Andrew Welsh-Huggins's "Sick To Death," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Sick to Death by Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

The entry begins:

Sick To Death is the eighth book in my series about Andy Hayes, a former Ohio State and Cleveland Browns quarterback turned private eye. When thinking about who would play Hayes in a movie, I always remind people that Keanu Reeves has twice played a former Ohio State quarterback—FBI agent Johnny Utah in 1991’s Pointbreak, and down-and-out NFL player Shane Falco in The Replacements in 2000. However, though I’m a big Reeves admirer, I don’t think he’s right for the role of Hayes. Thinking about Sick to Death on the big screen, I decided to focus on four characters:

Hayes; his newly discovered adult daughter, Alex Rutledge; Hayes’ friend and sometimes collaborator Otto Mulligan, a bail bondsman; and Suzanne Gregory, an award-winning TV journalist who also happens to be Hayes’ ex-fiancée. This time around, I’m selecting Jake Gyllenhaal to play Hayes. Although I like the breadth of his work, I’m leaning mainly on his performance in the 2024 remake of Roadhouse. Gyllenhaal is a lot buffer than I imagine Hayes, but what draws me to him is the baggage that Gyllenhaal’s character carries in the movie from a violent incident in his past as a UFC fighter. Hayes has baggage to spare, and I think Gyllenhaal could aptly portray Hayes’ ongoing efforts at redemption.

For Alex, I would tap...[read on]

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--Marshal Zeringue