By Nathan Marchand
June 4, 2015
June at Children of the Wells is sequel month, so all of our blogs the next few weeks will be continuations of last month’s blogs. Since I wrote about the actors I’d love to see play the then full cast of the Jaysynn saga characters, I’ve decided to do the same for the rest of the major characters, including the new ones introduced in The Call of the Watchman by Nick Hayden. Hopefully, this’ll beat the trend of the sequel not being as good as the original.
Lights! Camera! Nerd out!
“CALEAAAAA!!!”
Sylvester Stallone as Bron
When Nick was writing The Select’s Bodyguard, he mentioned that part of his inspiration for Bron, the single-minded and super-buff protector of Calea, was ‘80s action heroes. I’d recently finished watching the Rocky and Rambo films at the time, so I started picturing Bron as Sylvester Stallone. Even at his ripe old age, Stallone has the physicality and intensity to play Bron. You might be thinking, “You can barely understand Stallone when he talks.” To which I say, “Bron is a man of few words. He doesn’t have to talk much.” Besides, he’d add a fair amount of star power to the film…assuming we can get him to take a break from making a fourth—yes, fourth—Expendables movie.
“Just imagine me clawing out your eyes because the magic is gone.”
Anna Kendrick as Calea Lisan
For our stubborn Select, I actually consulted with my brother Jarod, who created fantastic fan art for us a few years ago. He used actors as references when he drew those, and he modeled Calea after Anna Kendrick. While she’s probably best known for appearing in the Twilight and Pitch Perfect movies, I know her best as Scott Pilgrim’s little sister, Stacey, in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. She was sardonic and often mean in that last film. It wouldn’t take much for her to up the ante and become unbearably callous yet pitiable.
“Please don’t drop a ceiling on me!”
Amandla Stenberg as Nyasha Cormorin
This casting comes directly from Laura Fischer, author of The Doctor’s Assistant, which marked the first appearance of Nyasha. Laura told us she pictured Bron’s spunky “sidekick” as Amandla Stenberg, who’s best known for playing Rue in the first Hunger Games film. I thought that fit perfectly. She’s the right age and has a child-like energy and excitement. Yet as shown in The Hunger Games, she can also infuse her characters with much gravitas. Considering she has to compete with two very intense characters, she’ll need to be able to hold her own.
“I wear a top hat now. Top hats are cool.”
Matt Smith as Daveer
I liked Daveer the former Select illusionist inside of two paragraphs when I read The Call of the Watchman, and not much longer after that I was picturing him as the 11th Doctor himself, Matt Smith. I admit Smith might be a little young for the part, but Daveer reminds me too much of Smith’s Doctor, what with his fast rambling, immaculate suit, and perceptive insights. While it might be a bit of typecasting, Smith could easily fill such a role, and he’d have fun doing it. That’s how Daveer should be.
CJ Adams
CJ Adams and Lincoln Melcher as Eagle Claw and Night Hunter
Casting Claw and Hunter is difficult. For one thing, child actors grow up fast, so one has to get them early. Harder still is finding child actors who are actually talented. If Children of the Wells was made 15 years ago, kids like Jake Lloyd and Haley Joel Osment would’ve been perfect choices for these rambunctious kids, but this is 2015, so I have to go with the current crop. Believe it or not, a simple Google search for child actors led me to my choices, though you may have not heard of them.
Lincoln Melcher
CJ Adams came into the public eye thanks to his starring role in the Disney movie The Odd Life of Timothy Green. While it wasn’t the best of movies from what I hear, I’ve not heard anyone complain much about Adams. You might also remember him for his small role in last year’s Godzilla. Lincoln Melcher, on the other hand, is a bit enigmatic. Other than his credits in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (one of the most longwinded titles EVER!) and a bit role in an episode of Agent Carter, I couldn’t find much info on him. Regardless, he seems like a good fit. As for which of these boys they should play, I’m not quite sure. My instincts say Melcher should be Hunter since he’s the younger of the two. What do you think, readers?
Do you might my casting choices? Who would you like to see as your favorite CotW characters?
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