Ramblings: Strangers in Paradise...My ideal cast (lots of pics)
"If anything, I’ve learned you can’t always go home...you can’t always be warm inside.
That without love, we're never more than Strangers in Paradise"
- from Strangers in Paradise
I recently finished reading the entire comic series Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore. Now, I’m not really a comic book kind of person, but I absolutely loved this series! I read them in the “pocket book” format, which basically consists of six long graphic novels.
If you haven’t read these books, you definitely should! Terry Moore has created a number of truly fascinating characters, and the entire story is really great. Considering the fact that Terry Moore is a heterosexual male, the depth of these strong female (and queer) characters is pretty remarkable. The three main characters are Katchoo, Francine, and David, and they are involved in a strange triangle of sorts.
In a nutshell: David is in love with Katchoo. Katchoo is in love with Francine. Francine loves both Katchoo and David, but isn’t sure if she’s in love with either of them.
The relationships and the characters themselves are wonderfully complicated, and I just really enjoyed reading this. Plus, the drawings add another very cool element to the experience.
Anyway, I read somewhere that Terry Moore and Steven Sears, a producer of Xena: Warrior Princess, are working to develop Strangers in Paradise (aka SiP) into a television show. If this actually comes together, it would be soooooo exciting!!
So, in honor of this awesome possibility, I decided to try to come up with my own ideal cast. Below, I briefly describe seven major characters in SiP, and give my votes for who should play them.
* * *
Katina “Katchoo” Choovanski
Katchoo is the heart and soul of this series. She’s small, beautiful, and emotional, but she’s also extremely tough, aggressive, independent, temperamental, and strong-willed. She also happens to be deeply in love with her best friend, Francine. Katchoo has a dark, violent, and complicated past, but her heart’s usually in the right place. She’s extremely loyal if you’re on her side, and very dangerous if you’re not.
Katchoo is hard to cast, because she’s such a deep character. There’s just so much to her. The actress needs to be believable as completely badass, but emotionally vulnerable at the same time.
One person I came up with is Katee Sackhoff. I’ve never actually seen her in anything, but from what I can tell, she’s definitely got the beautiful badass part down.
My next thought was a blond Eliza Dushku. There are a lot of similarities between Faith and Katchoo, I think, in terms of both personality and appearance.
Eliza made me think of Sarah Michelle Gellar, because a lot of Buffy’s qualities also fit Katchoo (slightly less so than Faith, but it still works).
The last person I came up with may actually be my favorite, for now: Julia Stiles. I think she’s a great actress, and I think she could totally handle the many facets of Katchoo. Eliza’s a close-second, but I really like the idea of Julia as Katchoo.
* * *
Francine Peters
Francine is also a great character. She is kindhearted and sweet, though she struggles with her weight and self-esteem. There is no doubt that Francine loves Katchoo, but she strongly resists the idea of being in love with Katchoo. Francine has always dreamt of the All-American life -- a house in the suburbs with a great husband, a white-picket fence, and a bunch of kids running around. She hasn’t had much luck with the men in her life, but she doesn’t want to stray from her desire for a “normal”, low-key life.
Basically, I think that Melanie Lynskey would be a perfect Francine. She looks the part, and I think she would bring a lot of heart, as well as a sense of humor, to the role.
Another great possibility would be Sara Rue. [Yay, Popular!] This picture is the perfect image of the type of person Francine wants to be.
Thirdly, I also came up with the idea of Drew Barrymore. She might be a bit too old for the part (Katchoo and Francine are supposed to be in their 20s for most of the series), but her style would also probably work well for the character.
* * *
David Qin
David rounds out the trio of main characters. He enters the scene early on, introducing himself to Katchoo, and very quickly falling in love with her. Over the course of the series, the relationship between David and Katchoo becomes a very strong one. A born-again Christian, David is very gentle and kind, but he too has ties to a mysterious past.
The first person I thought of was Masi Oka, just because he’s the first Asian-American actor who came to mind. But Hiro (Oka’s character on the show Heroes) is a bit too much of a goofball for me to be able to imagine him carrying David’s seriousness and depth. Still, he could possibly work, especially if he went more with this kind of look:
But thinking about Hiro made me think about Ando, Hiro’s sidekick, played by James Kyson Lee. I believe that Lee is Korean, not Japanese, but Ando is Japanese, so it’s not a huge deal. I think he could make a really good David.
Purely in terms of appearance, I also like the look of Sung Kang (also Korean). I’ve never seen him act, but he looks like David in his longer-hair phase.
* * *
The rest of the characters are important, but not as central.
Freddie Femur
Freddie used to date Francine, but they broke up when Francine wouldn’t have sex with him. Ironically, she would have been willing, but she was afraid that he’d get bored with her and leave her if they had sex. He’s a bit of a womanizer, and Katchoo threatens to castrate him at one point. Later in the series, he becomes quite obsessed with Francine, seeing her as “the one that got away,” even though he was actually the one to dump her.
At first, I really couldn’t think of anyone to be Freddie. But maybe one of the Affleck brothers?
* * *
Casey Femur
Casey appears a little ways into the story, as Freddie’s fiancé (this is after Freddie and Francine broke up). She and Freddie later get divorced, when she realizes that Freddie is still in love with Francine. Casey is basically a stereotypical bubbly blond bimbo. She is seen pretty negatively at first, but eventually becomes a major part of the group. Casey also thinks that David is pretty much the greatest guy ever, and throws herself at him whenever she can.
I really like the idea of Leslie Bibb as Casey. [Yay, Popular! part 2] She’s gorgeous, first of all, and I think she could bring a fun side to the character, without being too one-dimensional.
As another possibility, I came up with Katherine Heigl. She could be good too.
* * *
Darcy Parker
Darcy is pretty much the villain of the series. Darcy is sophisticated, but also very ruthless and hungry for power. She is extremely wealthy and heads a group known as “the Parker Girls,” a Mafia-like organization. The Parker Girls use their seduction and spying skills to gain access to positions of power. Darcy has key links with both Katchoo and David.
My first thought was actually Jennifer Garner, because of Alias. I think it would be fun to see an evil version of Sydney Bristow.
Also, I came across this picture of Carrie-Ann Moss, which seemed very much like Darcy, in some way, though I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
Then I remembered that, even though she doesn’t really look very Asian in the series, Darcy’s father is Japanese. So, then I started thinking about good Asian actresses, and came up with Lucy Liu.
* * *
Mary Beth “Tambi” Baker
Tambi is Darcy’s primary bodyguard. She is massive -- both very tall and very muscular. Tambi can be absolutely brutal, an efficient killing-machine. She is very intimidating and actually seems to enjoy scaring the crap out of people.
One idea for Tambi is Lucy Lawless. I’ll admit that I’ve never seen Xena, but Tambi does seem kind of like a modern-day Xena.
Another person I think could be great in this part is Kristanna Loken. We know she can be totally badass, from the third Terminator movie, plus she’s really tall, which is a plus here.
* * *
There are lots more fun characters, but those are the main ones, I think.
So, what do you think of my choices? Anyone have any other casting ideas?
And just for the fun of it, here's a sample page from the comic:
