Casting "Forged In Fire" by Trish McCallan and a giveaway

I have a confession to make, I may be one of the only authors alive who doesn’t day dream about their books being made into movies, who doesn’t amuse themselves by assigning actors and actresses to various characters within the book, and who doesn’t immediately know who they’d want to play each role.

I’ve never thought about what actor or actress I’d want to play Zane and Beth, or who I’d want to play Cosky, Rawls and Mac. Until today, that is, until this blog post.

This is because I don’t pattern my characters off any specific actor or actress. I know plenty of writers who spend hours combing through the internet before they even start the book, searching for perfect representations of their characters. But I’ve never been one of those authors. My characters come from my mind and I have never found a picture online that completely represents the images I have. As you can imagine, this makes it hard to assign actors and actresses to play their roles.

With that said, I’ve picked out actors and actresses who come somewhat close to the images I have in my mind—with some modifications of course.

Lieutenant Commander Zane Winters: He’s 35, 6’3, dark hair, green eyes, lean of build, in peak condition. Of all of the characters in Forged in Fire, he was the hardest to find a match for. The closest I came was Wentworth Miller from Prison Break, but with some major modification. My Zane is much more muscular, with green eyes. And let’s talk about the hair. Zane’s hair is short, but he isn’t buzz cut like Miller is in most of the shots I found of him. This picture, at least face wise, comes very close to how I’ve always imagined Zane in my mind. As an added bonus, the hair is just about perfect in the shot I found here.



Lieutenant Marcus (Cosky) Simcosky: He’s 34, 6’4, brown-black hair, gray eyes. He’s built like a quarter back--broad through the shoulders and chest, lean through the hips. The closest actor I could find to how I’ve always envisioned Cosky was David Boreanaz of Angel and Bones. While Boreanaz’s build is similar to the Cosky I have in my mind—Cosky is more muscled, and he’s in peak condition. The hair is about the right color, although Cos’s is shorter. But the faces are off. Cosky has a broader face, less lean and long.



Lieutenant Seth (Rawls) Rawlings: He’s 33, 6’3, blond-gold hair, blue eyes. He’s build more like Zane, muscular but not quite as broad through the shoulders as Cos. He was actually the easiest of my heroes to match up with an actor. Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Castle comes very close to how I’ve always imagined Rawls in my mind. If Fillion was blonder and had eyes the color of Ellensburg Blue.




Commander Jace (Mac) Mackenzie: He’s 37, 6’2, black hair and eyes. He’s less muscular than the top three, leaner, brimming with intensity. Mac was another character difficult to find a match for. The closest I came there was Lou Diamond Phillips, but only in a select few roles. Like character he played in Stargate Universe. This picture comes pretty close to how I’ve always envisioned Mac, except with a perpetual scowl.




Beth Brown: The heroine of Forged in Fire is 29, 5’8, slender, with lavender eyes. I browsed dozens of blond actresses looking for someone who matched the image I had in my mind. Several of the shots of Drew Barrymore came close, when she was in her blond, shorter haired phase. Beth face isn’t such a perfect oval shape; it’s a tad longer, with a certain squareness to her chin. But body type and height match how I’ve always envisioned Beth.




Ginny Clancy: is 29, 5’10, willowy instead of slender, deep auburn hair. This was another character that was surprisingly easy to match up with an actress. This picture of Rose McGowan is almost identical to the image I have of Ginny in my mind.




Amy Chastain: is 32, 5’5, compact build with red hair. Not the deep auburn of Ginny, but fiery red, the color of burning embers. Amy was the hardest of them all to match to an actress. Nobody quite fit the image I have in my mind. Although face and body type wise, Alyssa Milano comes closest—if she was a little shorter, a little more compact and with red hair. This picture I found of Milano could fit Amy, again—if the hair was the color of burning embers.



So there you have my cast for Forged in Fire—now bring on the movie contract!



--------
Trish McCallan has been writing for as long as she can remember.

In grade school she wrote children’s stories, illustrating them with crayons and binding the sheets together with pencil-punched holes and red yarn. She used to sell these masterpieces at her lemonade stand for a nickel a book. Surprisingly, people actually bought them. Like, all of them. Every night she would have to write a new batch for her basket.

As she got older her interest changed to boys and horses. The focus of her literary masterpieces followed this shift. Her first full length novel was written in seventh grade and featured a girl, a horse and a boy. At the end of the book the teenage heroine rode off into the sunset . . . with the horse.

These days she sticks to romantic suspense with hot alpha heroes and roller-coaster plots. Since she is a fan of all things bizarre, paranormal elements always seem to find a way into her fiction. Her current release, Forged in Fire, was the result of a Black Dagger Brotherhood reading binge, a cold, a bottle of NyQuil and a vivid dream.

Amazon
Website


Click on the banner for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.



And Trish has graciously offered up an eBook copy of "Forged In Fire" to one lucky person. Leave a comment between now and March 12th to be entered to win!