Episode 376 || Casting Call
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is talking with her friends and fellow book club members for a new episode of Casting Call. They’re casting the characters in Bonnie Garmus’ debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry.
You can follow @julieannareads on Instagram to vote for your casting picks!
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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
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This week Annie is reading On the Roof Top by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Julie Anna is reading Breathless by Amy McCulloch. Courtney is reading Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland.
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Transcript:
Annie Jones [00:00:01] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South.
[00:00:24] Whenever you feel afraid, just remember courage is the rate of change, and change is what we're chemically designed to do. Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry.
[00:00:38] I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, I'm joined by my friends and fellow book club members for a new episode of Casting Call, where we will cast the characters in Bonnie Garmus's debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry. Before we begin, I wanted to remind listeners of the fun we're having over on Patreon. We're currently halfway through our reading of The Count of Monte Cristo. I cannot believe it. And Hunter and I are recapping our readings each month. Earlier this spring, we added more levels of support so listeners and friends of the show can support from the front porch at the $5, $20, or $50 levels.
[00:01:13] For $20 a month, you'll become a book club companion with access to our quarterly book club, which picks back up in August. Bookshelf Benefactors support the show at the $50 a month level, and you'll hear their names at the end of each of our weekly episodes. They receive discount codes and early access to our virtual events. To join in all the fun, just go to Patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. Now back to the show. Welcome back to Courtney Kinsey and Julie Anna Helms. They are my fellow book club members and friends. We do these Casting Call episodes I was going to say multiple times a year, but it's like a couple of times a year. We last did this in September. Welcome back to the show, guys. Hi, Courtney.
Courtney [00:01:52] Hey, how's it going?
Annie Jones [00:01:54] Pretty good. Hanging in there. How honest are we going to be? Hi, Julie Anna.
Julie Anna [00:02:00] Hi.Thanks for having us back.
Annie Jones [00:02:02] So, Julie Anna, this is really your baby that you kindly allow us to use the format on From the Front Porch. So, Julianna, you might recognize her from Instagram at @Julieannareads. Casting Call is really something she started on her Instagram account. Do you want to tell us a little bit about it, to give listeners an idea of what we do?
Julie Anna [00:02:22] Yeah. So in this season of life, this has been kind of a neglected baby frame. I haven't done that in a while unfortunately. So it's good to get back in the saddle and have my trusted friends with me to do it. So I started Who Would You Cast -- oh, goodness, probably two and a half, three years ago. I love movies and I love books, so it was a good combination there. So how we typically do this is we give you on my account typically two, but in this situation we will have three different options of famous actors and actresses for each popular role or main role in the book. So I will post those in my stories as polls and you will vote on your favorite. And the next day, after 24 hours, I will post the results. So vote for your favorites.
Annie Jones [00:03:10] So this episode From the Front Porch is coming out on June 9th. So then you can follow @Julieannareads on Instagram to cast your vote so that we can see who you guys would cast in these roles. So you can follow Julie Anna at Julieannareads and cast your vote there. And we're doing something a little different this time. So if you have read Lessons in Chemistry, you know that there is a very important canine character and rather than break out the dog from Full House or something like that, we are really recruiting your pet photos. This was Julie Anna's idea. So if you have a dog that you love and you want to share their picture with us, we will potentially cast one of your pets in the role of 630, which is the fabulous dog character in Lessons in Chemistry. So you can message those to me @Anniebjones05, or you can send them to Julie Anna @Julieannareads on Instagram and we will tally them up and put them in the voting as well. Did that make sense? Is that good?
Courtney [00:04:12] Yeah.
Julie Anna [00:04:14] I think I'm most excited about getting a bunch of pictures of people's dogs because that's just [Crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:04:18] Honestly, what a great day.
Courtney [00:04:20] What a dream.
Annie Jones [00:04:22] Yeah, I loved this idea so much.
Julie Anna [00:04:24] So this episode will come out on a Thursday, and the polls won't go up until Sunday afternoon. So you've got a few days to send in those pictures.
Annie Jones [00:04:31] Perfect. Okay. Thanks, friends. So we also do this -- oh, my gosh. Do we do this snake draft style? Every time I'm like, how do you do a snake draft?
