I love books and I love movies. So perhaps it isn’t surprising that I’ve been mentally casting the books I read for as long as I can remember, and that when I start to write a new book, one of the first things I do is cast the characters. When I wrote with my mom, it was a great way for us to be sure we had the same image in mind for a character. Even writing on my own, I find it’s an invaluable help in visualizing how scenes play out. I have some writer friends who clip magazine pictures for images of their characters, but for me I find thinking of actors works better. It gives me a sense not just of what the characters look like, but of how they move and talk, their gestures and mannerisms, all sorts of details that help them come to life for me. Sometimes aspects of more than one actor will go into my image of character, but there’s usually one actor who’s the main image I have in mind when I write about a given character.
Occasionally I change the actor I’m thinking of for a particular character while I’m writing a book. Often the character doesn’t come into focus for me until I have the right actor (that was particularly true with Gisèle in Beneath a Silent Moon; I struggled with her for the early part of the book in my first draft and then she fell into place when I started thinking of a different actress).
Casting beloved books has led to endless discussions on various book lists I’m on, notably involving Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolò series and Laurie King’s Mary Russell books. It’s fascinating and illuminating to discover the different images readers have of the same characters (yet again going to the fact that everyone reads a slightly different book). Plus it makes for fun discussions :-). Usually when a book I’ve read is filmed, the movie doesn’t seem at all like the mental film strip I had in mind when I read the book. I may love the movie and it may influence me on subsequent rereads (Richard Sharpe will always be Sean Bean for me now), but it isn’t what I had imagined when I first read the book. A notable exception is Atonement. The actors and the overall look of the movie and scenes were startlingly close to the movie in my mind when I first read the book.
A wonderful new website called StoryCasting allows one to virtually cast favorite books, post the casts (complete with pictures), and offer comments. They have five of my books listed (Daughter of the Game/Secrets of a Lady, Beneath a Silent Moon, and three of my historical romances). I’ve joined as an author member and posted a cast with some of the actors I had in mind when I wrote Daughter/Secrets. You can see the cast here and leave comments. As I mentioned in my notes to the cast, I’d love it if readers who have other ideas of how they’d cast the books posted alternate casts.
Do you mentally cast books as you read them? Writers, do you cast your own books before you start to write (or find yourself casting them as you write)? Any books you find it particularly fun to play the casting game with? Any suggestions for casting the Charles & Mélanie books? Any questions about whom I had in mind for a particular character?
I’ve also recently joined a fabulous online literary community called Redroom. Stop by and check out my author page and interact with a host of other authors. And as always, there’s a new addition this week to the Fraser Correspondence–a letter Andrew writes to Charles, after a particularly fraught meeting.
Tracy Grant - Novelist 
September 7, 2008 at 9:03 am
Excellent site in theory – Deanna Raybourn has also posted about it – but I can never get it to work! Can you add new cast suggestions and photos? I (CecilyDebonaire) have added my casting list for Secrets – Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ralph Fiennes! Obvious choices, perhaps, but they instantly sprang to mind!
I love playing the casting game with my favourite characters – Rupert Penry-Jones is my definitive Sir Percy! There doesn’t seem to be an actress strong enough to play Marguerite, but I do like your past suggestion of Eva Green, despite her dark colouring. Just not Keira Knightley – ever! 😉
September 7, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Oh, thank you for posting, Sarah! It’s so fun to have more casts posted! One of my friends has been saying for ages that his choices would be Catherine Zeta-Jones and Colin Firth. And Ralph Fiennes has a cerebral, intense quality that’s wonderful for Charles (besides he’s such a fabulous actor!).
I’d contact StoryCasting through the “Contact” page and ask them to add the actors you’d like added. I asked them to add Toby Stephens (Edgar) and Linus Roache (Roth) yesterday, and they did it right away. They’re very nice.
What’s Rupert Penry-Jones been in? I know the name, but I’m not picturing his face.
September 7, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Sent a message with my TSP casting choices, thanks – hope they add them soon! (Could do with posters being able to use IMDb/Google for ease, though.)
