Amph I Fell Into the Well of Lost Plots- Jasper Fforde Ffans

Just finished The Well of Lost Plots. It was fantastic - I love the whole idea of characters' 'book personas' being distinctly different to their real personalities, and how weird some of these people are. The three witches were great; Beatrice and Benedick; Miss H, the Cheshire Cat, and I think I've acquired an inexplicable soft spot for Vernham Deane. Egads.

Now to see if the library has the other one . . .

 

What order do the Thrusday next books come in?

 

I'm in the middle of Well of Lost Plots now.

I think this is close to the pinaccle of modern literature. STunning, hilarious . . . the man has created something entirely and utterly new, it seems to me.

I have worked out quite a lengthy fantasy cast for the *cough* fantasy miniseries that I think the books would be brilliant as.

Let me dig up that list and post it here.

 

I read The Eyre Affair, and really enjoyed it I'm looking forward to reading the others.

 

How did I miss this thread?


I adore this series. The books are so incredibly literatue, yet highly enjoyable at the same time. Fforde is a remarkable thinker, even if his writing style leaves a little to be desired at times.

 

I'm going all out.

I'm going to post the cast member, a picture of the actor and one of their lines, for each of the cast members I've selected.

So give me time.

 

Excellent.

 

Superberous

 

The Eyre Affair Cast (in order of appearance)

Kate Winslet as Thursday Next

[image=http://www.restaurantnu.com/htdocs/Images/images/images/Kate%20Winslet.jpg]

If Mr. Parke-Laine calls again, tell him I died of hemorrhagic fever or something.

Kenneth Branagh as Father Next

[image=http://members.aol.com/pvu8869202/redham.jpg]

Time IS out of joint.

What's out of joint?

Nothing, nothing. Good job I was born to set it right . . .

Pierce Brosnan as Acheron Hades

[image=http://www.bondcollection.com.ar/pierce-brosnan.jpg]

But perhaps not Austen. Why not Trollope? A well-placed nail bomb in Barchester might be an amusing distraction.

Martin Freeman as Bowden Cable

[image=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/characters/images/main_tim.jpg]

We're going to be married.

Love is like oxygen, Bowden. When's the happy day?

Oh, she doesn't know it yet.

Orson Welles (computer generated) as Edward Rochester

[image=http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/1a/200px-Orson.jpg]

What delusion has come over me? What sweet madness has seized me?

Next time, my picks for Jack Schitt, Joffy Next, Landen Parke-Laine, Victor Analogy and Mr. Frampton.

 

Very interesting picks! I'd never considered Kate Winslet as Thursday Next, but in my mind, I pictured a more scruffy looking girl, for some reason. Kenneth Branagh as her dad is kinda cool. I love the idea of Pierce Brosnan as Hades. Who would play her poor, disappearing husband? Or her sort of scatter-brained mom?

And who would play MISS HAVISHAM??

 

Kenneth Branagh would make a fantastic Next Sr. Martin Freeman as Bowden Cable - yeah, definitely. (Is it just me, or does he look very like Dudley Moore in that picture?) Brosnan as Acheron - I'd love to see him play villainous. And Brosnan could definitely handle the 'villainous with class' side of things.

A computer-generated Orson Welles would rock as Rochester, although maybe you'd want a second choice just in case the technology isn't available Unless *thinks* did he ever play the part on film? In which case you could sort of paste it in, which'd be awesome.

I hadn't considered Kate Winslet as a Thursday-alike, but that particular picture made me think again. Yeah, she could do it.

Looking forward to more

 

Very nice I especally like KB as Thursday's dad, and Brosnan as Hades. I really want to see who you've picked out for Landen.

 

I'd never considered Winslet as Thursday until you mentioned it to me. I still don't think she's a 100% fit (slightly too good looking, even when in 'scruffy' mode), but she'd do well.

Brosnan is ideal for Hades. I'm surprised that he hasn't really had a defining 'villain' part yet.

Branagh would be good as Father Next, but as we've discussed, he's very hard to get down. I think the only other decent alternative is Sam Neill.

 

Interesting choices, Rogue. Thursday is a tough casting call, because it's so hard to find a really good average-looking actress in Hollywood. Kate could work, though...