Julie Anna [00:04:42] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:04:43] Every time. Every time.
Julie Anna [00:04:46] So whoever goes first in the first round goes last in the next round. So we decided that you are going to start us off for this and then Courtney will be in the middle and I will be bringing up the end of this. And so for the next round, then I'll go first. But we do typically give you a synopsis of the book first and then it lists out each character and a character description before we talk about who we would cast.
Annie Jones [00:05:09] Yes. So I am curious. So I read Lessons in Chemistry a few months ago and it will be in my top 10, probably my top five of the year. I love this book so much. One thing I love about the three of us, we're all in the same book club, like, in real life book club. But we do kind of have different reading tastes. And then there's like a Venn diagram that encompasses all of us. And I'm curious where lessons in chemistry fell for you, Julie Anna, and for you, Courtney. I'm wondering what your experience was like with this particular book.
Julie Anna [00:05:37] All right, so I finished it yesterday. I read it over the long weekend, which was a great setting for it out by the pool. It was in my sweet spot. So, Annie, I know you and I don't often have similar tastes in books because you lean more towards character driven and I lean more towards the action side of things. But to me, even though this involved a lot of character development for a bunch of different characters in it, there still is enough action, enough driving force behind what we were reading about, enough of a plot that I just really enjoyed it. I do like to know a lot about characters, but not if that is the only thing dragging the story along. So I loved it. I was so surprised that it was a debut novel. I didn't realize that until after I finished it, but loved it.
Annie Jones [00:06:18] Courtney, what about you?
Courtney [00:06:19] So I am the kid who didn't do the assignment. I am still in the process of reading. But I will say I am enjoying it so much. It was on my wish list for some time. Julie Anna actually picked it out for me for my birthday. But I've had so many books on my list, I just kept putting it off because it's one of those things I know I'm going to like it. I'm going to want to take my time reading it. So I feel like I kept putting it off for the perfect time. And then I started reading it and then I didn't have time to finish it before this recording, but I think I have enough background to hopefully put together a swing and cast, as they might say, in this time period. So looking forward to hearing what you all thought about it.
Annie Jones [00:07:02] Yeah, I am excited because I really did like this book a lot. But it's not a book where while I was reading it, I was casting it, which sometimes I do. Like, I think I did that for Funny You Should Ask or for Nora Goes Off Script, but I didn't do it for this one and it was really fun to kind of go back and think, oh gosh, who would I pick as Elizabeth Zott? Because Elizabeth to me just stands out as a really, really, remarkable, fun, interesting character. She's going to go down as one of my favorite protagonists, I think, of the last decade or so. I just love her so much, so I can't wait to see who we each picked for her.
Julie Anna [00:07:36] Yeah. Should we get into it?
Annie Jones [00:07:38] Yes, let's get into it. Give us a synopsis.
Julie Anna [00:07:41] All right. So chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s, and her all male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality, except for one Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant Nobel Prize nominated grudge holder who falls in love with, of all things, her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking combine one tablespoons acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride provides or proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy because, as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
Annie Jones [00:08:37] That's so good.
Julie Anna [00:08:38] That's a great synopsis too. [Crosstalk]. Yeah, I can't improve on that. All right. So obviously our first character we're going to be casting is our main character, Elizabeth Zott. So, again, she is a research chemist and cooking show host. She is brilliant and doesn't back down from a fight. So we see her in her late twenties to mid thirties. So keep that in mind. And I mention age only because most often when I do castings, I ask people for suggestions and it is pretty frequent that I imagine that a male is in their twenties and Brad Pitt gets recommended. I know in our minds we still view Brad Pitt as 20 years old, but unfortunately he is not. Time goes on. So some of our characters, you might think in your mind, oh, they're much older than that, but they're actually pretty young in this book. Late twenties to early thirties for Elizabeth and Calvin and then an older age for the other two main characters. So, Annie, you're up first. Who did you pick for Elizabeth?