The lovely Rupert Penry-Jones has been in a recent adaptation of Austen’s ‘Persuasion’, plus the BBC series ‘Casanova’ a few years back. Sans-breeches – *ahem* – he’s also been in the BBC spy series ‘Spooks’. He’s married to Dervla Kirwan, an Irish actress who used to be very popular over here – lucky woman! He just is Sir Percy – handsome, tall, well-built, fair-haired, blue-eyed, ubiquitous in period dramas … Somebody needs to remake TSP – or Eldorado – soon! (A French production would be interesting, with an all French cast – don’t know what they would make to the subject matter, but I’m sure they could think of a cunning twist!)
September 7, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Oh, good! Let me know if you get your TSP cast posted (do they have TSP in their data base? if not, I’m sure you can get them to add it).
I remember Rupert Penry-Jones from “Spooks” now (called MI-5 when they show it in the states). He was the guy who came in after Tom left and was married to Fiona, right? He is very like Percy as described in the book. I’d love to see another TSP remake or “Eldorado” or maybe a series that did several of the books.
September 8, 2008 at 12:06 am
What a fun site! I absolutely agree with your choice of Jeremy Irons as O’Roarke. I have no idea who my Mélanie & Charles are like, but Jeremy Irons is a perfect O’Roarke.
I don’t usually cast books, though. When I read, the characters are just some shadowy figures. The only book I ever tried casting is Rebecca, with Ralph Fiennes as Maxim de Winter, Claire Danes as the nameless Mrs. de Winter, and Bette Davis as Mrs. Danvers. As to Rebecca, I wouldn’t have her on screen, but in my mind she is very much like Catherine Zeta-Jones!
September 8, 2008 at 12:34 am
It’s interesting, Sharon, when I was first starting to work on “Daughter/Secrets” (I don’t think I’d written any pages yet, but I was in the midst of plotting), I saw “The Man in the Iron Mask” with Jeremy Irons as Aramis. And there was Raoul right before my eyes. Not that he’s a bit like Aramis as a character, but something about the air of command, the quicksilver wit, and the acerbic sense of humor are so very much Raoul. After that he became much more vivid in my mind (and I think ended up some sympathetic, at least to me, than I had originally envisioned him). But just to show we all imagine characters differently, my writer friend Monica McCarty says she sees Kenneth Branagh when she reads about Raoul :-).
Love your “Rebecca”cast! Interesting that the actors Sarah chose as Charles and Mélanie are your Maxim and Rebecca.
September 8, 2008 at 2:03 am
I think Christian Bale would be an excellent Charles and Liam Neeson is an alternative choice for Raoul. However, Melanie is much more difficult to cast — perhaps Kristin Scott Thomas? She is now too old and not quite the beauty that Melanie needs to be, but she’s definitely got the intelligence and quicksilver edge of your heroine. She’s an actress who can make you believe she’s beautiful or whatever she wants you to believe.
Certainly agree with you about Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe. He’s described in the books as dark haired, and the series began to film with a dark haired actor, but evidently he broke his leg and had to drop out, and now I can’t imagine anyone else as Sharpe. Actually, he might make a good Raoul as well — one can certainly imagine Melanie having an affair with him.
September 8, 2008 at 4:39 am
There is a sense of coolness about Jeremy Irons that I think is an essential component of Raoul. Kenneth Branagh just seems a bit too warm to me. 🙂
I’ve found my Charles thanks to Susan for mentioning Liam Neeson! A 20 years younger Neeson will work for me as Charles. 🙂 (Makes sense, don’t you think?) As to Mélanie, after giving it some more thoughts, I think I would choose Juliette Binoche.
p.s. Antonio Banderas, sans Spanish accent, is my choice of Jack Favell.
