The Straight and Narrow: Casting my own Movie
CHALLENGE 19 SECOND CHANCE: CASTING
Casting my Original Film
Full ending revealed.
I came up with an idea for a suburbian melodrama and then cast it. Enjoy!
The Cooke family, seemingly happy and normal. Robert works for the government and approves people for state health insurance. Diana teaches art at the local community college. Jacob is a silent genius, hiding his achievements and maintaining a low profile by being mediocre. Ethan despises his parents for choosing what he considers the “easy” path and wants to become a doctor.
Robert Cooke | Steve Martin
Diana Cooke | Meg Ryan
Ethan Cooke | James Franco
Jacob Cooke | Anton Yelchin
The neighbors, Bobby and David Holcomb. Bobby is a successful lawyer who, despite her job, is a free spirit and talkative. Her older husband is a quiet and reserved banker who has worked for the same bank since he graduated college. Though they seemingly do not match up, they are happy to a certain extent, though Bobby struggles with the fact that she has never been able to have children. Bobby’s sister, Lola, eventually reenters her life to help her out.
Bobby Holcomb | Diane Lane
David Holcomb | Jeff Bridges
The other neighbors are Rita and Arthur England, a black woman and white man who have just had their first child and moved into the neighborhood. Arthur is a cardiologist and a source of inspiration for Ethan. Rita takes comfort in the company of Diana, whom she considers to be a talented mother and her own inspiration for her art work, something she has had to put aside since getting married and having a child. Arthur’s parents are racist and refuse to see Rita or the baby because of the mixing of skin color and because of their almost fifteen year age difference. However, they make a great effort to visit their son, trying to lure him away with a girl he dated in college, Morgan Pate, now a lawyer working for Bobby. Rita meets a man named Ben Kennedy, an artist, who she begins a small affair with.
Rita England | Zoe Saldana
Arthur England | Robert Downey Jr
Willa England | Fionnula Flanagan
Paul England | Robert Duvall
Harrison, father of Bobby's child | Paul Rudd
Lola, Bobby's sister | Ashley Judd
Morgan Pate, Arthur's ex | Emily Mortimer
Grace, love interest of Jacob | Imogen Poots
Ben Kennedy, Rita's lover | Matthew Goode
Here begins the story. It's sort of long. Read if you want.
I didn't put pics with this. I don't know. Just didn't.
The story unfolds as such: Bobby has just found out she’s pregnant, despite believing she was sterile for years. Realizing that David has been the reason they couldn’t have a child, she reflects back a month earlier to a quick fling she had with a rival defense attorney after a dry spell with her husband. Terrified about revealing her adultery, but thrilled at the prospect of having a child, she tells David. He, however, is not as happy as she would like him to be and Bobby begins to feel even more tense than she did before.
"He just...smiled. I don't know, like he was expecting it or something."
Robert and Diana are facing the beginning of their eldest son’s last summer before college, and dealing with his decision to be a doctor. Proud that he’s chosen such a noble career path, they don’t understand that it is because he resents them for choosing seemingly easy lives as opposed to challenging themselves. Their youngest son wages a private battle within himself as he struggles with the intelligence he knows he has and the desire to be accepted among his peers.
"When you blend, no one notices. But to blend is such a mind-numbingly brutal process, being alive might not be worth it at all."
Rita and Arthur are dealing with raising their daughter, Arthur’s new practice, and generally a new life altogether. Arthur’s parents are coming to visit and, in spite of his wife, Paul wants to see his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Rita is suffering with the life she had always wanted versus the life she has now. Though she loves Arthur and her daughter, no one knows that she and Arthur only married because she got pregnant, and now she is dealing with what she thinks are the consequences of that decision. Morgan Pate adds a new dimension because, instead of acting on Willa England’s wishes to win back Arthur, she befriends Rita.
"I don't want your husband. I just want to know you're happy."
Everyone’s individual lives collide when Bobby makes the decision to tell her husband about the affair, causing him to leave her. Diana helps Rita get into a class at the community college, where she makes a rash decision about another student, Ben, in her class, and begins a small, extremely passionate affair with him. Diana is in turmoil about it when she discovers the two of them and immediately kicks Rita out of her class, telling her to get her priorities in order, thus shattering Rita’s faith in the one true role model she had.