Annie Jones [00:09:43] Okay. Well, again, I loved Elizabeth so much, so I really struggled with this. You should see the desktop of my laptop computer is covered in screenshots and images. I really brought out the red thread on this, but I ultimately decided on Elizabeth Debicki. So she is from The Great Gatsby. She's from Widows. She also played a role in Guardians of the Galaxy, I think two and three. But I really wanted somebody tall and I didn't want like Blake Lively tall. I wanted somebody angular with such a great descriptor of how I pictured Elizabeth Zott. I wanted somebody with a presence. And every picture of Elizabeth Debicki she's so much -- I think she is literally like 6'3 or something like that. She's so much taller than her casters. And she just seems like she could be ever so slightly awkward. She could be firm. I just love the way Elizabeth talks to people, even in her romantic relationship with Calvin.
[00:10:45] And so I was kind of sold. And there are a couple of really great images of Elizabeth Debicki, and this was one of the picture that I put in our Google Docs, because I really think it almost looks like sixties, fifties and sixties. She's got the eye makeup going on. And so I think she could do it and I'd really like to see her. She is about to play Princess Diana in The Crown, so I'm anxious to see. I don't like people to get typecast into too many things, but I like that she's done Marvel. She also did an action movie. Now she's about to play Diana. So I think her career is about to blow up, and I think this would be a fun opportunity for her.
Julie Anna [00:11:22] Nice. Yeah. I think whoever plays this character has to be able to pull off an updo. Because most times we see Elizabeth, especially on her show, she has her hair up in a bun with a number two pencil in it, and you kind of learn the significance of that. But, yeah, she's got a great face shape for having her hair. So, yeah, well done. All right, Courtney, who had you picked?
Courtney [00:11:44] Okay. My choice for Elizabeth is Vanessa Kirby. And I have to say, I kind of based my decision off of her role as Princess Margaret in The Crown because her era of that character was through the fifties and sixties. And obviously she has kind of those striking physical looks, but she also just has a presence about her that I think even in real life, she doesn't take a lot of guff from people. And I think that that is something that really lends itself to this character. She can obviously pull off the sixties period, outfits, the updos. And I did my research, she is quite tall. And so I think physically she would be a good actor for this role and I really am keen to see her with who I picked for Coven, which we'll get into soon.
Annie Jones [00:12:35] Oh, good.
Julie Anna [00:12:36] Nice. All right. So my pick, I feel like I need to explain a little bit first, because I am a little concerned that she might not be able to pull off the awkward because I don't know that anybody could look at this person and think that they could be awkward. However, I went more for the walks into a room everybody notices her. But also back in the sixties, when everything was pretty much sexist, nobody takes her seriously. That one of the nicknames that one of the awful characters calls her is Luscious Lizzy in the book. And it's kind of this, how could she be with a man like that? She's too pretty to have a brain type situation. So I picked Margo Robbie, number one, because I think she's gorgeous and I think that she is someone that will walk onto the screen and you might not take her seriously, right? You might think that she's just there because she's absolutely gorgeous. But I think she's got some serious acting chops. I think over the years she has shown some depth and some breadth in the roles that she's taken. And I also want to see her kind of reprise a role like within Bombshell.
[00:13:43] So she was in this movie Bombshell, where it's all about smarmy network producers, unfortunately, non-fictional, smarmy network producers. Whereas, this is a fictional book where casting. But I would like to see her kind of flip the script on that to where she is taking control of the situation. So she also is in I-Tonya, one of my favorite performances in the past probably 10 years from an actress. I think she was excellent in that. She was also in Suicide Squad, Wolf of Wall Street. So she also looks great with an Up do. So Margot Robbie was my choice.
Annie Jones [00:14:16] Nice.
Courtney [00:14:17] Nice.
Julie Anna [00:14:17] All right. So up next is Calvin Evans. So Calvin is also a research chemist. He is a genius Nobel award winning scientist here. Socially awkward, had a sad childhood. He is described as "lonesome looking". So we also see him in his late twenties as well. He's also incredibly tall, very lanky and blondish hair. So I guess I'm up next for this. The entire time I was reading this, I could not stop picturing Adam Driver.
Annie Jones [00:14:47] Oh, interesting.
