This, I suppose, is part II of this
post where I wrote:
After waiting close to a decade for a movie to happen, I’m resigned. Maybe it will never happen.
Maybe Puritans are just not appealing to Hollywood.
Maybe movies about witch trials and colonial domestic life doesn’t equal box-office success.
Whatever the reason, I’m sick of waiting. I’m casting my own damn movie!”
This is a more complete list of my WOBP dream cast…
Also, I’d just like to clear up some confusion from comments in the original post.
I am NOT a casting agent (I wish!) and as far as I know, there are no plans to make WOBP into a movie.
This is a ‘paper movie’ as in ‘my fantasy.’
Please don’t send me your headshots, unless, of course, you look exactly like Nat Eaton (pictured below) or Gaspard Ulliel or Jonathan Rhys Meyers…you may send me all the shirtless pictures you want, I won’t post them here, but will file them away for personal use.
Kit Tyler
Nat Eaton
Comment: I nabbed this screen cap from The Princess Bride. I’m twenty years too late. Cary Elwes would have been the perfect Nat.
Judith Wood
William Ashby
Mercy Wood
John Holbrook
Uncle Matthew
Aunt Rachel
I’ve deliberately left out Prudence Cruff and Hannah Tupper; *shrugs* I have no clue who should play them. My ‘crinkled old ladies and little girls’ image bank is, sadly, not as extenstive as my ‘hot guy’ library. Your suggestions are appreciated.
Those of you unfamiliar with The Witch of Blackbird Pond will have no idea what I’m talking about. WOBP=my favorite book=I read it 11 times=I have passages memorized=I am IN LOVE with Nat Eaton=I may have read better books but this is the book closest to my heart=you must read this book. Read it! Read it! Read it!
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Your enthusiasm for this book made me go back for a re-read, its been 22 years and I had quite forgotten everything about it. (I read 24 book the summer between 6th and 7th grade)
Wow, I get ya now. Carey was also my first thought for Nat. and I like the rest of your choices. For Hannah my first thought was Jessica Tandy, sadly no longer with us, or Patricia Hayes (Fin Raziel in Willow)
By: chickenbetty on August 11, 2009
at 5:47 am
Yay! Victory! I got someone to read or re-read WOBP!!!!
Jessica Tandy would have been great! I loved her in Driving Miss Daisy. Damn, foiled again.
By: T.Y. on August 11, 2009
at 6:53 am
I read this book many many years ago, and from what I remember, this looks pretty good. Maybe you *should* be a casting director.
What about Orlando Bloom for Nat as Cary Elwes is a little too old now.
By: J.T. Oldfield on August 11, 2009
at 10:57 am
I loved this book back in elementary school. I think I did a reread a few years ago too. Great book to love!
By: Jen - Devourer of Books on August 11, 2009
at 9:05 pm
OMG, YES! Cary Elwes totally would have been the perfect Nat! Too bad…
I thought there would be no other ficitonal male that I’d love as fiercely as Nat Eaton, but after reading the Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, I LOVE Gen.
Can’t pick one over the other, though. They both exist in two alternate and beautiful universes.
*is feeling very dreamy now*
By: mems on August 14, 2009
at 12:36 pm
mems—
What?! You’re telling me there’s another fictional guy comparable to NAT?!!! I must check out The Queen’s Thief series immediately!
By: T.Y. on August 14, 2009
at 2:35 pm
Yes, please do check it out ASAP! It’s a wonderful series. Gen’s a wonderful guy.
By: mems on August 17, 2009
at 8:58 am
Nat just doesn’t seem right to me. I think the charactor in my imagination, and seeing that you think that he should look like that makes me almost not like his looks.
By: Michelle on September 17, 2009
at 7:34 pm
Just read this book and am sooo disappointed there is no movie! I loved it! I’m with J.T. Oldfield, though, you should be a casting director. I especially liked your picks for Judith and Mercy.. as for Hannah, maybe Maggie Smith, who was in The Secret Garden and Harry Potter?
No idea about Prudence…
By: emma on September 18, 2009
at 1:58 pm
NAT EATON IS MY FAVORITE FICTITIOUS MALE CHARACTER EVER! I’m 22 and re-reading the book for probably the 30-somethingeth time, and realized yet again (as I re-realize every time I read it) how inarguably wonderful he is. unfortunately, there is little to be found on the web about him! so THANK GOD for your site. in my mind he beats out Mr. Darcy or Gilbert Blythe any day of the week! if you want other good young adult books with equally covetable male characters, read Elizabeth George Speare’s other book, Calico Captive, for the dashing young fur trapper, Pierre LaRoche (which i’m sure you have). or read The Sherwood Ring or Perilous Gard, both by Elizabeth Marie Pope, and both which include Nat-like men for our heroines, one being a clever and saucy Revolutionary Spy and the other a disgruntled and guilt-ridden knight.
