I'm talking beyond books that you know will eventually be filmed. While reading "The Road" I'm sure many people cast someone as The Man that they would like to see fill the role on the big screen (John Cusack for me, though I'm sure Viggo will do a bang-up job).
I visualize whatever I read, and I tend to cast actors I know as the characters in just about everything I read. Part of it is doubtless sheer laziness of the imagination (which troubles me), but part of it is even more problematic: if I invent a person to fill a role, imagine what they look and sound like, that concept is liable to be somewhat mutable. Today's concept won't be the same as tomorrow's. By attaching a real actor to a role I can fix his or her features, and am then free to get truly absorbed in the story.
Sherlock Holmes, a well described character, has been portrayed by numerous actors. For a long time whenever I read a Holmes story I visualized him as an amalgam of those actors with some tweaks of my own, but his likeness was apt to change in the time between reading tales. But a few years ago I firmly cast him, and in my mind's eye Holmes now looks and sounds like James Cromwell, and Watson will forever be Ben Kingsley. They fit the roles perfectly to me. I can watch other actors play Holmes and Watson and become absorbed with their work, there is no problem enjoying the show. When I read, however, it's Cromwell and Kingsley. They ARE Holmes and Watson, in my head.
This is true of almost everything I read. Doyle's "The Lost World" starred Brian Blessed as Professor Challenger, James Cromwell as Professor Summerlee, Timothy Dalton as Lord Roxton, and Ewan MacGregor as journalist Ed Malone (a fantastic reading experience, by the way). Harvey Keitel is Dashiell Hammet's Continental Op, Christopher Meloni is Stark's amoral thief Parker, Tim Roth is Jack Vance's rogue Cugel the Clever.
I do make modifications from time to time. Keitel is also Stark's other thief, Dortmunder, although I've had to stretch Harvey into a taller man (Nic Cage is Murch, Anne Ramsey is Murch's Mom, and Steve Buscemi is Andy Kelp). I've made actors younger or older, or tweaked them in other ways to best fit a role.
I don't always do this. The characters of the Harry Potter books are a blend of the actors from the films, other actors not in the films, and persons imagined (Robbie Coltrane is a fine Hagrid, but he's not my Hagrid). Non-fiction books generally use the actual people; when reading "Public Enemies" I looked up pictures of all the major players (several photos also came with the book) so I could get a firm mental grip on their appearance.
So, how many other people do this? Or am I alone? And INSANE? (Or just lazy and unimaginative?)
I visualize whatever I read, and I tend to cast actors I know as the characters in just about everything I read. Part of it is doubtless sheer laziness of the imagination (which troubles me), but part of it is even more problematic: if I invent a person to fill a role, imagine what they look and sound like, that concept is liable to be somewhat mutable. Today's concept won't be the same as tomorrow's. By attaching a real actor to a role I can fix his or her features, and am then free to get truly absorbed in the story.
Sherlock Holmes, a well described character, has been portrayed by numerous actors. For a long time whenever I read a Holmes story I visualized him as an amalgam of those actors with some tweaks of my own, but his likeness was apt to change in the time between reading tales. But a few years ago I firmly cast him, and in my mind's eye Holmes now looks and sounds like James Cromwell, and Watson will forever be Ben Kingsley. They fit the roles perfectly to me. I can watch other actors play Holmes and Watson and become absorbed with their work, there is no problem enjoying the show. When I read, however, it's Cromwell and Kingsley. They ARE Holmes and Watson, in my head.
This is true of almost everything I read. Doyle's "The Lost World" starred Brian Blessed as Professor Challenger, James Cromwell as Professor Summerlee, Timothy Dalton as Lord Roxton, and Ewan MacGregor as journalist Ed Malone (a fantastic reading experience, by the way). Harvey Keitel is Dashiell Hammet's Continental Op, Christopher Meloni is Stark's amoral thief Parker, Tim Roth is Jack Vance's rogue Cugel the Clever.
I do make modifications from time to time. Keitel is also Stark's other thief, Dortmunder, although I've had to stretch Harvey into a taller man (Nic Cage is Murch, Anne Ramsey is Murch's Mom, and Steve Buscemi is Andy Kelp). I've made actors younger or older, or tweaked them in other ways to best fit a role.
I don't always do this. The characters of the Harry Potter books are a blend of the actors from the films, other actors not in the films, and persons imagined (Robbie Coltrane is a fine Hagrid, but he's not my Hagrid). Non-fiction books generally use the actual people; when reading "Public Enemies" I looked up pictures of all the major players (several photos also came with the book) so I could get a firm mental grip on their appearance.
So, how many other people do this? Or am I alone? And INSANE? (Or just lazy and unimaginative?)
). I'm saying - picture them in their early 20s, and that's what I imagined on some of my "re-casts." Oh, and also a 30-somethingish Madeline Stowe as Nadine. Never did stumble upon a good Nick Andros - that one still kind of bugs me that I never nailed him down.