Julie Anna [00:14:50] Adam. Yeah. So I know I just mentioned that this character has blond hair, but maybe Adam could pull off blond hair. We'll see. So you probably know him from Star Wars. He was in Marriage Story, House of Gucci more recently. He is just to me the quintessential really awkward but demands attention on the screen. I also could see him being secretly like a brilliant scientist that just none of us know about it. So I would like to see him paired up with someone like Margot Robbie. Because I think that he could push her to another depth there. Kind of like he did, in my opinion, in Marriage Story with Scarlett Johansson. Again, excellent performance in that took it to a really deep tough place in that movie. So that's who I pictured as our socially awkward, brilliant scientist.
Courtney [00:15:44] I like that. I would also point out when he hosted Saturday Night Live, he did a skit recently. He was blond, right?
Julie Anna [00:15:56] I think so, yeah.
Courtney [00:15:59] I don't know Star Wars words, so I can't tell you his character name. But it was like he was the undercover boss of Star Wars and they put him in a blond wig. So, I mean, check that out if you want confirmation if he could pull that off.
Julie Anna [00:16:14] Listen, maybe I'll take a still from that episode and use that to convince people.
Courtney [00:16:19] Yeah, do it.
Annie Jones [00:16:21] Yeah. I really recommend.
Julie Anna [00:16:22] It's either that or the picture of him with his shirt off holding a goat over his shoulders. Have you all seen that one?
Annie Jones [00:16:27] Oh, yeah. Just really sway the voters.
Julie Anna [00:16:29] Yeah, exactly. It's like if I need to convince anybody on Adam Driver, that's the picture I use.
Courtney [00:16:34] Oh, My goodness.[Crosstalk].
Julie Anna [00:16:35] All right, Courtney, who did you pick for Calvin?
Courtney [00:16:40] Okay. My Calvin choice is Nicholas Braun. I love Nicholas Braun. And similar to you, Julie Anna, when I -- again, I'm not very far into the story, but as soon as Calvin appeared on the scene, this is who I pictured. Just because in his description of being this very accomplished, but also awkward, tall, lanky guy, I kept thinking about not Nicholas Braun as cousin Greg in Succession, but as the guy in Ten Things I Hate About You. The TV show Gone Too Soon. If you guys didn't watch that, you really missed out. It only lasted for a season on Freeform, I guess. But he was the nerdy guy who was like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character [Crosstalk] movie and falls in love with the pretty girl and he's just so awkward but lovable. And I could really see him in this role being interesting enough to attract Elizabeth, but also have kind of an adorable, like, had a hard background storyline, puppy dog eyes, all of that. He is six foot seven.
Julie Anna [00:17:53] Oh, my gosh.
Annie Jones [00:17:53] Yeah. He is so incredibly tall.
Courtney [00:17:55] Right, incredibly tall. So I just kept thinking about him the whole time and how he's handsome enough to play, I think, a leading male character in a story like this. But he's also got that kind of boy next door. But I also could see him being a really smart, very accomplished scientist.
Julie Anna [00:18:14] Nice.
Annie Jones [00:18:14] Oh, I like that.
Julie Anna [00:18:15] Yeah. Even in Succession, especially in the first season when we first see him, he's just kind of always there in the background. But I'm always interested in what he's doing.
Annie Jones [00:18:25] You can't take your eyes off him.
Courtney [00:18:27] Exactly.
Julie Anna [00:18:29] Like, is he a sleeper cell? Like, is he going to take over in the end? He's got potential. All right, Annie, who is your pick for Calvin?
Annie Jones [00:18:38] Okay. I actually do need some help here, so I narrowed it down to two, and I'll tell you what my heart wants. But then I went a different direction because I was like, I'm not sure what my heart wants is tall enough. So I immediately was like, You know what I want? I want Joe Keery in this role. I want this Stranger Things dweeb too. Like, I think he borders on handsome because the whole point is, Calvin isn't like this super hot guy.
Julie Anna [00:19:06] Right.
Annie Jones [00:19:07] And I thought, gosh, he's got this hair that I feel like and he could be really nerdy looking. Plus, I as much as I appreciate Stranger Things. Like, I'm ready to see what else this guy can do. And he was in -- oh, what's that new Ryan Reynolds movie? We really liked it, but I don't [Crosstalk]. The one about video games. And Joe Keery is in it.