“You’re married. You have a child. If you can’t understand what’s important in your life, then how do you ever expect to make art?”
Robert and Ethan eventually clash over what Ethan considers his parents’ simple and minimal life. And the entire Cooke family is unaware that, over the past several months, Jacob has been planning his eventual suicide. After thinking too much into his life and doing the calculations, he has decided that one less person in the world would make it a better place, albeit, by only a small amount. Believing he has no value to the planet, he makes plans to kill himself, despite occasionally being dissuaded by the advances a fellow classmate, Grace, to whom he is attracted. Ultimately, he continues with his plans.
“I realize now that what I do with my life is of little importance to anyone who will have anything important to do ever. And I will never be one of those people.”
Jacob does attempt to kill himself by overdosing on sleeping pills. Arthur is called in to, essentially, fix his heart. Ethan realizes that his parents are stronger and more passionate about life than he thought when his father refuses to allow Arthur to let Jacob die.
“He’s my son. He’s my son and I won’t let you let him die. It doesn’t matter what he tried to do, he’s stronger than that and he’s stronger than you’ll never get to know if you don’t get back in there and do every god damn thing you can to save his life.”
The story begins to pick up again. Rita tells Arthur about Ben, but he does not reject her, instead understanding and forcing his parents to finally try and get to know Rita and the baby. We see their life headed in a positive direction.
Ethan enters college in the fall and Jacob learns, after counseling, to embrace his intelligence.
Bobby tells the man she had an affair with she’s carrying his child. And though she thinks he’ll be as cruel as he in court, he offers to help pay for whatever she needs.
The film ends with Bobby’s child being born, Ethan returning to school for his second semester of his freshman year, Rita meeting and getting along with Arthur’s parents, Diana opening an art show of her own and some of Rita’s paintings, Jacob and Grace sitting together, and Robert placing photos of everything in an album, closing it and thus ending one chapter of everyone’s lives and beginning another.
Casting my Original Film
Full ending revealed.
I came up with an idea for a suburbian melodrama and then cast it. Enjoy!
The Cooke family, seemingly happy and normal. Robert works for the government and approves people for state health insurance. Diana teaches art at the local community college. Jacob is a silent genius, hiding his achievements and maintaining a low profile by being mediocre. Ethan despises his parents for choosing what he considers the “easy” path and wants to become a doctor.
Robert Cooke | Steve Martin
Diana Cooke | Meg Ryan
Ethan Cooke | James Franco
Jacob Cooke | Anton Yelchin
The neighbors, Bobby and David Holcomb. Bobby is a successful lawyer who, despite her job, is a free spirit and talkative. Her older husband is a quiet and reserved banker who has worked for the same bank since he graduated college. Though they seemingly do not match up, they are happy to a certain extent, though Bobby struggles with the fact that she has never been able to have children. Bobby’s sister, Lola, eventually reenters her life to help her out.
Bobby Holcomb | Diane Lane
David Holcomb | Jeff Bridges
The other neighbors are Rita and Arthur England, a black woman and white man who have just had their first child and moved into the neighborhood. Arthur is a cardiologist and a source of inspiration for Ethan. Rita takes comfort in the company of Diana, whom she considers to be a talented mother and her own inspiration for her art work, something she has had to put aside since getting married and having a child. Arthur’s parents are racist and refuse to see Rita or the baby because of the mixing of skin color and because of their almost fifteen year age difference. However, they make a great effort to visit their son, trying to lure him away with a girl he dated in college, Morgan Pate, now a lawyer working for Bobby. Rita meets a man named Ben Kennedy, an artist, who she begins a small affair with.
Rita England | Zoe Saldana
Arthur England | Robert Downey Jr
Willa England | Fionnula Flanagan
Paul England | Robert Duvall
Harrison, father of Bobby's child | Paul Rudd
Lola, Bobby's sister | Ashley Judd
Morgan Pate, Arthur's ex | Emily Mortimer
Grace, love interest of Jacob | Imogen Poots
Ben Kennedy, Rita's lover | Matthew Goode
Here begins the story. It's sort of long. Read if you want.
