CBY Book Club is pleased to welcome Brett Salter, who is here to introduce his YA Fantasy books, The Talisman Series.
The Talisman Series
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: May, 2017 - February 2022
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: May, 2017 - February 2022
GUEST POST
MY BOOK IS A MOVIE. WHO IS THE CAST?
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Ah, the bright lights of Hollywood! La-La Land! Tinseltown! The place where stars live, and dreams come true. Producer of that world-beloved media called motion pictures. Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, the movies have a historic, symbiotic relationship with books. The two mediums have always intertwined and amassed diehard audiences ready to delve into their near limitless potential. They work together in tandem to entertain us, to cull out our emotions, and to keep our imaginations percolating. This relationship has created some of the best and worst discrepancies between the two artistic forms, and even spawned the curious phrase “the book was better”.
Why am I mentioning this at all? Well, because when a book is turned into a movie, it takes some of the allure away from the book, right? The magic of books is that everything is dependent on the reader’s own imagination. Once a movie tags an actor to a character or a studio stage to a specific setting or even a soundtrack to a book’s particular ambience, that freedom of vision gets stricken from us as viewers. And we sacrifice our own creativity for convenience. We are entertained in much less time and with much less labor. These all sound negative, right? However, it seems that when a piece of fiction gets a cinematic push, it is usually considered worthy to be broadcast on a massive scale. To a massive audience.
As fan of movies and a constant reader, I struggle with this debacle when I want to consume a book or a movie. And as an author, I sometimes entertain ideas of grandeur like my series making the jump from written word to the movie theaters. So, naturally, that brings up the question, who would be my dream cast to play the characters in my series if it ever made it to blockbuster levels? And I refuse to lie; this is something that my fanboy head has contemplated more times than I would care to admit. Now, since you’ve made it this far, just sit back and enjoy my ideas for who would play the cast of The Talisman Series if it ever made it to the big screen.
Starting off with one of our main characters, we need to cast for Rome Lockheed. Rome is my fire dragon stuck in the body of a teenager who gets caught up in a whirlwind of worlds in the first book. The obvious choice to me is Marvel’s own Spiderman, Tom Holland. He has the mindset, the physical appearance, and the ability to play a character who steps into a world much bigger than he ever knew. I foresee him playing Rome exactly as I have on my pages. Starting out somewhat reluctant and confused, but soon developing into a leader with doing the right thing always at the heart of his decisions. Tom’s boyish good looks and willingness to do stunt-involved acting make him an excellent Rome Lockheed, in my opinion.
So, who should play everyone’s favorite rulebreaker, Julian Rider? Okay, cast your mind with me. Close your eyes and imagine a younger, much blonder Zac Efron! I’m talking High School Musical days, okay? Way before he got ripped and became one of Hollywood’s elite. I think an adolescent Zac would do a stupendous job as my sarcastic, devil-may-care, rebellious Synergist Knight, adding a certain pizzazz that only he could pull off. He could bring a youthful energy to the character and give him a little snark that Julian so emphatically personifies. I believe he would seal the deal the first time we saw Mr. Efron give one of Julian’s patented, sideways smirks setting the viewer to wonder just what he’s got up his sleeve.
Since I am limiting myself to only characters from the first book in the series, “The Search For Synergy”, we quickly run out of characters to portray. The first book really only has a small handful of characters. And only a slight portion of those mentioned even speak. So, casting for the lesser role of Mr. Rider, I would be absolutely wonderstruck to get someone like Jude Law for that extra snarkiness. I feel like Jude would be abloe to pull off that “better than you” air very well. Add in a dash of Tim Curry from the movie “Clue” as Wadsworth, the butler, and I think you’ve got an arrogant and pompous character that would definitely look down on someone like Rome from his “ivory tower”.
And now, to cast the Earth realm’s resident Merlin character. The one destined to lead Rome and Julian to their inevitable battle with the Darkbrands and their heinous leader, The Tyrant King. The man whose sole mission is to mold these young and naïve boys into Earth’s greatest defense against the things that slink out of The Void. A majestic wizard who is responsible for most of the magic on Earth and whose shoulders carry the future and continuance of our very planet…Yeah, he’s a combination of Johnny Depp’s, Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Christopher Lloyd’s, Dr. Emmett Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy.
Last but not least, we need to find someone to play the role of Mrs. Case. She’s the principal of the boys’ school. For Mrs. Case, we need someone in her late 30’s to 40s with classic beauty and a side of mysteriousness to her. So, I have come up with a few names. Please let me know if this is how you envision the somewhat peculiar faculty member. I was thinking of either Jennifer Connelly or Natalie Portman. I think Portman can play mysterious well, but Connelly just seems to simply ooze enigma in some of her roles. So, I think either actress would do a stellar job portraying Mrs. Case and her dedication to constantly keeping an eye on the boys.
So, there’s my cast! No doubt, it would be a huge blockbuster the likes of Avatar, and Harry Potter, and anything from the MCU. We’re talking breaking box office records! It’s fun to dream about a work making it to Hollywood, and speculating which stars may play your characters, but at the end of the day, I like giving my audience the freedom to envision whoever they want as the characters. The idea of how characters foirm in the reader’s head and everything from how they look to the way they speak is part of what keeps us coming back for more book, right? It’s your own imagination tying into an author’s imagination. And that, my friends, is the whole reason I write. To create that magical bond between author and audience. Kinda like The Great Synergy.
Thank you for reading my post. I hope you enjoyed it or, at least didn’t fall asleep. Feel free to reach out to me with your own casts of my books. Or if you are looking to collaborate, find me on social media. Or, if you just wanna theorize about dragons or my series, don’t hesitate to contact me. An EXTRA special thank you to the CBY Book Club for letting me be a part of their creative genius as well! Everyone stay safe and keep a wary eye out for portals!
About the Author
My background in writing stems mostly from the inspiration I found as a kid when I read Fantasy and Sci-Fi books. These include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Xanth Novels, The Time Quintet, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and everything from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss. In my formative years, I joined several punk rock bands and wrote songs, poetry, and short stories aplenty. As an adult (?) I took on a dare and wrote the first book in my Talisman Series. I loved the feeling it gave me and the idea of inspiring others so much that I kept writing until I had an entire series.
I am currently working to finish The Talisman Series. I have self-published 4 of the books which can be found on Amazon. At this very moment, I am on book 11 of the 12 I have planned.
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