Julie Anna [00:19:30] Free guy.
Annie Jones [00:19:32] Free guy. And I really liked him in it. I think he's ready for big movie stardom. However, he's only 5'11. And so this was my real conundrum was should it be James Norton? James Norton, he's a little bit older, but with glasses he pulls off nerdy looking. Like, I think he could be a sixties era, fifties era scientist. He's been in Little Women, GrantChester, and I think he's got the height on him that maybe Joe Keery doesn't. So I really need your help. Joe Keery or Grantchester James Norton?
Julie Anna [00:20:05] I think I'm going to go Joe Keery.
Courtney [00:20:08] I was going to say James Norton. So, Annie, you got to go with your heart. You've got to go with your heart.
Julie Anna [00:20:13] I do see the value in your other choice. But I'm thinking like sixties, that hair? There's just so much to work with.
Annie Jones [00:20:24] True. And James Norton is more conventionally attractive, for sure. I just I'm still so torn about it. But My first thought was Joe Keery, and then I was like, Oh, I just don't know if he's tall enough. But maybe on screen it would also be fun if he was shorter than Elizabeth Debicki.
Courtney [00:20:41] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:20:42] Because I think that could be a fun kind of twist and lead toward, like, why would a woman like her go for him or whatever. So maybe we'll go with Joe since he's my the heart wants what it wants.
Julie Anna [00:20:53] Okay. Solid choice there because they do mention a couple of times that people are questioning why she's with him, right?
Annie Jones [00:21:00] Right.
Julie Anna [00:21:01] All right. So up next is Harriet Sloane. So Harriet is a friend and neighbor of Elizabeth. She is witty and outspoken and stuck in some bad circumstances. So we see Harriet around mid-fifties. It's mentioned that she has gray hair so mid to late fifties. All right. So, Annie, you are up next. Who did you pick for Harriet?
Annie Jones [00:21:20] Okay. First of all, I have to say, when you mentioned the Brad Pitt situation, I want you guys to know I have first cast Penelope Wilton from Downton Abbey in this role because I thought she'd be perfect. And then I Googled her, well, she’s 75 and I was like, hmm, that feels slightly too old. So, okay, I'm going with Bonnie Hunt. I'm bringing her career back. I want Bonnie Hunt to have success beyond animated voices. And it's because there are no roles for women of a certain age in Hollywood. So, Bonnie, here it is. Here it is on a silver platter for you. She was, of course, in Cheaper by the Dozen. That classic piece of American cinema, Beethoven. She was also in a lot of great eighties movies, but she's the right age. I found a picture of her with her little glasses, and I thought, this has to be somebody who's maternal and warm. Like, she comes over and kind of takes Elizabeth and her daughter under her wing.
Courtney [00:22:14] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:22:15] But she also is a woman who desperately wants more. She's in this horrific marriage. She's trying to become her own woman. And I thought, let's let's give it up for Bonnie Hunt.
Julie Anna [00:22:27] Yeah, she was my alternate, actually.
Annie Jones [00:22:30] Oh, how fun.
Julie Anna [00:22:31] Yeah. So a little fun fact about me as a kid. I was around the same age as the youngest girl and Beethoven when it came out, and I looked identical to that little girl. It was freaky. Like, strangers would come up to my mom on the street and be like, "Is that the kid from Beethoven?" So I've always viewed Bonnie Hunt as like a pseudo mom, you know, from my childhood role in Beethoven. So I actually was Googling photos of her to include on my Google sheet. And the first thing that came up was, why do we never hear from Bonnie Hunt anymore? And I was like, why do we never hear from Bonnie Hunt?
Annie Jones [00:23:11] It's because it's Hollywood, y'all. I thought about this and I was like, because she's been in things, but it's all animated. And I thought, dang, this industrial complex where women have to live. This is the other thing, if you Google 50-year-old actresses, they all look 35. Yeah, I thought none of these --
Julie Anna [00:23:28] J.Lo.
Courtney [00:23:28] No.
