Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Cast

You've been reading a lot about the Fire Fairies now, so I figured you might share a least a modicum of interest in this.

There's this little nine-year-old girl at my church named Maddie. I've known her since she was about one. Having literally grown up with me, she knows all {ish} about the fire fairies. She was even one for Halloween one year, which I found enormously flattering.

Last week at church, we stayed late and I ended up creating intricate doodles of the names "Ember" and "Coal." She knows about them, and we got to talking. After a while she asked me,

"If it were a movie, who would you get to play Coal?"

That really got me thinking. I had considered the thought before, but YEARS ago, before I knew hardly any actors or even how to find them. So Maddie and Cassidy and I sat there at the table, coloring pictures, and puzzling over the cast of my story.

Maddie suggested Taylor Lautner, which wasn't a bad suggestion at all. I even considered it for a moment, but he wasn't right. Taylor's face is sharper than Coal's, and Coal's eyes aren't so squinty.

She thought of Robert Pattinson, who was a resounding NO with a gag reflex.

It wasn't until Maddie had left that the perfect Coal-actor came to mind:

Jeremy Sumpter.
I about fell down. He is the perfect Coal. He has Coal's sexy, mysterious face; his mischievous, piercing eyes; his slouchy, panther-like body. If I had to pick an actor for Coal, it would be Jeremy, hands down.

Of course why stop with Coal? Maddie's question sparked a new obsession with me. I went home and began madly Googling for the rest of my characters. It was difficult, and I'm not satisfied with all of them, but it'll do for now XD

Ember - Willa Holland
Willa looks daring, confident, and proud here, not one to be pushed around or even show much emotion. Originally I had Willa as Firefly, but after everyone's vehement suggestions against who I had as Ember, I decided Willa fits her better. Best decision ever XD She grows on me as Ember every time I look at her.

Firefly - Taylor Momsen

Firefly, Ember and Flare are sisters. I think I did a pretty good job of finding actresses that look like they could potentially be related. Although Firefly has brown hair, Taylor Momsen holds the sharp, controlled beauty and authority Firefly also has.

Originally, I had Taylor Momsen as Ember. Everyone I talked to who knows the stories said NO to that. Sarah said Taylor fit more with Firefly, and I really started to agree.

Of course, sometimes Taylor Momsen looks like this.

Which isn't Firefly at all. But you take what you can find XD

Flare - Victoria Justice
Flare's real-life counterpart would probably kill me if she knew I'd picked Victoria Justice to represent her. I didn't see it coming myself, but when I saw this picture, I stopped. I can see Flare in her. The mischief, the boldness, the hint of shyness around the corner... It's all there.

Comet - Chloe Grace Moretz
I think I got Comet about right. The cute, impish, almost stubby face of Chloe fits hers. Of course, Comet is a redhead, but I can easily imagine Chloe as a carrot top.

Flicker - Emmy Clarke
I had Ellen Marlow for a while, but I was really dissatisfied with her. I stumbled across Emmy just today and love her as Flicker! She has the sharp-featured sweetness and naivety of Flicker.

Sparkle - Kay Panabaker
Kay seems very alive, energetic and enthusiastic, just as Sparkle is. I'm pretty happy with this selection.

Star Dancer - Eden Sher
Poor Eden XD She gets to portray the irritating gossip that everyone loves to hate. Star Dancer CAN be a fun fairy to be around, but more often than not she ends up ticking someone off. I think Eden has the nosy, "off" kind of pretty look of Star Dancer.

Flame - Hunter Parrish
God, he's hot. But so is Flame, even though he's not a very likable character. Hunter has the sharp, pale, dangerous air that Flame shares.

Blaze - Taylor Lautner
I'm not sure about this. The more I think about it, the less I'm sure. Hm. No. Blaze is dark, yes, but not so square, and his eyes aren't so squinty.

Smolder - Frank Dillane
Smolder isn't a main character at all, but I see him as Frank Dillane. {Tom Riddle, in case you were agonizing over where you know him from.}

Caroleena - Abigail Breslin
Ah, Caroleena. You haven't met her yet, because I haven't rewritten her yet. She's a beautiful Woodland elf girl. Ember hates her.

Darbon - Jimmy Bennett
You haven't met Darbon either. He's Caroleena's younger brother, so he's also a Woodland elf.

Pyros - Freddie Highmore
Pyros XD He's one of the Fire Lord's pages. I don't remember if you've met him or not. He's extremely minor.

And last, but certainly, certainly, certainly not least, the Fire Lord.

The Fire Lord - Ralph Fiennes
I actually forgot to cast the Fire Lord. Like, he completely slipped my mind. Sam's the one who remembered, and suggested Ralph, and he's PERFECT.

Does he look familiar to you? Look at his eyes. Yeah. It's Lord Voldemort. I know it might seem cliche that he's exactly how I pictured the Fire Lord, but in my defense I wrote the Fire Fairy stories long before Harry Potter crossed my mind XD

So there you have it. The Cast of the Fire Fairy Story :) Hope you found this interesting and helpful. I always like to be able to put a face to characters.

~Stephanie

2 comments:

  1. Oh cool. If I get to read your story I'll probably picture all the characters like this.

    Since you sort of based the characters on real life people, are you picturing those people when you write or are you imagining the characters alone? Like, are you picturing yourself as Ember or is she totally separate from you?

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  2. Technically I say the characters no longer resemble us, just to remove awkwardness. If you make Flare act like a jerk in chapter three and the real life Flare reads it, drama inevitably ensues.

    For the most part, I try to keep the characters separate from their real-life counterparts. But old habits die hard, so I will probably always see a little Stephanie in Ember, a little Ellie in Firefly.

    There's definitely no way I can stop seeing Coal like his original counterpart. I've succeeded in making his character very different, but when I close my eyes Coal always looks like my friend's brother.

    More and more though I'm trying to distance myself from my alter-ego of Ember. For some weird reason it feels dangerous to be so wrapped up in her.

    ~Stephanie

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