September 8, 2008 at 6:11 am
Great suggestions, Sharon and Susan! I could totally see Christian Bale as Charles, Susan. Wonderful choice. There’s the intelligence and intensity and the underlying quiet resolve. I think a slightly younger Kristin Scott-Thomas would work well as Mélanie (one of the great things about the casting game is you really don’t have to worry about how old the actors are in the present day :-). She definitely has the intelligence and the edge, as you say, and I think she’s very beautiful. Interestingly, she’s my mental casting choice for Charles’s mother, Lady Elizabeth.
Sharon, that’s exactly right about the coolness that Jeremy Irons has that’s an essential part of Raoul (with a lot of tamped down emotion under the surface). Kenneth Branagh does seem too warm to me too (though I have no doubt he could play either Raoul or Charles brilliantly, just as most of these actors could play most roles brilliantly). Liam Neeson also comes across as warmer and less ironic to me. I’d see him more as a Charles than a Raoul, I think.
Susan, I didn’t know that about the original actor who was going to play Richard Sharpe breaking his leg. Fascinating. I certainly can’t imagine anyone else as Sharpe. And he’s a very interesting choice for Raoul–like you, I can totally imagine Mélanie having an affair with him :-). He doesn’t quite have the cool, detached, ironic edge that I see as very much a part of Raoul. But I think I could have written the books with him as my image of Raoul, and Raoul would have turned out to be a somewhat different character. Less of a schemer, more confrontational, emotions more on the surface. He’d relate differently to both Mélanie and Charles. Interesting and fun to ponder!
Sharon, I think Juliette Binoche is a great choice for Mélanie. She has a wonderful warmth, that’s very much as part of Mélanie, as is the intelligence and quicksilver edge Susan talked about. There are a lot of sides to Mélanie, and she comes across differently to different people, which I think makes her tricky to cast. One of the reasons I chose Elizabeth Hurley when I was first writing “Daughter/Secrets” (aside from having fairly recently seen her in one of the Sharpe episodes as a somewhat Mélanie-esqe character; the way she was in that episode is pretty much my exact image of Mélanie) is that at that time she had recently started doing the Estée Lauder ads. Magazines were full of pictures of her looking startling different–moody, seductive, a radiant bride, sweet and innocent in a field with puppies. Mélanie needed to be someone with a bit of a chameleon quality, who could seduce and disarm and transform herself depending on the needs of the moment.
And Sharon, Antonio Banderas as Jack Favell is a great addition to your “Rebecca’ cast–you should post it on StoryCasting!
September 9, 2008 at 3:08 am
You are correct about Sean Bean not having the cool, sophisticated manner of Raoul, because part of his attraction is the sense that at times the veneer of civilization is quite thin and he’s very rough around the edges. I think what I was responding to is the attraction of an older man for a younger woman. All too often when I read this in a book or see it in a movie I think of it as being a male fantasy, but if the man is Sean Bean — or Raoul — I can totally believe it.
September 9, 2008 at 4:07 am
Liam Neeson as Raoul? He’s a little rough, I guess, but he’s got the hotness!
Kristen as Lady Frances, I think. Kenneth Branagh as Kenneth Frasier? He’s snooty enough. He can play cold. Colin Firth?
I’ve thought about Claire Danes as Margot; but I don’t know if she can do fiery, despite her red hair. 😉 Perhaps Amanda Seyfried in a year or two? Margot could be blond; I think Auburn meant blond at one time.
September 9, 2008 at 6:09 am
Agh! Not Amanda Seyfried! That girl scares me. 😉 I think Marguerite should be blonde – strawberry blonde, if possible, but erring more towards ‘golden’ than ‘red’. The musical took the connotations of red hair – fiery, passionate – and ran with it, but I think a film should be more subtle than that. Although Margaret Leighton was dreadful in ‘The Elusive Pimpernel’, she had the right look for me – tall, strong, vibrant blonde, with blue eyes; no willowy young girl, but a woman with presence.
September 9, 2008 at 7:02 am
Susan, totally agree with you about Sean Bean–“part of his attraction is the sense that at times the veneer of civilization is quite thin and he’s very rough around the edges.” Which is why if I’d written the first book with him as my image of Raoul, I think Raoul would have been a somewhat different person. But it still would have worked. Interesting to think of the direction it might have taken the story… And also totally agree that the believability of the older man/younger woman storyline has to do with the man in question.
