It’s Friday, and that means welcome to another installment of Casting Call, in which my fellow YA-lovers YA Crush, The Grown-Up YA, Gone Pecan and The Book Addict’s Guide and we at Teen Lit Rocks pick a book we think would make a fabulous film and then select our dream casts for the book’s movie adaptation. This week we’re casting “Anna and the French Kiss” by Stephanie Perkins. I don’t think “Anna” has been optioned (it’s not listed on IMDB Pro as an optioned property), which is a shame, because it would make a perfect teen-targeted romantic comedy. Diana and I spent nearly an hour on the phone together consulting about which actors fit which roles. It was fun but a bit exhausting (not to mention exasperating to our husbands, but this is important!).
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near – misses end with the French kiss Anna – and readers – have long awaited?
We love Anna. She’s the daughter of a Nicholas Sparks-like romance novelist who hits it big and decides his daughter should spend her final year at a posh international boarding school. Meanwhile, Anna is a down-to-earth, Target-shopping cineaste with dreams of becoming a movie critic (a girl after my own heart). She’s pretty but not so gorgeous she knows she’s hot, and she’s a little bit shy at first about joining a school of worldly rich kids as a senior. After much deliberation, we figured (the new girl on “Glee”) would make a good Anna.
This was a tough pick, but Diana re-read the first moment Anna encounters St. Clair, and she goes on and on about his rock-star hair, how beautiful it is — “I-pretend-I -don’t-care-but-I-really-do-hair.” Having witnessed Jones’ performance as the lovely knight of flowers in “Game of Thrones,” I knew he was “beautiful boy” enough, as Anna calls St. Clair. But he can also do angst (poor Loras, losing his beloved on GOT) and steamy kisses as well. Plus, he’s got a dreamy English accent.
Jake Abel as Josh
We’ve only seen Jake Abel once, in “Percy Jackson,” but he’s tall and a bit cocky and could definitely pass as a good-looking artist who’s smart and easy on the eyes.
Afshan Azad as Rashmi
Sadly, there aren’t too many South Asian teen actresses working in Hollywood, so Diana suggested “the actress who played one of the Patil twins.” That narrowed down our choices to two, and we liked Afshan’s glam red-carpet photos, and figured — hey she’s already played a student at a boarding school, so playing the wealthy and snarky Rashmi should be a walk in the park.
Lindsay Shaw as Meredith
Lindsay isn’t blond and doesn’t have curly hair, but she does have the athletic build of a soccer-player and the tall-best-friend-next-door look that Meredith needs. Diana remembered her from her time on “Ned Declassified,” and after looking through all of her photos, we thought she was the closest were going to get.
Stay tuned next week when we cast “Shadow and Bone” by Leigh Bardugo. Check out our full schedule!
Honesty Clause: In our development of this feature we discovered that the book blog Lit Snit featured “Casting Call Fridays.” Our Casting Call feature is in no way purposefully copying or stealing this idea and any similarities is purely coincidental. Also, you should check out their casting because it rocks!
i love your anna, i think she is perfect, good job! and hello, Afshan, totally gorgeous!
I think she is similarly shy but secretly a dynamo, just like Anna is in the book. It works! Afshan IS gorgeous. We didn’t see much of the Patil twins in the last couple of HP movies, but she’s quite lovely.
Oh I love your Anna! I stopped watching Glee so I’m not familiar with her, but she looks super cute and perfect for the role!
Afshan is perfect! I was trying to find someone for Rashmi and I was like, come on, I have to know SOMEONE but I couldn’t find who I was looking for. Duh! Harry Potter.
Great choices!!
Glee is not nearly as good as it was the first two seasons, but I can’t stop watching. I’m strangely faithful to shows. I watched ALL 15 seasons of ER. Yup!
So excited that you cast a lot of the secondary characters! And your choice for Anna is great! Seriously though, best casting – Jake Abel. While I hate that all he seems to play is jerky guys, he does it so well! And he’d be perfect for jerky Josh! Great job ladies! 🙂
Also, pass along my thanks and kudos to your seemingly patient husbands 😉
Yes, Diana and I had so much fun chatting on the phone about the characters, and then I literally re-read the whole novel on my iPad! I married my best friend, so I really have a soft spot for friends-to-more relationships. It’s why I’m also mad about Mal in “Shadow and Bone” — squee! Jake Abel IS jerky in movies, but I think he plays the love interest in “The Host” (which I own but have yet to read).
Gorgeous cast! Why do I not remember Finn Jones. How could I forget THAT? 🙂 Good choices all the way around.
Well, it’s hard to think outside of the GOT context, in which he plays a beautiful gay knight, right? Thanks for being as equally as smitten by British guys as I am!
Eddie redmayne for etienne?
This is perfect,i loved the book and I think that I would love to have had the movie.
I think Douglas Booth or Aaron Taylor-Johnson would make a good St. Clair
I love your Anna, I couldn’t think of an actress that would fit properly and with a gap tooth but Melissa Benoist looks perfect to me *-* But I had to admit that for all the time, while I was reading, I pictured St.Clair ad Douglas Booth from the movie LOL >.<
Meredith has blonde curly hair!!!
Is there a movie yet ? If not then when it’s coming out .. Love the book
I cant wait for this movie to come out i am in love with the booik
I think that Thomas Brodie-Sangster would be a better description of Étienne St. Clair.
I think the casting is horrid. I agree that St. Clair should be THOMAS BRODIE-SANGSTER PLEASE MAKE IT HIM! And please change Meredith too because she is not how she should look. Please make the cast awesome because I’m really looking forward to the movie because I love that book.
Thanks for chiming in — please note that this post is two years old, and there is no official casting for the book yet 🙂