Elizabeth Hand's "Available Dark"

Elizabeth Hand, a New York Times notable author, has won the Shirley Jackson Award, the James Tiptree Award, the Nebula Award (twice), the World Fantasy Award (three times), and many others. Her novella, “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon,” was nominated for a Hugo Award.

Here she writes about her preference for the director and principal cast of an adaptation of her new novel, Available Dark:

I have a long list of directors, but lately I’ve been leaning toward Quentin Tarantino, because he’s got such great taste in rock and roll. He could just write the screenplay if he wants to — he did the honors for Tony Scott’s True Romance, one of my all-time favorite movies. I think Tarantino could do justice to the twisted romance between Cass and Quinn that’s at the heart of Available Dark — this book is my version of Casablanca.

There are so many terrific women actors who I think could do a great job with Cass Neary: Frances McDormand, Jodie Foster, Daryl Hannah, Annette Bening, Ellen Barkin, even Meg Ryan. Still, as far as dream casting goes, I’d love to see Charlize Theron in the role. She has the right physique — tall, blonde, valkyric — and her remarkable work in Monster proves she can capture a deeply conflicted, flawed character and not lost the viewer’s interest and empathy. Ellen Barkin would be my next choice — she’s definitely got the voice and the New York attitude down cold.

As for Quinn O’Boyle —the inimitable Steve Buscemi. And Galdur, the legendary black metal guitarist holed up in the Icelandic wilderness, is a role tailor-made for Viggo Mortensen, especially considering Mortensen’s Danish background. Like Theron, Mortensen’s an actor who can do beautiful and scary at the same time. Plus I can totally seeing him learn to shred for the role, if he doesn’t already know how to play tremolo guitar.

Learn more about the book and author at Elizabeth Hand's website.

Read about Elizabeth Hand's six favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue