Casting Your Novel

Kazel

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This thread has gotten me thinking about the characters in my novel, and what exactly they look like. I have been poking around a bit to find actors that fit what I think my characters should be, but I don't actually know where to look. DO you guys just keep your eyes open, or do you have a specific place to look?
I have found a few pictures, they aren't actors but models.
You can see it here on FLICKR. The owner of the picture doesn't allow direct linking, so I can't get the image to show here.
This is a picture of a typical metal worker in my world. Which is to say, someone who can magically manipulate metal. The metal workers are characterized by blonde hair, a pale complexion, and grey eyes.

My first main character is Rhea, a female earth worker, born a healer: an individual with the rare ability to control all five elements. Her talents place her among a class of peoplle despised by the larger population due to a prejudice developed in a long-ago war, fostered by the ruling class.
My second MC is Arro, a Fire-Wood half breed, accepted by the people of the country he grew up in as commonplace, but considered the lowest of the low by Rhea's people. He is in Rhea's home country both to gather information and to revisit the place of his birth.
My third MC is Rhys, with the looks of a fire worker, but with no ability to manipulate the elements. He is a Shadow, only able to use the passive blood magic that fuel the connection between people.
What the different elemental workers look like is in a bit of a flux in my mind, and I hope that having models for them will help hammer it down, since the ability to quickly visually distinguish what element someone controls is significant.
 

Leah_Michelle

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This thread has gotten me thinking about the characters in my novel, and what exactly they look like. I have been poking around a bit to find actors that fit what I think my characters should be, but I don't actually know where to look. DO you guys just keep your eyes open, or do you have a specific place to look?

Yeah I'll usually see someone from watching movies or TV and think that they are perfect, or I'll browse IMDB.
 

pixydust

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paranormalchick

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Ooooo, can I eat Blake for Breakfast? A Blake omlette...or Blake in a blanket...lol...again with the bad boy.

I love the premise of that one. Looks really fun. Which one is the one you're sending me pages of?
The dying curse...I'm not tooo far in THH yet only about 3k...but I have the story completely outlined. :) My MC is a total Beee-ouch but she's so fun to write :)
 

Blind Writer

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My Casts:

THE DUFF
Bianca - Ellen Page
Wesley - Ed Westwick
Casey - Brittany Snow (if she cut her hair)
Jessica - Alyson Machalka (sp?)
Toby - Cody Linley

SCANDALOUS SUMMER (working title)
Whitley - Willa Holland
Nathan - Drake Bell
Bailey - Dakota Fanning
 

Zoombie

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My dream movie is animated, so I DON'T NEED TO WORK WITH STUPID ACTORS!

Well...

I need to work with voice actors.

But they're a better kind of actor anyway.

Here is Pix

pixlcomm.jpg


Jimmy comes later.


It is latter.

Jimmy has come.

davidsketch.jpg



Done by a different artist. Can you believe she drew that for FIFTEEN dollars!?
 

andeverythingnice

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Okay, so I know I haven't even written anything about my WIP YA here on AW yet, but casting threads are just too fun to resist! :snoopy:

In the smallest of nutshells, "The Excelsior Project" is about a group of young adult mutants who band together in a sort of foster family on the run from their common enemy. Each character possesses his/her own special abilities or skills, and more importantly, personality strengths and defects that affect the whole "family".

Closest comparisons would be Runaways (Marvel) and Maximum Ride (James Patterson). Of course, I've thrown in my own special twists and extras to the standard formula. ;)

ENSEMBLE CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS

Emma (17) - MC, youngest of the group, story told from her 1st PPOV.
screening_ROBB.jpg

Annasophia Robb

Ryan (22) - de facto leader of the group on whom Emma develops a monster crush.
ryan7.jpg

Matt Long

Paige (21) - "mother figure" of the group, Ryan's longtime girlfriend.
italy55.jpg

Bryce Dallas Howard

Caleb (23) - Ryan's irresponsible older half-brother, unofficial co-leader, considered most powerful in the group.
cam-gigandet-in-black.jpg

Cam Gigandet

Matt (19) - Emma's "big brother" figure, who (as tradition goes) later realizes his deeper feelings for her.
StarsSetGossipGirlQU-Evc1YU8Sl.jpg

Armie Hammer

Xander (20) - the life of the party, but also the "go-to" guy for advice.
elijah-kelley-431x400.jpg