Annie Jones [00:23:28] Yeah. Like, J.Lo can't play Harriet. I was like, that's why you had to go British. You had to go British for Bonnie Hunt.
Julie Anna [00:23:35] Yeah, I'll agree with that.. And I did the same thing. I was automatically thinking of people who are now in their 70s. Because it's like people with gray hair they're going to be in their 70s. But, no, back in the fifties and sixties when people weren't dyeing their hair every day. You know, they did have gray hair at 50.
Annie Jones [00:23:50] Yes.
Courtney [00:23:50] That's true. That's a good point.
Annie Jones [00:23:51] Yeah. Nice.
Julie Anna [00:23:52] All right. Courtney, who did you pick?
Courtney [00:23:54] So my pick in this is again where I'm going to admit my shortcoming that I haven't met Harriet yet. But I see this as a Michelle Pfeiffer possibility, and I'm going to tell you why. So much like Bonnie Hunt, I am ready for a Michelle Pfeiffer instant. I think that she is pretty enough to play like a 1960s housewife, although that's terribly sexist to say. But I also think we've seen her in these types of bad situations before. We've seen her in One Fine Day where she's just like hair up, scared mom, like spread too thin, trying to get her kid to, you know, all of these little things in the city. We've seen her in What Lies Beneath where her husband tries to drown her in a lake. We've all seen her in a little film called New Year's Eve. Maybe you've heard of it with every actor an actress of our time. And if you've seen that movie, she plays a woman who is trying to accomplish all of these resolutions. And Zac Efron's character helps her kind of navigate all these dreams that she wants to kind of accomplish. And she's just this really, like, sweet and neat lady that just wants something more exciting for herself. And so when I read this as the character description, I thought, oh, it really reminds me of her character in that movie specifically. I think she's blond, so I think she could easily have gray hair. I know she's definitely over 50. Sorry, Michelle, but I think with the right makeup and stuff, even though she's gorgeous, I think she could definitely play that like early gray haired woman next door who's nice and maternal but also has a little more depth to her character.
Julie Anna [00:25:40] Yeah, I like her. Yeah. Why you got to expose her like that? Everybody thought she was in her 30s.
Courtney [00:25:47] I know. Well, listen, I'm 32 and also going gray. So, I mean, I would be happy to step into the role of Harriet, but Michelle might be more qualified.
Julie Anna [00:25:58] Nice. All right. So my pick was Holly Hunter. So we saw her way past in broadcast news. She also has done animated movies. She's the voice of Ms. Incredible in Incredibles. Partly because of that is why I chose her. I think she has one of the most soothing, motherly sounding voices of anyone in that age range. So I think that she could be the type of character to step into the house with this brand new moms, you know, single mother, kid crying. She's asleep on the floor when we first see that interaction between the two characters. I think she would just have this instant calming presence of walking in, let me help you. Let me take control. Please get me out of my own house type situation. So I picked Holly Hunter.
Annie Jones [00:26:47] How can we get Holly Hunter on the Calm App? I just feel like that's what I want to --
Julie Anna [00:26:53] Now, there's an idea.
Annie Jones [00:26:53] Yeah. That's what I want to sooth me to sleep. I want Holly Hunter --
Julie Anna [00:26:57] Or Bonnie Hunt.
Annie Jones [00:26:58] Yeah. Or Bonnie Hunt, for that matter. But I want these women to, like, tell me I'm beautiful and I can go to bed. That's what I want.
Julie Anna [00:27:06] Yeah. Take time for yourself? Isn't that what she says? Every day, take time for yourself.
Annie Jones [00:27:12] Yeah.
Julie Anna [00:27:14] All right. So up next, we have Walter. So Walter is the TV show director of Elizabeth shows Supper at Six. He has an eye for talent, but he always follows the roles, however sexist they may be. He's also a very good dad, single dad as well to a young girl. So we see him as well in his mid to late fifties. So I guess I'm up next. I picked John C Reilly.
Annie Jones [00:27:40] Oh, that's good.