I didn't put pics with this. I don't know. Just didn't.
The story unfolds as such: Bobby has just found out she’s pregnant, despite believing she was sterile for years. Realizing that David has been the reason they couldn’t have a child, she reflects back a month earlier to a quick fling she had with a rival defense attorney after a dry spell with her husband. Terrified about revealing her adultery, but thrilled at the prospect of having a child, she tells David. He, however, is not as happy as she would like him to be and Bobby begins to feel even more tense than she did before.
"He just...smiled. I don't know, like he was expecting it or something."
Robert and Diana are facing the beginning of their eldest son’s last summer before college, and dealing with his decision to be a doctor. Proud that he’s chosen such a noble career path, they don’t understand that it is because he resents them for choosing seemingly easy lives as opposed to challenging themselves. Their youngest son wages a private battle within himself as he struggles with the intelligence he knows he has and the desire to be accepted among his peers.
"When you blend, no one notices. But to blend is such a mind-numbingly brutal process, being alive might not be worth it at all."
Rita and Arthur are dealing with raising their daughter, Arthur’s new practice, and generally a new life altogether. Arthur’s parents are coming to visit and, in spite of his wife, Paul wants to see his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Rita is suffering with the life she had always wanted versus the life she has now. Though she loves Arthur and her daughter, no one knows that she and Arthur only married because she got pregnant, and now she is dealing with what she thinks are the consequences of that decision. Morgan Pate adds a new dimension because, instead of acting on Willa England’s wishes to win back Arthur, she befriends Rita.
"I don't want your husband. I just want to know you're happy."
Everyone’s individual lives collide when Bobby makes the decision to tell her husband about the affair, causing him to leave her. Diana helps Rita get into a class at the community college, where she makes a rash decision about another student, Ben, in her class, and begins a small, extremely passionate affair with him. Diana is in turmoil about it when she discovers the two of them and immediately kicks Rita out of her class, telling her to get her priorities in order, thus shattering Rita’s faith in the one true role model she had.
“You’re married. You have a child. If you can’t understand what’s important in your life, then how do you ever expect to make art?”
Robert and Ethan eventually clash over what Ethan considers his parents’ simple and minimal life. And the entire Cooke family is unaware that, over the past several months, Jacob has been planning his eventual suicide. After thinking too much into his life and doing the calculations, he has decided that one less person in the world would make it a better place, albeit, by only a small amount. Believing he has no value to the planet, he makes plans to kill himself, despite occasionally being dissuaded by the advances a fellow classmate, Grace, to whom he is attracted. Ultimately, he continues with his plans.
“I realize now that what I do with my life is of little importance to anyone who will have anything important to do ever. And I will never be one of those people.”
Jacob does attempt to kill himself by overdosing on sleeping pills. Arthur is called in to, essentially, fix his heart. Ethan realizes that his parents are stronger and more passionate about life than he thought when his father refuses to allow Arthur to let Jacob die.
“He’s my son. He’s my son and I won’t let you let him die. It doesn’t matter what he tried to do, he’s stronger than that and he’s stronger than you’ll never get to know if you don’t get back in there and do every god damn thing you can to save his life.”
The story begins to pick up again. Rita tells Arthur about Ben, but he does not reject her, instead understanding and forcing his parents to finally try and get to know Rita and the baby. We see their life headed in a positive direction.
Ethan enters college in the fall and Jacob learns, after counseling, to embrace his intelligence.
Bobby tells the man she had an affair with she’s carrying his child. And though she thinks he’ll be as cruel as he in court, he offers to help pay for whatever she needs.
The film ends with Bobby’s child being born, Ethan returning to school for his second semester of his freshman year, Rita meeting and getting along with Arthur’s parents, Diana opening an art show of her own and some of Rita’s paintings, Jacob and Grace sitting together, and Robert placing photos of everything in an album, closing it and thus ending one chapter of everyone’s lives and beginning another.