmaster. Kathy Bates would be terrific as Doris. Aubrey is the most difficult to cast, and the most fun for me to think about. He is charming, fierce, unhinged, fragile, and brilliant, all at the same time. I considered Orson Welles, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffman, and while they’d all be great (I particularly like when Dustin Hoffman gets angry on screen), my choice is Klaus Kinski. Even at Kinski’s most gentle, he held a hint of menace that threatened to erupt at the slightest provocation. And while I’m dreaming, Louis Malle would direct.

Learn more about the book and author at Dan Josefson's website.

The Page 69 Test: That's Not a Feeling.

--Marshal Zeringue

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