Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Jeffrey Wilson's "The Donors"

Jeffrey Wilson has at one time worked as an actor, a firefighter, a paramedic, a jet pilot, a diving instructor, a Naval Officer, and a Vascular and Trauma Surgeon. He also served two tours in Iraq as a combat surgeon with both the Marines and with a Joint Special Operations Task Force.

Here he shares some ideas for the cast and director of an adaptation of his new novel, The Donors:
So the premise of who would play whom in a movie version of my book, The Donors, is incredibly fun, but really not something I had ever thought about before (no, really-- I know that everyone thinks all authors write for the movie rights). Don’t get me wrong, a movie deal on any of my books would be fantastic-- I simply don’t write with that mindset. For me, writing is like watching a movie, but one about very real people played by-- well, themselves. The characters are very real for me, and when I’m writing I see them in my head as real people, not as Matt Damon or Brad Pitt.

So, enough of the disclaimer. Now that I am thinking about The Donors as a movie, the thought of picking the characters is really fun. Let’s start with those evil demons-- the Lizard men as my five year old protagonist calls them, for that’s how he sees them in the “other world” of his dreams. Max Van Sydow, especially as he appeared in the movie adaptation of King’s Needful Things, is very much like I pictured the human manifestation of this character. Pull a wide brimmed hat low over his eyes and flip up the collar on his long trench coat and with a little special affect for the glowing eyes-- you’ve got ‘em. Alternatively, since I’m told time has no meaning in this game, Vincent Price in his forties would do quite nicely also.

The main protagonist is five years old Nathan and any lovable, believable five year old would do great. Think of a five year old version of Haley Joel Osment in Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense and you are on the right track. Nathan’s new best friend is his ER Doctor, Jason, and this character is best played by someone not terribly “Hollywood”. Not a Brad Pitt or other mega-star, but rather solid character actor. I would pick Edward Norton for this role. And for his Nurse love interest and soon to be victim of Nathan’s Lizard men, actress Sarah Jones would be perfect.

This group would bring the characters of my book to life beautifully, especially if they directed by the M. Night Shyamalan who gave us Signs and The Sixth Sense.
Learn more about the book and author at Jeffrey Wilson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue