The entry begins:
Even though I'm a screenwriter, when I write books, I rarely have a real-life cast in mind. The characters are themselves in my mind. They do what they want, they look how they look, and fantasy casting is an act of "Well, she's close enough, I think!"Visit the official website for The Vespertine, and learn more about the book and author at Saundra Mitchell's website and blog.
This wasn't the case with my latest novel, The Vespertine.
Though I had the idea (a girl who can see the future only at sunset) for a while, it was just a concept. One line; there was no story or setting, or even actual characters to be had.
While watching a recent adaptation of Wuthering Heights, I found myself fascinated by Burn Gorman's performance as Hindley. People don't tend to remember Hindley- after all, it's Wuthering Heights. It's all about Catherine and Heathcliff, and their conjoined disaster of a relationship.
But Burn Gorman's Hindley, drunken, dissolute and still angry, really excited me. It was a trembling, furious performance and during one scene (I think, just after he loses the family manse to Heathcliff,) I thought, "Man, that's a guy who would lock his sister in the attic and leave her there to die."
Which is exactly how The Vespertine begins- August van den Broek locking his seemingly mad sister in the attic. So plainly, in my head, August is played by Burn Gorman.
His sister, the protagonist, sprang up fully-formed as played by...[read on]
Writers Read: Saundra Mitchell.
My Book, The Movie: The Vespertine.
--Marshal Zeringue
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