I liked Bowden, and I was sad when he didn't have much to do in any of the books besides TEA. Then again, with so many characters, how do you juggle them all?

 

What about Donald Sutherland for Thursday's dad?

 

What, and have another laughable attempt at his "English" accent? Haha.

 

Very interesting choices. I can see Winslet and Branagh in those parts, but I'm not sure they're 100%. I agree with the others that Thursday would be just a bit scruffier. Close, though. Have to give that some thought. Orsen Welles would so rock as Rochester, and I kind of like Freeman as Bowden. But I love the idea of Brosnan as Hades.

I'd suggest actors for the other characters, except that I'm no good at that sort of thing. I'm definitely curious about who'd play Landen and Miss Havisham, though.

Edit: I forgot to say that I totally love the idea of these books as a fantasy miniseries in the first place, especially if it were done well.

 

Yes. A TV series would be far superior to any film.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Branagh was the one in that list that I was the most uncertain about.

I'm aiming for five to a post, but I only have six left to finish off TEA, so I'm going to go ahead and give you six and then start working on LIAGB!

This is fun and I'm enjoying everyone's comments. It should be noted that some of these are pretty liberal interpretations . . . perhaps not even matching the descriptions given in the novels (particularly in this case with Spike and Joffy, who are both described very differently than I've cast them) but it's all about the spirit and who I think would capture the essence of the character.

So, hope you enjoy this; I've left out a lot of people in TEA that I simply couldn't come up with anyone or didn't feel strongly about.

Ricky Gervais as Jack Schitt

[image=http://www.twitchfilm.net/pics/gervais.jpg]

That's MR. Schitt to you, Next.

Sean Bean as Spike Stoker

[image=http://gfx.filmweb.pl/p/230/po.136199.jpg]

He was a good friend but he fell into shadows. Became a servant of the dark one. I had to hunt him down myself. The spike 'n' decap was the easy part. The tricky bit was having to tell his wife. She wasn't exactly overjoyed.

Ian McKellen as Victor Analogy

[image=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.28.02/gifs/mckellen2-0209.jpg]

They keep an eye on forgery, illegal dealing and overtly free thespian interpretations. The actor in with them was Graham Huxtable. He was putting on a felonious one-man performance of Twelfth Night. Persistant offender. He'll be fined and bound over. His Malvolio is TRULY frightful.

Ralph Fiennes as Landen Parke-Laine

[image=http://adorocinema.cidadeinternet.com.br/personalidades/atores/ralph-fiennes/ralph-fiennes02.jpg]

Midtones is where I've lived for the past ten years, Thursday.

Christopher Lee as Mr. Frampton

[image=http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/images/christopher_lee.jpg]

What was that?

Probably rats.

And the swearing?

Uncultured rats.

Hugh Laurie as Joffy Next

[image=http://monica.weeman.org/pics/laurie.jpg]

Attendances have almost tripled since I converted the vestry into a casino and introduced naked greasy-pole dancing on Tuesdays.

 

I'm less excited about those, but I like your choice for Landen. Hugh Laurie for Joffy doesn't really seem to fit what I had in mind, but that might just be my perception of him from the way his character acts on House.

 

Hugh Laurie as Joffy cracks me up!

Still...what about Miss Havisham???

 

If you've never seen Hugh Laurie in anything other than House, then you've never seen him at all. He's absolutely perfect for Joffy. Here's a scene from BlackAdder the Third which is more usual of his persona. Link. Laurie comes in at about 0:40, along with Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid).

Otherwise, excellent picks again. Bean is growing on me as Stoker. His part could be substantially changed: it isn't particularly strong to begin with. I'm not sure if McKellan would do as small a part as Analogy, though. Maybe he'd make a good Hades if Brosnan was unavailable.

 

I think you've pretty much nailed the perfect cast here. In practice, you'd never get them all, but hey - we can dream

I can just see Christopher Lee delivering the "Uncultured rats" line. Perfect. And Hugh Laurie would carry off Joffy like the part'd been written for him. Superb pick.

And Ricky Gervais as Jack Schitt? That's inspired.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that all the cast you've chosen so far are British. This is of course as it should be but was it deliberate? I'm assuming so.

 

Well, Brosnan is Irish, if that makes any difference.

 

Good point.