Q1) Do you normally cast characters in books, once you have read their descriptions, from existing actors (alive or dead), or do you leave them to your own imagination?
Q2) If you do that casting from real life actors, which movies have been close to your cast list?
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In my own case, it’s about 50/50. If the writer has gone to some trouble to specify physical traits and characteristics, I will find myself gradually doing a search through my own mental catalog for people whose traits match those in the book. That catalog includes actors and people I have known who are not in show business. As often as not the match will come from existing actors.
If the writer doesn’t dwell on specific traits, I will generally leave the physical aspects of the character in limbo or in some “gray area” and focus instead on other aspects of the story.
The case that made my decide to post this thread has to do with Cold Mountain which I read and was fascinated by a couple of Christmases ago. The book was a gift that year. If I did select actors for those major roles while I was reading, I may have conjured up Fred Ward and Jane Seymour. I certainly wouldn’t have picked Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.
Now and then, I get the feeling that writers deliberately “cast” their stories as they write them, hoping the film rights will be bought, and even pushing for that outcome by casting the book as part of the writing process. When that happens, it’s not too hard to figure which actors the writer has in mind. It’s especially true if the writer has already had a book adapted to a screen play, or has actually done a screen play from one of his/her own stories.
If you have that same feeling about writers do you see the same sort of results?