Julie Anna [00:27:42] Yeah. You might know him from Chicago. Step Brothers. Boogie Nights. Partly chosen because of his role in Chicago as Amos Hart. We saw him. That was a little bit earlier than this book. But we've seen him in period costume. I also have a pretty good looking photo of him in the straw hat that I'll probably use. So I think he could pull off a goodhearted but intimidated individual. And I think that that's this role. That he wants to do what's right. But that's just really difficult when everybody else is telling him to do something else. So that’s who I picked. Courtney, who did you pick for Walter?
Courtney [00:28:22] Okay. So my pick for Walter is Eric Stonestreet.
Annie Jones [00:28:26] Oh, yeah.
Julie Anna [00:28:28] Yeah.
Courtney [00:28:28] I thought that he would obviously play a solid father figure because we see him as a dad in Modern Family. He's also done some family work, you know, like The Secret Life of Pets, which is obviously not a 1960s period piece. But I just think he has such a positive energy. But honestly, I could see him being like the head of a network and I could see him in a more serious role, even though we haven't really in the past. And I definitely think he could play that kind of hard nosed boss, but he's just kind of dealing with the circumstances of his time. And I would love to see him as like a fast talking newsy kind of reporter vibe, as opposed to having seen him in a lot more like goofier roles in the past. And I hate to say it, but I really got stuck on the punchy factor. Like that was one of the descriptors given to me. And I was like, oh, I hate to do it. I was kind of between like a Vince Vaughn with a little weight on him or an Eric Stonestreet with weight on him. So I ultimately went with Eric, but I could also see Vince Vaughn as a really cool, single dad. So probably will be my alternate pick.
Julie Anna [00:29:49] Awesome. All right. Annie, who did you pick for Walter?
Annie Jones [00:29:52] Okay. This was actually the easiest one for me to cast. I really wanted Martin Freeman. So I think Martin Freeman, I feel like he obviously plays well in period pieces. We've seen him in Sherlock. We've seen him as a hobbit situation. But I also felt like this person has to be -- there's a way in which he really is a partner to Elizabeth. Like, and he tries to rein her in for her own sake. I think he wants the best for her. He wants her to have this job. But he also is torn because he is a man of a certain time. And so he winds up being confused a lot of the time. Elizabeth confuses him. And I just feel like Martin Freeman could walk around trying his hardest to be progressive and trying to be open hearted, but also a little confused. And I like Martin Freeman a lot, and I just think -- I don't know, I think he could have good chemistry with Elizabeth Debicki and Harriet as well.
Courtney [00:30:52] Yeah. That's good. I like that.
Julie Anna [00:30:54] How many actors can say they've been in a Hobbit situation? He has some rein. So this book had a pretty wide cast of characters, but I did feel like they were all so well fleshed out that we could probably cast 15 different people on this. And all have a pretty good view of who should play what? So this one was a fun one to do. An additional character, which we mentioned earlier you're going to help us cast is 630. So 630 is the dog of Elizabeth and Calvin named 630 because that is the time of day they found him. So that becomes his name because Elizabeth thinks that Calvin is calling the dog 630 when he's really just playing with the [Inaudible]. We also get this dog's point of view, which when you hear that sounds a little bit hokey if you haven't read the book, but it really is kind of an added [Inaudible] piece to this story to hear this kind of simple dog's point of view of of protecting this family and seeing what they've gone through and being there for them. This dog, also, by the end of the book, has learned almost a thousand words from his own testament, which is an effort Elizabeth undertook to teach him words. So that's a fun little feature. So he's described as a large dog, just a mutt, not a super attractive dog. But we will take all types of pictures, the pedigree dogs, pound puppies, send them our way. And each of us are going to pick our favorite from the list of pictures sent to us, and we will use those in our casting.
Annie Jones [00:32:27] Oh, I can't wait. That's going to be so fun. I loved that character so much. I never knew I would become attached to an animal in a piece of adult literature.
Julie Anna [00:32:37] Yeah, it was excellent.
Annie Jones [00:32:39] Can I tell you who art to direct this situation?
Courtney [00:32:42] Yeah.
Julie Anna [00:32:43] Yes, please.
Annie Jones [00:32:44] I want Greta Gerwig on this.
