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Character Study Double Bill: Jesus on the Dashboard + Cam & Beau
We recommend extra popcorn and snacks for this double bill of Character Study, in celebration of two books that were announced as semi-finalists for the 2021 Screencraft Cinematic Book Competition! Below authors Lisa Murphy-Lamb (Jesus on the Dashboard, Stonehouse Publishing) and Maria Cichosz (Cam & Beau, Now or Never Publishing) help dream up all-star cast lists for their imagined book-to-film adaptations and All Lit Up Cinemas hits the production studio to craft the perfect movie posters to accompany them.
Jesus on the Dashboard by Lisa Murphy-Lamb (Stonehouse Publishing)
About the book:Teenage years can be complicated, even when you haven’t been abandoned by your mother at age ten. It is the 1980s and teenage Gemma lives with her well-meaning father, Nathaniel, goes to ‘art therapy’ once a week and tries to come to terms with growing up motherless. She collects facts about her long lost mother, Angie (height, weight, eye-colour, mint lip-gloss) and develops a rare syndrome she calls PMMSM, People-Make-Me-Stupid-Mad.Then comes the strange, almost unthinkable news: Angie is back, attending church in a nearby town. She is ready to return to motherhood, and to prove it, she has adopted a Korean infant. Then an invitation: would Gemma like to stay with a family in Angie’s community over the summer? Gemma, who has never had a friend in her life, suddenly finds herself living in a house full of God-fearing teenagers, and every Sunday, facing the prospect of maybe, just maybe, seeing a mother she is pretty sure she hates.Lisa’s dream cast in a book-to-film adaptation:Gemma: Anja Taylor -JoyAngie: Brie LarsonNathaniel: Greg KinnearAbigail: Mackenzie FoyRachel: Jennifer GarnerMike: Chris Pratt
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Cam & Beau by Maria Cichosz (Now or Never Publishing)
About the book:Cam and Beau are best friends, roommates, and massive potheads. Life is sweet, except for one crucial thing: Cam will never get up the nerve to tell Beau Larky he’s in love with him. Cam is a man of thought, not action, and would rather linger in doubt than risk losing the friendship. That is, until the mysterious and unwelcome involvement of a mutual friend with an unshakable conviction that Beau reciprocates Cam’s feeling and needs to be told the truth. Equal parts gonzo bromance and melancholy longing, Cam & Beau is a novel about unspoken knowledge between people, the parameters of seeing and not seeing, and what happens when familiar things are made strange.Maria’s dream cast in a book-to-film adaptation:Cam: Bo BurnhamBeau: Joseph Gordon-LevittCliff: Adam DriverStacey: Antonia ThomasMaria’s vision: I imagine a film adaptation of Cam & Beau would be a quirky cross between two of my favourite movie genres: the goofy irreverent stoner buddy comedy and the tear-jerking indie “alt-romance.” Think Pineapple Express meets Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (best ever cinematic use of Toronto as setting, hands down). It would be weird and fun and nostalgically sad, like getting high and strolling down to the record store to grab that new CD release from your favourite emo band circa 2008. I’d love Polley or Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Night Before) as the director—or, since this is a fantasy world in which indie authors somehow get movie deals and are consulted on creative and casting decisions, let’s just go wild and say they could team up as co-directors.
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A special thank you to Stonehouse Publishing, Lisa Murphy-Lamb, Now or Never Publishing, and Maria Cichosz for dreaming up these movie-night worthy flicks!Enjoy more of our dreamy Character Study book-to-film adaptations >>
