IMG_0114So hopefully you will have seen and read my review of The Girl etc. (henceforward to be known as TGWATG which is inelegant but that’s acronyms for you – that is an acronym isn’t it?) which can be found here, and if you haven’t read it yourself yet I hope that you will get hold of a copy soon, because if I was the kind of blogger who makes a list of her favourite books of the year (and I don’t) then this would definitely be in the top five (which it won’t because I just don’t).

Anyway I think I may have mentioned in writing about the book that I virtually forced my friend Silvery Dude to buy TGWATG to take on holiday with him and we read it more or less simultaneously (I think I had a head start in not being a father of three young boys on holiday in Greece while reading the thing so finished it first) and had similar opinions, and our friend and colleague MargaRita (Queen of Speed) read it shortly afterwards and to cut a long story short we got involved in a very detailed exchange of e-mails when we should have been doing Important Work-Related Things and tried to cast the movie. Our suggestions are below and please be gentle if you have Thoughts, because my mind goes blank as soon as someone asks me to do this sort of thing and all except Silvery Dude (because he still hasn’t seen it) may have been influenced too much by recent exposure to Guardians of the Galaxy (and what I thought about that can be found here).

Anyway, here’s what we came up with (and reinforces pretty much that we should stick to the day jobs):

  • Melanie – an early bid for Chloe Grace Moretz (slightly too old now) was trumped by Elle Fanning
  • Miss Justineau – Zoe Saldana (but only because of the GotG thing mentioned above) (and shows a shameful lack of awareness on my part of who the best actresses of colour are though oh, I’ve just thought of Sophie Okonedo)
  • Sgt. Parkes – the hottest debate – my first thought was Sean Bean (too good looking), then Silvery Dude would not be moved from the idea of Viggo Mortensen, and a late bid for John C Reilly (see GotG again) was overruled in favour of Clive Owen though the good-looking thing applies there too….
  • Dr Caldwell – Julianne Moore (“at her most pinched” said SD) or Nicole Kidman (at her most icy) but I am attached to the idea of Gillian Anderson
  • Private Gallagher – Jamie Bell (but probably too old and fit now), Andrew Garfield (too obvious?) or Nicholas Hoult (in Warm Bodies incarnation).

So there you have it. Can you do better?

Actually I think we all know the answer to that one….