Courtney [00:32:46] I knew you were going to say that.
Julie Anna [00:32:48] Oh.
Annie Jones [00:32:49] I want her.
Julie Anna [00:32:50] That's solid.
Annie Jones [00:32:51] I just feel she would get this. I mean, she's doing that Barbie thing right now, and I just feel like she knows what it's like to take a piece of source material and turn it into something magical. And, look, I wouldn't want her to direct everything even though I love her. Look, I want us to cast Nora Goes Off Script so bad, but, like, I would want Nancy Meyers to direct that film. So I'm not biased. I can pick different people. But I do think Greta Gerwig would do wonderfully with this period piece, and she would do great taking this piece of source material really about feminism and turning it into something special.
Courtney [00:33:26] I like that. You got to have a great costume too.
Julie Anna [00:33:32] They should get whoever did the sets and costumes for the movie Down With Love to get on this project.
Annie Jones [00:33:39] Oh yes.
Julie Anna [00:33:40] Because that is like a sixties vision. It's so esthetically pleasing to watch that movie. I love it. I was just going to point out that this is actually in the works of being created to the series, which is partly why we wanted to cast it. But I also would like to give a shout out to my imaginary best friend, Jason Bateman, who is attached as a producer.
Annie Jones [00:34:06] Oh.
Courtney [00:34:07] Oh.
Julie Anna [00:34:08] Yeah. I didn't recognize the other people. And that might just be my own ignorance towards, you know, behind the scenes crew. But I got excited when I saw that because I love Jason Bateman and everything.
Courtney [00:34:22] That does seem pretty ironic though. That movie about female empowerment and the women leading has a male producer. [Crosstalk] But and also to acknowledge we do realize that the main character has already been cast. It's going to be Brie Larson. We don't necessarily agree with that, but somebody always is going to drop into my DMs to say this is not going to cast. So [Inaudible]. Look, we realize that. We think we can [Crosstalk].
Julie Anna [00:34:53] We got it.
Annie Jones [00:34:54] And I don't mind the Brie Larson casting. Can I say, Courtney, I saw this in your alternate. You know who alt I would have liked for this is Elizabeth Olsen. I really think that could have been fun. I think Brie Larson could do a good job as she feels so much younger to me, I guess. But that is my own -- you know, Elizabeth is young in the book. That's the reality. She is young, but she just reads older because of who she is and how she presents herself. But I think it'll be interesting. I'm excited. I will be watching this for sure.
Courtney [00:35:26] Yeah, me too.
Julie Anna [00:35:28] Same.Very excited.
Annie Jones [00:35:28] Thanks, guys.
Julie Anna [00:35:29] Thank you.
Courtney [00:35:30] Thanks.
Annie Jones [00:35:31] As I mentioned earlier, you can follow @Julieannareads so that you can vote on our casting. This episode drops on a Thursday so you can cast your vote in Sunday's polls on Juliana's Instagram. Between now and then, please send in the pictures of your dogs, your favorite pets to Julieannareads or to me at Anniebjones05.
[00:35:52] This week, I'm reading On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Juliana, what are you reading?
Julie Anna [00:35:57] I am reading Breathless by Amy McCulloch.
Annie Jones [00:36:00] Courtney, what are you reading?
Courtney [00:36:01] I am reading Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland.
Annie Jones [00:36:08] From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram @Bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website. Bookshelfthomasville.com.
[00:36:25] A full transcript of today's episode can be found at Fromthefrontporchpodcast.com.
[00:36:29] Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music which sets the perfect, warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
[00:36:39] Our executive producers of today's episode are Donna Hechler, Angie Erickson, Cammy Tidwell. Chantelle C.
Executive Producers (Read their own names) [00:36:45] Nicole Marsee. Wendi Jenkins. Laurie Johnson. Kate Johnston Tucker.
Annie Jones [00:36:52] Thank you all for your support of From the Front Porch. If you'd like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see, 'Write a Review' and tell us what you think.
[00:37:10] Or, if you're so inclined, you can support us over on Patreon, where we have three levels of support. Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits, like bonus content, access to live events, discounts and giveaways. Just go to Patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you and we look forward to meeting back here next week.