If you could turn your story of Hades and Persephone into a movie or tv series, which actor and actress would you pick to play them?

Hmmm…

So here’s the truth:

I opened up this question a few evenings ago and seriously thought about how I should answer.  I asked my husband/editor what he thought, and we spent a hilariously long time cuddling in the dark when we should have been sleeping, and coming up with who we would cast for what, not just for Hades or Persephone but for the ancillary roles, and why.  Some of our ideas were the same, some were very different.

To be honest, there exists some part of my brain where my wildest dreams see this story taking off into the stratosphere, and I end up cavorting with the likes of Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin and having tea with Erin Morgenstern and going on about how wonderful it is that Receiver of Many is being turned into a series on HBO and whether or not there will be sexhibition scenes like in Game of Thrones.

But… I don’t want to get too too far ahead of myself.  Getting this done, getting this up and ready to be published are priorities number one and two in that order.

Also, I wish I could easily side-step this question, by saying that “oh, I don’t know…” but that would be a lie.  I do know, or at least have a vague idea, who I would cast in each role.  BUT, I know that each and every one of my readers has a vague notion of how the character looks in their head.  Conforming their imagination around my particular mold would effectively destroy that unique image.

This is one of the reasons why I love writing.  Because no matter how many times I talk about Persephone’s gray blue eyes or Hades’ long, jet-black curls of hair one truth remains:

The colors, the outlines, the sound of every voice the shape of the eyes and nose and mouth that I have formed in my imagination PALES in comparison to the vision that presents itself in the mind of the reader.

The uniqueness, the person you see, the thing you desire to see is far greater because the words themselves conjure them up.  To fold and fit someone else’s imagination onto my mold of what they should be seeing would go against what makes this medium so wonderful.

So with that said, I turn the question back on itself:  if in some hypothetical alternative universe version of this world where I become a successful author and ink a seven-figure studio deal for the rights to my book and any subsequent books in this series, who would you cast?