Casting In Death- aka don't fear the reaper

So the In Death series by JD Robb is amazing. If you haven't read it- shame shame shame on you.

I was looking around at a couple of messageboards today and there was a thread about casting a series or movie and who should play what character.

Almost all of them squigged me out a bit. Either Eve was casted as some soft gentle faced twenty year old or she looked like a dyke on a motorcycle. There has to be some leeway, somewhere.. anywhere.

One suggestion was Ashley Judd. Seriously?? She's so soft and fragile... too soft and fragile for Eve. We need someone tough and strong.. unmovable like a cement block. Well a cement block filled with childhood abuse and self doubt.. oh and dead people. LOTS of dead people.

Eve is going to be the sticker. If we cant' find an Eve there's not much point in going on to make the series. Another suggestion would be whatshername from Law & Order SVU. That'd work except she's been on a loooong running series playing- gasp!- a cop. The two characters might entwine in the viewers mind and scrub it all for us.

Roarke being played by Michael Easton? *wha?* I just cannot abide. The hair- too poofy, the face too full. He looks like a "bad boy"- not, imho, the hard shelled know-it-all world weary multibillionaire known as Roarke. I wanted to call foul as soon as I saw the pic. Not that Easton is anything to sneeze at-those eyes! he's just not ROARKE.

Someone suggested Hugh Jackman as Roarke. This didn't bother me one whit- mainly because I'd do Hugh Jackman like damn and woah and smackety - not because he really fit. I always think of Roarke's face as a bit thinner and not so wide in the jawline.

One suggestion that did seem to stick pretty well for me was Zooey Deschanel as Peabody. That actually could work if she cut off her hair and didn't keep the too SmartDitzyFreakyGoth bit going. So just some moderate changes there.

Casting a film version of the In Death series is going to be problematic all the way around. First off NO ONE will agree on Roarke or Eve. Period. There is no one- even if JD Robb based it on a real human being (down to a DNA match even)- that we could all agree on.

Everyone has their own idea of what hot and sexy is. Someone's idea of a "bad boy" would just look like a poseur hard rock fan to me. I hang out with The Bad Boys, and let me tell you- they're just a bunch of lovable dorks. My idea of someone soft and caring could send others into shock and awe. This is just a no win situation.

So I propose the In Death books be turned into really extremely unbelievably(sp) high quality japanimation. Something along the look of Samurai Champloo or Cowboy Bebop. Theres depth in the cell animation and the action would look right at home. Futuristic Gritty Urban Setting? Well Shit Martha- japanimation has been doing that shit for years. Go to the pro's Nora- go to the pros.