Picture This: Staffer compares casts of book adaptation films to how he imagined the characters when reading

We all have our comfort go-to’s: our favorite movies, books and games. But at 18, I’ve realized that most of my favorite movies have started as great books.

All of the best childhood books from “Horton Hears a Hoo” to “Because of Winn Dixie” have always had an accompanying movie. While at the time this was a normalcy that I appreciated, I have begun to see the flaw in creating novels into film adaptations. 

Usually, as I’m reading a book I create an image of what the characters look like in my head, picturing everything from the color of their hair to their height. With a surplus of film adaptations being casted with the same big Hollywood names too often, the characters slowly start to lose their charm. If every book character is played by Timothée Chalamet, then how can anyone picture the character they once loved other than Chalamet himself. 

Three of my favorite books I’ve read in the past few years: “Daisy Jones and the Six,” “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and “The Hunger Games: Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes” have become or been in the works for film adaptations. Hollywood has done their own job with casting these roles, but I have my own opinions of who should portray these iconic literary roles. 

Two summers ago, I found myself in a major Fleetwood Mac phase. Every time I got in the car, it was the only music that I would play, but I needed more. So I turned to the book allegedly based on the band: “Daisy Jones and the Six.” 

My favorite parts of a book are typically dialogue — this book was right up my alley. I had never read a book in an interview style before, but I was hooked.

I had finished the book in only one day, visualizing how Billy looked while jamming out and how Daisy’s hair on the front cover fell over her shoulders while she sang “HoneyComb” for the first time. I had the characters perfectly placed in my head. 

When the show was first announced, I was overjoyed for one of my favorite books to be put onto a screen. Then my nerves took over and I realized that the characters I fell in love with wouldn’t be the same. 

In the television series, actors Riley Keough, Sam Clafin and Suki Waterhouse play some of the main characters of Daisy, Billy and Karen. 

I don’t have an issue with Keough being cast as Daisy. In fact, I think it is the perfect choice for the role. Her face matches almost identically to the faceless woman on the cover of the book. It helps even more that her grandfather is star Elvis Presley — she was born with the rockstar look. 

On the other hand, I wasn’t in love with how Billy Dunne was cast. While I do think that Claflin did a fine job in the role, he wasn’t the look that I had imagined in my head. Maybe if he had a mullet or a similar haircut to the one he had in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” 

I would have cast Dacre Montgomery from “Stranger Things” as Billy. Montgomery has already proved that he can play the role of Billy very well. Billy Dunne in the book was portrayed as much more angsty, just like Montgomery’s character on “Stranger Things.” 

One of the main flaws that I had with Billy on the show was how they cut his hair — Montgomery’s would’ve been perfect for the role.

The other character who I have a strong opinion on recasting their character in the series is Waterhouse’s character Karen Sirko. I didn’t imagine Karen looking anything like Waterhouse — and definitely not British.

While Waterhouse gives off a very clean look with a soft face and bright blonde hair, I imagined Karen to have a much more feisty, almost dirty look with big puffy black hair and a chiseled facial structure of being on hard drugs. 

Jenny Slate would have been perfect for this role. When I first saw Slate it was in “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.” I know that’s a weird reference and what I’m about to say is very out-there… But, the spunk that her character had in that movie is exactly what I imagined Karen to be — bold and confident, telling it like it is.

After reading “Daisy Jones and the Six,” I started to dive into more of author Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novels. One of my first reads was “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.”

Just within the past few weeks, it has been announced that the book will be turned into a film. Fans turned to TikTok to voice their opinions of who should play the infamous role of Evelyn Hugo. 

While I was reading this novel, I pictured Evelyn’s character as someone who was very classy and timeless like Marylin Monroe.

The popular belief on TikTok is that either Selena Gomez or Ana De Armes will be set to play the role. While I am normally team Selena *wink* I think that Armes would be a great fit for this role. 

Earlier in the year, she starred in the movie “Blonde,” a biopic of Marylin Monroe. I think this was the perfect testimony that she’s capable of playing Evelyn Hugo. She checks off both of my major boxes when I think of the role: she can wear blonde hair and play a timeless character. 

Growing up, one of my favorite book series was “The Hunger Games,” falling only to “Harry Potter.” I was too young to read the books without picturing Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, but now that a movie is coming out for the more recent prequel I have a more developed opinion. 

While I don’t know much about the film yet, I have seen the photo of the actors who will be playing the roles of a young President Snow and Lucy Gray Baird. 

The novel follows the love story of Cornelius Snow and Lucy Gray Baird during the tenth annual Hunger Games, set sixty years before the story that we know, in which Rachel Zelger and Tom Blyth will be playing the two main roles. 

I actually do find Zelger to be a good match for the character of Lucy, who is very young and innocent, which Zelger can portray very well. 

My issue comes in with Blyth playing young President Snow. Based on the novel, I imagined Snow to be hideous looking. I don’t think that any would have been good for this role, but that is mainly because I hate the character of President Snow. 

Blyth is a very fit young man, who would normally fit as a character for a regular tribute in the games — but not Snow. If I were to cast this film I wouldn’t have picked anyone who was even remotely handsome to play Snow. I honestly think that they should use a form of CGI to make his character look aged.