Elijah Kelley

Julie (20) - incredibly beautiful, but emotionally damaged; closest to Xander.
66772.jpg

Elisabeth Harnois

Lyla (19) - bubbly and hyperactive; becomes Emma's closest friend; harbors a secret crush on Drake.
Anna-Maria-Perez-De-Tagle-anna-mari.jpg

Anna Maria Perez de Tagle

Drake (19) - hardhitting and kickass but surprisingly sensitive loner.
normal_009.jpg

Thomas Dekker

Mia (19) - kickass and plain badass chick, gets along with mostly just Drake, her "practically twins" best friend.
24ci1yg.jpg

Daveigh Chase

Noah (18) - the "walking computer", born deaf-mute; close to both Lyla and Drake.
Posey018.jpg

Tyler Posey
 

pixydust

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Oh, what a cool cast! I love it! And the ms sounds really intriguing!!! Love those types of stories with the kids all large and in charge--THIEF LORD and GONE and MAX--just love it! And the fact that they're a little older gives you all kinds of ways you could go with it, since they're all "legal."
 

miss marisa

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This is fun. I love seeing everyone's choices. Let's see. I'll choose some from my WIP that I have yet to title.

Nell Cerrone is a quiet, critical seventeen-year-old who spends most of her time as a guide for the haunted house attraction her mother owns. That haunted house attraction -called the 'Bat Cave'- is also where her family lives. Which is quite suiting, considering they are bats. However, due to her mother mating with a human, Nell cannot transform herself into a bat like others in her family can. This is fine with her, until her mother disappears and she is the last one to have seen her.

Nell is the prime suspect in her mother's disappearance, and her family becomes increasingly suspicious of the black sheep. Feeling her mother's disappearance has something to do with the locked door tucked behind cobwebs and chains, she tries to uncover her family's lies and secrets, including the abandonment of her father. As she draws closer to the truth, Nell finds that maybe some doors are meant to remain locked.

Nell Cerrone is the MC, a smart but quiet black sheep. She's glad she's not a bat because she thinks they're smelly.

emily_browning.jpg

(Emily Browning)

Olinda Cerrone is the adhesive that holds the makeshift family together. She's usually tough, but alone with certain members of the family, she's often silly.
normal6.jpg

(Michelle Forbes)

Mackenzie Sevell is Nell's cousin and close friend. He's a total wackjob, but an awesome cook, so the family jokes that they keep him around for the food. He provides great insight for people when they need it.
Hugh_Dancy-1-Evening.jpg

(Hugh Dancy)

Piper Vanek is related to Nell through marriage. She's unique, playful, and has a different hair color every week. Her fashion sense is questionable, but somehow she makes her outfits work. She becomes fearful of Nell after Olinda disappears, since Piper had a close bond with her.
thora_birch21.jpg

(Thora Birch)


Jerek Savell is Nell's ignorant uncle and Jerek's father, who decides to help Nell out after her mother disappears. He means well, but causes a lot of trouble for both Nell and the family.
johnny-depp.jpg

(Johnny Depp)

Roth Heid is a human willing to assist the family of bats. He claims to have the key to the locked door in the Cave, and Nell accepts his offer enthusiastically. However, her family is less-than-thrilled with this human who seems to know their secrets.
Jared_Leto.jpg

(Jared Leto)


There are more characters, but darn, this is hard...
 
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lm728

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Julie (20) - incredibly beautiful, but emotionally damaged; closest to Xander.
66772.jpg

Elisabeth Harnois

Ohh, I love her! Saw her in Keith (the movie), and she was really convincing as a 17-year old. She's about 30 in real-life, though. But she has a set of killer cheekbones.
 

Amynta

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Okay, here's the few faces I used to put together my Lionheart writing scrapbook/wiki/thing.

The three main characters, or at least, the main trio, are Leander, Will and Gretel.

Leander.jpg
Will.jpg
Gretel.jpg


I love trios. So much fun. :) Some of my faves are Luke/Leia/Han, Harry/Ron/Hermione and Ash/Misty/Brock. Anyway!

