So, I’m not sure how they’re going to adapt A Visit From the Goon Squad (which has become one of my top five favorite books ever) into an HBO series. However, I DO have opinions about how they should cast it, and since making up dream casts is one of my favorite time-wasters, I thought I’d give it a go.
Sasha - Bryce Dallas Howard
“She had high cheekbones and narrow green eyes, wavy hair that ranged from reddish to purplish, depending on the month.”
Bennie - Nestor Carbonell
“riotous head of hair;” “light brown skin and excellent eyes”
Scotty - Daniel Day Lewis
“He had shoulder-length hair slicked away from his face and empty, blasted eyes, all of it amounting to a derelict impression despite his clean shave.”
La Doll - Megan Mullally
“La Doll was one of those people who seem, even to those who know them well, digitally enhanced: the bright blond bob cut; the predatory lipstick; the roving, algorithmic eyes.”
Lou - Bill Nighy
“He has shaggy blond hair, and his face is handsome, I guess, the way dads can sometimes be.”
Stephanie - Lizzy Caplan
“She’d noticed one or two blond heads pausing by the court to watch and had been proud of how different she looked from these women: her cropped dark hair and tattoo of a Minoan octopus encompassing one calf”
Jules - Steve Coogan
“His hair was straggly and his face looked deflated, sapped in a way that pained Stephanie.”
Kitty Jackson - Gillian Jacobs
“Her hair was still blond (defiantly uncombed and also, it appeared, unwashed), her eyes still wide and blue. But a sardonic expression had taken up residence in her face, as if those blue eyes were rolling heavenward even as they gazed right at you.”
Drew - Matt Cohen
“He’s got a big, hey-come-on-in face and a head of dark hair, and he’s built—not with weight-room muscle like [Rob’s], but in a basic animal way that must come from all that swimming he does.”
Rob - Daniel Franceze
“He’s primordially cute, with reddish face stubble and nice eyes, like a mountain climber.”
I had the most trouble with the San Francisco set - young Bennie, young Scotty, Rhea, Jocelyn, and Alice. I just don’t watch a lot of tv/movies with actors of that age group. I thought maybe Mark Salling for young Bennie; he has the right coloring and facial structure to play a younger Nestor, and the mohawk to boot! But I could also see him with bleached-out hair as a younger Scotty—he gives off more of a Scotty vibe. Natalya Rudakova has the perfect look to play Rhea, but I have no idea if she can act or not. And as a Hailee Steinfeld stan I’d love her to play Jocelyn, but she’s just a shade too young. Alice (drippy black makeup, long gold hair) would probably be Mary Kate Olsen.
