Thanks so much to What is This Book About for inviting me play with The Wishing World as a movie! With what can be done with CGI these days, The Wishing World is aching to be on the silver screen. It is a hugely visual book, and my kids and I have talked a lot about who would play whom. Here is what we came up with:

Lorelei

Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things. No one delivers intensity like this girl, and Lorelei has to be intense. Any girl who is willing to chase her family across dimensions has to know how to “turn it up to Eleven.”

Fun Fact: Millie Bobby Brown’s character in Stranger Things is named Eleven. My son, had he been born a girl, would have been named Lorelei Eleven Fahnestock.

Gruffy the Griffon

Dennis Haysbert from Mr. Peabody and Sherman. His is the voice I hear when Gruffy speaks in my head. Haysbert’s voice exudes strength and power. It also has a reassuring quality to it, all of which are completely Gruffy.

Pip the Toucan

Alan Tudyk from Zootopia, Wreck it Ralph and my favorite series of all time, Firefly. I’ve been a huge Tudyk fan forever, and I think he would bring the perfect element to Pip. Tudyk can make anything sound interesting, which is essential for a character who says everything twice.

Squeak the Mouse

Kristin Bell from Frozen. So if there’s ever a movie based on any of my stories, it has to have Kristin Bell in it because she’s just plain awesome. Did you see the clip from the Ellen DeGeneres show with Kristin and the sloth? If not, you have to YouTube it. She is overwhelmingly endearing and insanely talented.

Sir Real

Xolo Maridueña from Parenthood. As I was searching for pictures for this blog, I stumbled across Maridueña and he immediately struck me as Sir Real. He has the perfect look for it.

Theron

Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things. Every single child actor in Stranger Things is amazing, but my wife and I both agreed that Matarazzo would make a fantastic Theron. And he’s got the perfect crazy curly hair!

Ripple, Princess of the Eternal Sea

Raffey Cassidy from Tomorrowland. Oh my gosh. My kids and I fell in love with Athena from Tomorrowland from the very first scene. Cassidy has the accent and the bearing of the Princess of the Eternal Sea. Give her blue skin and eyes and she is Ripple. Even if The Wishing World never gets made into a movie, I would die happy if I could hear Raffey Cassidy do some of Ripple’s dialogue from the book.

The Ink King

Jack Gleeson from A Game of Thrones. Is there anyone that can inspire loathing better than the boy who played Joffrey Baratheon? Gleeson has the ability to evoke sympathy and revulsion in the viewer, both of which are essential for a great Ink King.

So that’s our cast of main characters! Enjoy the story. I’ll see you all in Veloran.