JMM, yes, Liam Neeson does have the hotness :-)–as, at least imo, do Sean Bean and Jeremy Irons. Raoul needs that, and not just to explain the affair with Mélanie. He’s very charismatic, which is part of his success and part of what makes him dangerous. Kenneth Branagh’s a very interesting choice for Kenneth Fraser. It’s a little hard for me to see, because I’ve actually mentally cast him as three heroes (Guy Melchett, Robert Lescaut, and Paul Lescaut, to those who’ve read my old books). But he could definitely play it, and play it well. My mental image for Kenneth Fraser is Michael Kitchen (“Foyle’s War,” “The Bucaneers,”). Were you thinking of Colin Firth as Kenneth or as Charles? He’s a friend’s pick as Charles, but he’d actually make a good Kenenth too. And Kristen Scott-Thomas would make a very good Lady Frances. As I said, she’s my image of Lady Elizbeth. My Lady Frances is Helen Mirren.
And I have to no be very out of it, and admit I’ve never heard of Amanda Seyfriend :-).
Sarah, is “The Elusive Pimpernel” another movie I haven’t heard of? It’s probably having started with the Howard/Oberon movie, but I keep seeing Marguerite as dark or maybe Titian-haired. What about Keeley Hawes?
September 9, 2008 at 7:45 am
‘The Elusive Pimpernel’ was a 1950s version of the 1934 TSP, by Powell and Pressburger – same script, badly acted. David Niven played the Pimpernel, and although he was quite funny in disguise, he was a poor fop, lover, and hero. Margaret Leighton played Marguerite, with a terrible French accent; Cyril Cusack, I think, was Chauvelin (looking like the Prince of Darkness!) I only have it on VHS, that’s how rare copies are.
Your mention of a ‘Titian’-haired Marguerite reminds me of Victorian British arists such as Rossetti, Millais and Waterhouse – and that’s exactly the type of woman I imagine for Marguerite. Julia Neilson, the original stage Marguerite, was what one might term as ‘statuesque’, and that obviously inspired Orczy – a very Victorian ideal of beauty.
September 9, 2008 at 7:55 am
Thanks, Sarah. I think I knew David Niven had played Percy, but I don’t remember knowing about Margaret Leighton. Yet another version I haven’t seen (along with “The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel”).
There’s definitely a pre-Raphaelite quality to the way Orczy describes Marguerite. Need to think of more actresses today with that quality…
September 9, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Okay, I posted my Rebecca cast, with the addition of Jane Seymour as Maxim’s sister. Now, if only someone knew how to resurrect Bette Davis, so we could have this production under way. 🙂
I like your choices of Lady Elizabeth and Lady Frances. I get this “holding onto life by a thread” sense about Kristen Scott-Thomas that seems to match my perception of Lady Elizabeth. Helen Mirren works for me as Lady Frances because she seems to be more matter-of-fact.
BTW, while browsing the web to find the correct spellings of her name, I stumbled upon a 1992 movie “Damage” in which the characters Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons played seemed to have a Mélanie-and-Raoul-like relationship. How strange is that!
As to TSP, it’s hard for me to imagine Claire Danes as Marguerite, because when I think of Claire Danes, I think of her performances in “I love you, I love you not” and “Brokendown Palace”. Both performances have this air of being at a loss in her environment, yet underneath it all there is an untapped quiet strength. It’s that quality that I think would work very well for her as the nameless Mrs. De Winter. Marguerite seems to be more in command of her world. Do you think Winona Ryder would work?
September 10, 2008 at 1:09 am
I think should add, by “holding onto life by a thread”, I meant mentally, not physically.
September 10, 2008 at 4:11 am
David Niven in a blond wig scared me! *Shudders* He’s more convincing as a scholarly bishop than a hunky hero.
Leighton certainly looked the part of Margot. But no one in this movie was very convincing.
