It’s Friday again and all of us here at the Lit Snit headquarters are ready for another Casting Call session. This week’s selection is Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. After surfing through a ginormous pile of headshots and resumes, we are finally ready for the silver screen.First, let’s check out the plot:
Plot: In this story-within-a-story plot, we have two main heroines: Amy Blacort and Eloise Kelly. Eloise Kelly is a Harvard PhD student working on a dissertation exploring one of England’s most distinguished spies: the Purple Gentian (aka Richard Selwick), who helped topple Napoleon from power. Eloise flies to England to study some of the Purple Gentian never-before-read letters which are kept at the Selwick estate. As she begins her adventure though time using the letters, she uncovers an unexpected romance between the Purple Gentian and another mysterious figure by the name of Amy Balcourt. While at the Selwick estate, Eloise also develops an interesting attachment to its current keeper, Colin Selwick.
MEET THE CAST & CREW:
Character: Amy Balcourt
Amy is a young, upper-class Franco-British woman. She is well-educated and a bit of a feminist. She has a very extroverted and opinionated nature, but is also naïve, and delicate. Amy’s comic side emerges when she engages in her sleuth-wannabe hobby, which tends to lead her into funny damsel in distress situations.Casting Call Callback: Rose Byrne - We saw this Aussie's brilliant acting talent in the movies Wicker Park and I Capture the Castle. She is versatile, compelling and oh-so-cute!
Character: Richard Selwick
Richard is a young, British Lord. He is charming, easy going and a bit of a Casanova. He can be hot-tempered at times, especially when dealing with Amy. Richard also leads a secretive, dual life of a spy.
Casting Call Callback: Christopher Egan-This Australian hunk first won us over during his brief but memorable appearance as Nick Bennet in the WB series Everwood, but it was his role in Letters to Juliet that made us see his potential as a romantic leading man.
Character: Eloise Kelly
Eloise is a single, middle-class, American woman in her later 20’s. She is witty but shy and introverted. Her priorities are scholastically driven, leaving her little time for appearances or romance.Casting Call Callback: Emmy Rossum-Knowing how to sing, act and still look amazing must be hard work, but Emmy was able to do all that and more while playing the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. Then, in movie Dare she showed us that being sexy and studious was indeed possible. How can she not be our Eloise?
Character: Colin Selwick
Colin is a well-educated, upper-class Briton. He is very even-tempered and confident. His protectiveness of his family's past makes him come off as snobbish and cold at times, but we soon see the softer side of this English gentleman.
Casting Call Callback: Eric Johnson-This Canadian star has been popping in and out of our radar for years with small appearances on all sorts of TV shows (e.g., Smallville, Ghost Whisperer, Supernatural, Rookie Blue). Now is the perfect time for him to show us his acting talent by playing a leading role in our movie.
Director: Oliver Parker
Soundtrack Selections:
Amy and Richard’s romance: Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune
Eloise and Colin’s romance: The Eels's Fresh Feeling
I LOVE your Richard and Colin picks. Christopher Egan would be great as Richard. Bradley James from the BBC Merlin series might also be good as either role. I don't watch the show much but he's so pretty.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I always think of Amy as a blond. I don't even remember if she's described that way but that's what I imagined. I could see a blond Carey Mulligan or even better Romola Garai as Amy. Romola is hit or miss for me but she was a great Emma in the recent remake.
Rachel McAdams is kind of my girl-crush so she may be a little old but I think she'd be a good Eloise.
I think your pick for Colin is brilliant! I like your pick for Richard also.
ReplyDeleteI also pictured Amy to be blond for some reason but I don't have any ideas on who should play her.
I really want to comment on the sdtk choices. Yes, yes, yes to the The Eels's Fresh Feeling! I think it's perfect for them through the entire series!I've been listening to the track for the last ten minutes or so. Thanks a lot. :)
Fine choices! I remember reading this one a few years ago and really enjoying it, though I haven't grabbed any of the others in the series (or are they stand-alones with similar covers?). Loved Richard Selwick in "Letters To Juliet"!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you guys (erin and janelle)! Amy is SO a brunette!
ReplyDeleteMeg-I do think that the books are linked but not in a way where if you read one in the middle of the series you won't understand what's going on. Each one can be read separately...i think.
Wow! I really like the casting picks...know of 3 of them and enjoyed them in other productions. Wish I could see this movie of Pink Carnation right now. I nver 'batted an eye' at the hair color for Amy when reading the above...just didn't occr to me to think of it. Might it be we're all kind of 'roped into' the blond heroine tradition, so just automatically go that way? Might be great to do this story without a blond heroine. Time to be more independent --- or something.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Most Cast Work of All Time (86) on the Storycasting website - even more casts than for Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Lauren's fans are fantastic, and there have been no serious fights about casting - everyone has been very nice! We didn't have Eric Johnson on the site before, but he's on there now. If you need another actor, just say so. Hope even more of Lauren's fans come and cast - and let's start thinking about how to get the movie made!
ReplyDelete