Saturday, August 31, 2013

A Word From ~ Frederick Buechner


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"We have seen more than we let on, even to ourselves.
Through some moment of beauty or pain, some sudden turning of our lives, through some horror of the twelve o'clock news, some dream, some breakfast on the first and last of all our days, 
we catch glimmers at least of what the saints are blinded by. 
Only then, unlike the saints, more pigs always than heroes, we tend to go on as though nothing has happened.
To go on as though something  has happened even though we are not sure what is was or just where we are supposed to go with it, is to enter that dimension of life that religion is a word for."

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{via my recently finished copy of Buechner's "Alphabet of Grace"}

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Page To Film :: Bram Stoker's "Dracula"


Hello again!
Been ages since I did one of these {see here for some previous P2F goodness}, and I confess that this time I went through quite a few casts before I settled on the one to follow below {my first round of pickings were perhaps a bit too mature (i.e. Ralph Fiennes as Jack Seward), and my seconds were a bit too "pretty"(i.e. Alice Eve as Lucy)}. 

Eventually though, I puzzled through the many options and have now settled on a cast that I believe would best represent the characters as they were in Stoker's original story.

And so, without any more blibber-blabber, please enjoy my latest casting conjecture for Bram Stoker's "Dracula".



_____△ Beware - Mild Spoilers Below △_____



Count Dracula
 A Transylvanian noble who, after purchasing a house in London, asks
Jonathan Harker to visit him in his castle to do business with him.
 
 Michael Fassbender 
{Pale and icy looking in the beginning, Fassbender's Dracula should look like 
he'd been cut from marble; only slowly taking on color and beauty with each kill}

In Vampire Mode:
{please don't ask me how I found this I really have no idea}



Jonathan Harker
A solicitor sent to do business with Count Dracula; also Mina's fiancé.
Matthew Macfadyen
{Great actor who would nail the whole normal-joe-in-abnormal-situation schtick 
and overall just be incredibly believable as Jonathan}



Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker
A schoolteacher and Jonathan Harker's fiancée.
Daniela Denby-Ashe 
{Loved her in "North & South" and think she would be the perfect Mina 
and counterpart to Macfadyen's Jonathan. Liking the idea of her as a brunette Mina too}



Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
 A Dutch professor and vampire hunter. Jack Seward's former teacher.
 Bruno Ganz
 {Fantastic actor. Just add spectacles and bam - 
the best Van Helsing God could ever give us}



Reinfield
 A lawyer whom Dracula turned mad. Mental patient of Dr. Seaward.
Andy Serkis
 {Can't imagine anyone else doing near as great a job as he would portraying Reinfield
My favorite "Dracula" character and I just know he would knock it out of the park}



Dr. John "Jack" Seward
 A doctor at a mental asylum; one of Lucy's suitors 
and a former student of Dr Abraham Van Helsing.
 Tom Hiddleston
 {I'm thinking glasses, slicked over black hair, and some sort of thin mustache or goatee.  
Can't have Hiddleston being both brilliant and attractive as the somewhat clueless doctor... ^-^}



 Lucy Westenra
 A 19-year-old aristocrat; Mina's best friend and Arthur's eventual fiancée.
 Imogen Poots
{Loved her sassy self in Jane Eyre and think she would make both a lovely living
 representation of Lucy, as well as a terrifying and beautiful immortal one}



Quincey Morris
An American cowboy and explorer; and one of Lucy's suitors.
  Jason Dohring 
{With slightly longer hair and a touch of southern drawl, Dohring would make a fantastic  
Quincey and provide that much needed comic relief with flair}


 
Arthur Holmwood
Lucy's suitor and later fiancé.
 Rupert Friend
{Enjoyed him in "The Young Victoria" and think he would 
be excellent as Lucy's suitor, fiancé, and later, avenger}


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 Hope you enjoyed the latest "Page to Film". :)
Stay Tuned:  
Next up will be a modern recasting of E.M. Forster's "A Room With a View".