Amanda Seyfreid is Sophie in “Mamma Mia”; she plays Meryl Streep’s daughter. I don’t think she’s scary. She’s beautiful, in an… odd way.
I was trying to find a girl who is age appropriate. After all, Margot is 24, 25 in TSP.
Perhaps Romala Garai as Margot? (I know I misspelled that) She was Amelia (the nitwit) in “Vanity Fair”, and I saw a picture of her from “Amazing Grace”; set in the 1700’s.
You should watch “Shopgirl”; Claire Danes is wonderful in it. A young woman who comes into her own after a relationship with an older man.
September 10, 2008 at 5:38 am
I’m so glad you posted your “Rebecca” cast, Sharon! It’s so fun to see them up with the pictures (I didn’t quite realize how fun it would be until I posted one myself). You should post your “Daughter/Secrets” cast when you have a chance. It would be fun to have more on the site.
I understood your “holding onto life by a thread” comment about Elizabeth exactly. That’s precisely why Kristen Scott-Thomas works for as her for me. And as you say, Frances is more matter-of-fact, which I think works well with Helen Mirren. To me, the scene in “Daughter/Secrets” where Charles is looking at the portrait of his mother and Frances as teenagers (at Lady Frances’s house) sums up this distinction between the sisters that you’ve elucidated so well.
“Damaged” is a fascinating, disturbing movie with very good acting. I wouldn’t say the relationship between the Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche characters is that much like Mélanie and Raoul, though, though it does involve and older man/younger woman and she’s also involved with the man’s son (so, yes, there there is a parallel!). But “Damaged” is about sexual and romantic obsession, and I don’t really see either Mélanie or Raoul as obsessed. For Mel and Raoul, love and desire and mixed with ideals and a shared cause, and love and desire tend to be sublimated to the cause. Beyond that, I think there’s a lot of friendship between them. “Damaged” is worth seeing though.
Thanks for the explanation of Amanda Seyfried, JMM. I haven’t seen the movie of “Mamma Mia!” yet. I did see the previews and as I recall she had a free-spirited quality that I see Marguerite having. But even at 25, Marguerite has a maturity, I think, that a lot of 25-year-olds today lack. I could see Romola Garai in the part (I think she was in “Daniel Deronda” too?). Claire Danes is a great actress, but, like Sharon, based on the parts I’ve seen her in I see her more as a Mrs. DeWinter than a Margot. I haven’t seen “Shopgirl” though. It’s a movie I keep meaning to rent as I’ve heard good things about it.
September 10, 2008 at 8:34 am
JMM and Tracy, I would cast Romola Garai, too – like RPJ, she is my period drama favourite, as she has a ‘timeless’ beauty. Keira Knightley, for instance, although photogenic, is far too angular and ‘modern’ to play Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire – which is a shame, because I love her biography, and was really looking forward to the film. Back to Romola, I saw her in ‘Daniel Deronda’ and thought her character very reminiscent of Marguerite, especially in TSP – making the best of a losing situation, and putting on a brave face. She has such a changing and expressive face, too, that she becomes every character she plays, from the wet Amelia to the captivating Gwendolen.
September 10, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I think Romola Garai would make a good “Marguerite.” Have you seen “Duchess”? I saw a clip on tv yesterday, and I thought Keira Knightley worked well in the little bit I saw.
September 10, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I’m leaving it until it’s out on DVD to rent! I am not paying the price of admission to see it on the big screen. Keira Knightley is very good at playing – Keira Knightley; speaking in a cut-glass accent through pouting lips. I’m sure she would be passable, but Georgiana was such an incredible woman – Knightley just doesn’t have the spirit or the presence for the role. And I’ve read in reviews that the film has rather dampened the Duchess’ life story, cast aside – no mention of her wild gambling sprees, etc. And I can’t recall from reading her biography that she came across as a lonely or abused wife – she enjoyed her life, just as Marguerite does in TSP. I think she was rather glad to share her cold fish of a husband – excellent casting, Ralph Fiennes, there! – with another woman, and she and Harriet became close also. I think the film is hoping the similarities with Princess Diana’s life will carry it through, but Georgiana was far stronger.
