Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief"---My Dream Casting
I just finished re-reading Markus Zusak's The Book Thief for the second time last night. Such an amazing story of friendship and the hope in the human race despite the fact that human race is often cruel and heartless.
This book MUST be made into a movie! It's such a powerful story full of interesting characters. So here's my proposed cast list and some reasoning behind my casting:
Liesel Memiger: Emma Watson
Okay, Emma Watson is seriously too old to play the part now as she's in her twenties, but every time I read the book, I see little Emma Watson. In all actuality, whenever a movie is made, it'll probably be an unknown actress somewhere around 13-16 in order to play Liesel as she ages.
Hans Hubermann: Thomas Kretschmann
The man's hot, what can I say? Plus, he's played practically every German character there is, so why not Hans? I think Thomas Kretschmann has the intensity and the voice to pull of Hans completely.
Rosa Hubermann: Helena Bohnam-Carter
Physically, Helena Bohnam-Carter resembles nothing of how Zusak portrays the character. But for me, Helena has the voice and the spunk that I think can pull off the character. Plus, Helena's usually all up for distorting her features (like teeth for instance), so if she wanted to put on a fat suit, she could.
Max Vandenburg: Iddo Goldberg
Max is my FAVORITE character in the whole book. I feel for him every page that he's on and I adore his sweet and innocent relationship with Liesel (I honestly love to imagine that the two end up together and get married. If she was 18, he'd only be in his 30s, so not bad I don't think. Zusak doesn't specifically mention Max's name, but near the end when Liesel is thinking about all the important people in her life, Max isn't even mentioned. A subtle hint? I think so. Plus, I read somewhere else that there was a large migration of Jews to Australia---where Liesel moves to later---so, another coincidence?) I've only see Iddo in a few movies/TV shows where he has pretty small parts, but I really like what I've seen, and I think he could pull off Max's despair and anguish.
Death: Richard Armitage
Ah! Our narrator! Both times I've read The Book Thief, it's always been Richard Armitage as Death. I simply refuse to see someone else cast as Death. Richard has the dramatic dark, pale looks, and the confidence to pull of such an intriguing and mesmerizing character. Even if moviemakers decided to not show a physical representation of Death, I still think Richard's voice alone would be perfect since he does a lot of voiceover work.
Ilsa Hermann: Carice van Houten
I think Ilsa is one of The Book Thief's most interesting characters. We really don't know a thing about her other than she's the Mayor's wife, that her son died, and she likes to wear a bathrobe all the time. But she has a very unique relationship with Liesel throughout the book. I've only seen Carice van Houten in Valkerie, but I think she'd be a great match as Ilsa.