If We Were Villains – M. L Rio Guest Post.

Today, it is my pleasure to welcome M. L Rio to my blog to talk about who she would like to play some of her characters if her novel was to be dramatised or made into a stage production. I think Mark Rylance is a wonderful actor and would make a great Frederick. I found it interesting to read and compare with my own choices.

If the book was to be dramatised for television which actors would you like to play your characters?

This is a really difficult question. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m probably overthinking it, but that’s because I’ve worked in theatre and film for years and I know just how convoluted casting decisions can get. Even dream-casting is difficult, though, for two reasons. Firstly, these characters are quite young and I really hate that Hollywood convention where characters are played by actors who are ten years too old for the parts. So as much as I’d love to say “Find me a 21-year-old Léa Seydoux to play Wren,” that’s a bit far-fetched. (What I really need is a 20-something Paul Gross to play Oliver. If you haven’t seen Slings & Arrows, you should make that a priority. I had such a strong strange crush on Geoff Tennant. Still do, to be honest.) And there’s an added challenge here, which is that not all actors are great Shakespeare actors, and that’s a really essential part of the story. So that narrows the pool. Douglas Booth could do James. I didn’t love the 2013 Romeo and Juliet but his casting, I think, was spot on. He’s a marvelous Romeo. But maybe the best thing to do would be to look in the theatres–see who’s onstage at the Folger and the Globe and see if they might be interested in film. At the very least you’d find a hundred good options for Frederick, all the Old Guard of Shakespeare on stage–Ian McKellen or Mark Rylance or someone who’s really done their time in the Wooden O. In my fantasy-world Helena Bonham Carter plays Gwendolyn. I don’t even really know why, I just think she treads that line between eccentric and insane in a marvelous way. But it’s a hard question! Ask me again in a month and you’d probably get a totally different answer.

Thanks for the answers Mel. you can read my review of the book here  If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – Review.