September 11, 2008 at 6:43 am
I read an interesting article by Amanda Foreman in Vogue about the various versions of the script, a number of which frustrated her because Georgiana was being portrayed as too much of a victim. As I recall, she (Amanda Foreman) was happy with the final version though. From her book and my other reading about Georgiana, I do have the sense she was lonely early in her marriage but built a life for herself that she quite enjoyed. I’ve been fascinated by the Devonshire House set (which were the inspiration for my own Glenister House set) ever since I first read about them years ago. I’m excited to see them brought to life on screen. But then I think Keira Knightley’s quite an impressive actress–I thought she was wonderful, in different ways, in both “Atonement” and the “Pirates” movies.
September 11, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Excellent – was Amanda Foreman merely a consultant on the film, or was she actively involved? I can’t imagine her giving her approval if they’d really done a disservice to Georgiana. I shall give the film the benefit of doubt, but the reviews I have read so far are mostly that it’s ‘style over substance’, and that Georgiana is deprived of the voice she had in real life.
September 12, 2008 at 7:43 am
She was an historical adviser and was there for at least some of the filming (she and her family are extras in a street scene). She was there to answer questions from the actors about the historical context, and she sounds very pleased with the film. She also apparently reads some of Georgiana’s letters in a documentary about the making of the film.
September 13, 2008 at 4:04 am
I just went to StoryCasting and saw you posted your cast, Sharon! Thanks so much! It’s so fun to have different casts there. I love seeing all the photos–there’s something about it that really brings the cast to life.
I didn’t want to overwhelm the discussion with casting options when I first posted, but while Charles, Mel, and their friends and family (and enemies 🙂 are very vividly fixed in my head as the actors I’ve envisioned when I started the series, here are some other casting options that have occurred to me through the years. Mélanie–Sophie Marceau, Eva Green, Morena Baccarin. Charles–Matthew McFadyen, Daniel Craig (pre-James Bond; the idea came from seeing him in “The Ice House” on Mystery!), Nathan Fillion, Ralph Fiennes.
More to come–I think I may blog about “Beneath a Silent Moon” casting this week…
September 13, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Damage arrived last night. I probably would never have checked it out had I not mistaken the two lead characters’ relationship as similar to that of Mélanie and Raoul. I couldn’t finish it; with some 20 minutes left, I am afraid I know how it is going to end. Strangely, even though their characters are nothing like that of Mélanie and Raoul, and Juliette Binoche in the role of Anna is devoid of any warmth at all, after seeing her in this movie, I am even more convinced that she would be great as Mélanie. Very strange.
Although a 20 years younger Liam Neeson works for me as Charles, I am still not settled with the choice. I thought of Ewan McGregor, but he seems a bit less polished than what I think Charles is. I think different actors and actresses accentuate different characteristics of the characters. So part of the fun in casting is trying to find the actor or actress one perceives as having the right mix of certain qualities.
Now that I have a face for Mélanie and more or less so for Charles, I have tried very hard for the past few days to attach an image to Kitty. I suppose it’s not necessary, since she was long dead before the story opens. But getting Kitty wrong for me would also mean getting Charles wrong. I suspect we are going to learn a little bit more to their relationship later on? (I am not sure whether I should mention what I suspected.)
p.s. I looked up Romala Garai online, and I can certainly see her as Marguerite. Somehow she reminds me of Nicole Kidman, with a much sweeter and less piercing look.
September 13, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Sharon, I so agree–thinking of different actors in a role accentuates different aspects of the character. That’s why I find it so fun, and why it’s particularly interesting for me as the author to hear other people’s suggestions.
Oddly, thinking about Juliette Binoche in “Damage” (and it does end darkly, but I’d suggest watching the end at some point) makes her seem like more a Mélanie to me too. I think it’s because she had more of a ruthless edge in “Damage.” She’s wonderful warm in a lot of her other movies (“Chocolat,” “The English Patient”) so that mix makes a good Mélanie.