On the left is Boyd Holbrook, who I am using to portray Leander the main character of the main trio, and the reason we follow him along in his main quest. In his world, in the upperclasses, only the men can practice magic. The in-world reasoning is that women caused the downfall of their great empire and as punishment all women are now forbidden from practicing. Well, all upperclass women, the women descended from the old people, anyway. The conquered women still practice their form of magic, but it's "herbs and mumbling", not the grand war magic of the upperclass.

The story is not just about him rescuing his sister and defeating the bad guy, but also about him realising the wrongs in the world, and at the very least making the change inside himself to realise that it is wrong and to actually question what he's told.


In the middle is Will, as portrayed by Shaun DeWet. We first meet Will when he drugs Leander and steals all his possessions. He is kind enough to leave Leander his pants, but not so kind as to leave him his shoes. He reappears later to annoy Leander and Gretel while on an airship, and drag them into trouble. His resistance to magic, however, makes him a valuable asset later on. As do other skills.


And on the right is Gretel aka a wonderfully curly-haired Lily Cole. She is descended from the original settlers who were later conquered by Leander's ancestors. Unlike the girls Leander knows, she is trained in magic, but where magic users were once revered they now live on the outskirts of the village and only called upon when needed. She starts off as the annoying psuedo-sister who wants to go on an adventure but grows in character and strength as she and Leander learn from each other and share magic knowledge.


And some of the secondary characters:
Reynoldsmall.jpg
Aellasmall.jpg
Littlesis.jpg
Benjaminsmall.jpg


The first three are Leander's family, Reynold, Aella and Eithne, as portrayed by Jason Isaacs (because for the hair thing it was either him or Fabio, and... no), Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Blue Richards. And on the far right is Benjamin (by Jared Padalecki), Leander's friend and ally who remains in the capital to keep an eye on the villain and do more research while Leander quests.


And for a final one, the woman everything that ever happened that was even slightly possibly bad, former Imperatrix and High Mage Julia Hart, portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. Of course, this is a pack of lies and her legacy has been left behind to help the heroes, and her power and influence is still strong, even from beyond the grave.

Juliahart.jpg
 

Red.Ink.Rain

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For DALET, my YA urban fantasy about four kids who come out of comas with the ability to see angels and demons.

Camden James Brenner
camden.jpg

Nicknames: Cam or Camden. Nothing else.
An athletic, popular seventeen-year-old, Camden is famous for hitting the most home runs in a season and sleeping with anything with boobs. But in a very charming way.
The Accident: Got drunk, decided to try surfing on the hood of his friend's truck, fell, and got a tire to the back of his skull.

Annalise Asasia Evangeline Rosemarie McKinney
annalise.jpg

Nicknames: Pet names are for dogs, horses, and toddlers. Please refrain from calling her anything but Annalise.
Thirteen years old, she's a sophomore in high school, incredibly bright, and born into a very artistic, very free-spirited family (hence the name.) She plans to be a scientist and discover a new species. Preferably a dragon or a unicorn.
The Accident: Was sampling the water at Fountainhead Lake, slipped on a rock, hit her head, and fell in. Nearly drowned.

Roberta Josefina Gonzalez
robin.jpg

Nicknames: Robin, Robbie Jo
Fifteen years old, her family immigrated from Mexico when she was two. She's logical, tough, straightforward, and desperately tries to shun her family's heritage - except when she gets angry and starts cussing Cam out in Spanish.
The Accident: Raped and beaten by three cousins.

Zoey Francesca DeLuca.
zoey.jpg

Nicknames: Anything she can come up with to keep curious strangers off her tail.
Eighteen years old, she woke up in a hospital several weeks ago with a tattoo, acute paranoia, and no memory. She's got a conscience but it's usually buried under several layers of survival instinct. She trusts no one but Camden, and even that's iffy sometimes, because she can pretty much see into his soul and his intentions aren't always super honorable.
The Accident: Car crash.
 
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lm728

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For DALET, my YA urban fantasy about four kids who come out of comas with the ability to see angels and demons.

Camden James Brenner
camden.jpg

Nicknames: Cam or Camden. Nothing else.
An athletic, popular seventeen-year-old, Camden is famous for hitting the most home runs in a season and sleeping with anything with boobs. But in a very charming way.
The Accident: Got drunk, decided to try surfing on the hood of his friend's truck, fell, and got a tire to the back of his skull.

He looks like a Hannah Montana actor. Like Lucas Till. :D Is he a celebrity or someone you got off the web?