A message from Neil Gaiman

Since this *definitely* fits in with our topic, I just wanted to link you guys to this podcast, in which Neil Gaiman discusses the movie-ization of his book, Stardust.

From the Casting Couch

I'm just doing a short post now to get the topic out on the board. I'll update with my own response later tonight.

I'm fairly certain we all read. A lot. And I'm sure we all have some book we'd love to see turned into a movie. Well here's your chance to cast it. Give us a synopsis, and then tell who you'd cast in what roles. If you have a favorite director, hell, tell us that too.

Or, if there's a movie already made that you would've done casting differently, talk about that.

UPDATE:

Well an author I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with (and I know Jane’s with me on this) is Neil Gaiman, so I’m going to cast the first novel of his I read, American Gods.

The basic synopsis is that a convict, Shadow, is let out of prison a few days earlier than his original release date due to the death of his wife. He heads home, ready for the funeral and to start his new life, when he meets a strange man named Wednesday, who is offering him a job as a bodyguard. He rejects it, but then finds out his new job is gone due to the death of his best friend, who died in the same car accident as his wife. In fact she was was giving him a blowjob in the car. Oh - and she comes back from the dead too. Well it turns out Wednesday, is a god, Odin, and is on a crusade to gather up all the other gods in the country to rebel against the new ones America has created. The old gods were brought over with believers from other countries when they immigrated. However, as time passed, and the generations stopped believing, the old gods were forgotten, and were left to live normal lives. America replaced them with things like the internet, television, and money.

Czernobog - Peter Stormare - Slavic god that makes a bet with Shadow that if he wins a chess game, he gets to smash his head in with a hammer. Unsettling - just like this guy always is to me.

Anansi - Morgan Freeman - Lively, witty god - trickster of African folklore. Actually a bit more prominent in another Gaiman novel - Anansi’s Boys.

Shadow - Gary Dourdan (Yes, that’s the guy from CSI - I think he could totally pull off convict - at least one with depth - I could have easily just said Vin Diesel or The Rock, but that’s a bit of a cop out)

Wednesday - Billy Drago (Ok - this is where I have to admit that I watch Charmed, and he played Barbas, and was super creepy looking - btw Wednesday is not always a trustworthy character)

There are a ton more gods - several of which I might have to cast once I get to a computer with a faster internet connection. You can check out the list on Wikipedia - and feel free to add to this if anyone has read this book. I’ll try to get some links up to these actors’ pages on imdb, but in case I don’t, is it really that hard for you to look for yourself?

Mr. Sandman, bring me a.....

Dream, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels

I am absolutely in love with everything Neil Gaiman has touched. I was first introduced to Gaiman's works back in college, when a friend lent me all of the Sandman graphic novels. I recently read Smoke and Mirrors (thank you, Linda!), and when I was finished, I found myself craving Gaiman to the point that I re-read Neverwhere again. (No, that's not redundant; I really do mean that I re-read it again. I've read it several times.) Anyway, I'm not sure if it's the influence of Neil Gaiman's specific brand of insanity right before I turn out my light, or the recent problems I've had with my suspect prescriptions from Vanuatu, but I've had some crazy dreams over the past few weeks. I wish I'd thought to write them down. Instead, all I can tell you about are two of my most recent dreams.

Yesterday I left work early, as I was ill. I went home and slept for several hours. I should probably mention that my landlord owns a gigantic white bunny rabbit named Toto. Toto always greets me when I come home, so I had petted him briefly before staggering upstairs and collapsing into bed. I dreamt that I was at a restaurant with a group of people. One of them was Caitlin; I don't remember who the others were. Caitlin was encouraging us to order a certain dish from the menu, so we did. However, when it was her turn to order, she only requested tea. It turned out that we had ordered rabbit stew, made with Toto, boiled whole - fur and all. Luckily, that was where I awoke.

While I'm sure I dreamt a lot last night, I only recall what I was dreaming right before my alarm went off. I swear I don't usually have dreams about high school - after all, that ended ten years ago! In my dream, the band was going on a trip somewhere for a concert. Evil Mr. Atkins was still the director. It was winter, and raining; the weather was thoroughly miserable. Gwen, Melissa, Avery, Chris and a few other were there, no one else. Fatkins (nope, not a typo) was furious that everyone was late. Slowly, people began to trickle in, and we were told to get on the bus. It took so long for everyone to arrive, however, that they decided to give us a 30 minute lunch break. One of the chaperones asked me and Gwen to stay on the bus to make sure no one stole anything. Except that then the parking lot flooded, and the bus was swallowed up by a giant whale. Gwen and I barely escaped, and were holding onto the top of a chain-link fence to keep from being swept away when my alarm began beeping.

Who knows what any of this means. I would just like to add that Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley received the inspiration to write Dracula and Frankenstein, respectively, from dreams. Obviously, my dreams last night were far from that caliber!