Do *do* post what you suspect about Charles and Kitty’s relationship! I’m very intrigued :-). (Yes, there will be more about them in future books). And let me know if you think a good actress for Kitty.
I actually think Nicole Kidman would make an interesting Marguerite.
September 15, 2008 at 7:50 am
Dear Tracy and fans – THANK YOU! I’m the creator of the StoryCasting website, and it is just this kind of casting discussion I hoped to enable. Not just type-casting, and not just favorite-movie-hottie casting, but real talk about players who could make the characters come alive, about actor strengths and weaknesses, and about how some selections make others either mandatory or impossible. Glad you’re having fun!
September 15, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thanks so much, Jeff! I’ve always loved mentally casting specific actors in books (whether my own or other writers’). Being able to post pictures of the actors and look at them side-by-side makes discussions wonderfully vivid. Thanks so much for a great site!
September 16, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I did finish Damage, Tracy, and I found a copy of the novel, too. I think both Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons made the two lead characters more sympathetic in the movie than they are in the book. Very important quality in the actress and actor playing Mélanie and Raoul, I think. I was almost awestruck by one very early scene in which Jeremy Irons, after coming home and conversing with his wife, walks into the next room, turns and looks around, but doesn’t seem to recognize the world he lives in/builds. One brief and wordless scene that speaks volumes. I imagine one day Raoul is going to experience just that.
As to Kitty, I think you’ve dropped some hints in Secrets of a Lady, but since you didn’t actually state it, it remains my suspicion that she is Charles’ first and only lover besides Mélanie. And I think one of the reasons why both Fraser brothers fall for her is that she is very much like Lady Elizabeth without the extremes – a beautiful, spirited and intelligent woman not afflicted by bipolar. Age-wise, I think she is older than Mélanie, but should look younger than Mélanie without being immature. She is sweet, but not naïve. Not exactly an innocent, but not worldly, either. Delicate, but not fragile. It’s a tough balancing act for an actress, I am afraid. A minor role that could make the hero of the story look foolish and unconvincing if not cast just right.
September 16, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Wow, Sharon–lots of insight in your comments (very cool, because that means I was getting across a lot of what I meant to get across in the books). I love the image of Raoul looking round and not recognizing the world he lives in. Must rent “Damage” and watch that scene again–I could see Raoul having a similar scene in Book #4.
Yes, to me Kitty has quite a bit in common with Lady Elizabeth (brilliant, brittle, and restless in the role of conventional wife). The funny this is, I wrote “Daughter/Secrets” seeing Kitty as Kristin-Scott Thomas. Specifically Kristin Scott-Thomas in “The English Patient” (which is even how I got to the name Kitty). (I should add that originally Kitty was English not Spanish). It was only later that I decided Kristin Scott-Thomas also made a perfect Lady Elizabeth (I think when I was working on “Beneath”). But thinking of the same actress in the parts probably helped me underscore similarities between the two women. I am intrigued now to find other actresses who could play Kitty. You’re right, it’s not easy. And as you say the wrong Kitty could throw off the balance with Charles (and in a film, Kitty probably would appear in flashbacks :-).
As to your other comment, spoiler territory…
spoiler
…though perhaps not entirely, because you’re right, I did drop hints in “Secrets.” Yes, Kitty was Charles’s first lover, and only lover other than Mélanie. I actually meant that to be explicitly stated in “Secrets,” but there didn’t seem to be an appropriate place. I think I can work it into “The Mask of Night.”
November 12, 2011 at 11:35 am
luxusni automobily…
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December 19, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Pedro Berruguete’s portrait of the duke perhaps best sums up his character: Bedecked in shimmering armor and silk robes,
the duke sits reading serenely, his small son, Guidobaldo, at his knee.
Keep on top of your game and strive to improve, rather than expecting
the same approach you’ve adopted in the past is always going to see you through.
I refuse to lie to you by saying that he has babes
for every day of the week, to me, that’s impossible.