By: rachel on September 29, 2009
at 5:32 pm
I like your choices here…especially Nat’s character….exactly what I’d imagined! I teach gifted students and my kids LOVE this book!!! The first time I read it, I said to my students, “Wow, this would make a great movie!!” Hopefully, someone in Hollywood will agree:-)
By: Trena Haynes on October 2, 2009
at 5:53 am
Maybe it’s just me, but i think a good Mathew Wood is a husky Johny Depp… I guess I’m only saying that because there’s Sweeney Todd in the background
I also love your Mercy ^.^
By: Aly Johnson on October 28, 2009
at 3:08 pm
no offense, but I find it funny that in the picture of kit tyler, she’s wearing a cross
By: Aly Johnson on October 28, 2009
at 9:18 pm
wow does anyone know the little girls name if they actually read this book =[
By: Bobbie on November 5, 2009
at 1:25 pm
didnt it start with a P? o.o
By: Bobbie on November 5, 2009
at 1:25 pm
isent it prudence??
By: Yisabell on November 5, 2009
at 1:58 pm
O YEAAAA =] tanks yisabell xD
By: Bobbie on November 5, 2009
at 1:59 pm
lol yea it is i just looked it up o.o
By: Bobbie on November 5, 2009
at 2:00 pm
where is the WITCH?
i want to see what hannah tupper looks like
By: debbie on December 4, 2009
at 8:10 am
omg!!!!!! the person who plays kit should be judith!!!!
By: josh on December 5, 2009
at 6:02 pm
I LOVED your mercy, judith, kit and william ashby. nat was my favorite character of the whole book but I kind of imagined him as lucas till, the guy from the hannah montana movie hahah I know that sounds childish but he was just the first guy that came to my mind when I started reading the book and it fit PERFECTLY for me. As for John Holbrook, the book said that he was really pale, and blonde, and shy, and I think that Jamie Campbell Bower would have fit perfectly, the guy from Sweeney Todd, and I agree with emma that maggie smith would be a perfect Hannah, and for Prudence… little Dakota Fanning would’ve been perfect. I’ve just finished reading the book for the first time and I loved it!
By: vaniaa on December 6, 2009
at 1:05 am
who is kit in that picture?
By: Annberlyn on February 26, 2010
at 9:40 pm
I think it is Felicity Jones
By: 22 on March 10, 2010
at 4:09 pm
i found something about a movie being made but i don’t know if its true or not! I need to know!
i’ve read WOBP probably every month for 8 years…. i’ve read it too many times to count, and have been praying for a movie to come out. I really hope they do make a movie and i hope they make it well. I liked your first pick for Nat and Mercy, not so much for Aunt Rachel, she’s supposed to look like she could have been Judith when she was younger… doesn’t fit for me. But i really think Liam for Uncle Matthew was right on the spot.
By: Zoe on March 31, 2010
at 3:14 pm
According to the NYtimes website, there IS a movie in pre-production. Its producer is Robert B. Radnitz, screenplay written by Dalene Young. No other information is available
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/439637/The-Witch-of-Blackbird-Pond/details
By: Heather on April 17, 2010
at 8:32 pm
I’m reading this book right now!! I only got a few chapters into it though. It’s already quite interesting. Yes i wish this book was a movie and wow, i imagined Kit really looking like that but never imagined John to look like that, but yes, i really want this to be a movie…….
By: Guntapong on May 12, 2010
at 2:39 am
I am a giant fan of WOBP. When I heard there would be a movie I got super exited, I have been waiting years for a movie. I like all the casting picks above and I was thinking maybe Maggie Smith for Hannah. As I was reading the books I imagined Maggie smith as Hannah and knew that she would be perfect for the role. She was in all the Harry Potter movies, The Secret Garden and Sister Act. As for Prudence I have to keep searching. I have an image in my mind yet who fits the image is another story. I loved the Princess Bride and Cary Elwes would have been perfect for the part of Nat. Aunt Rachel is exactly how I imagined her. Like Heather I have checked the NY times website to find that a movie is in pre-production. Are they using your casting ideas or are they on a different track. I just found out that Blackbird pond has dried up since Kit’s times. I was hoping to visit the setting of the book however the great meadows still are here to explore. I don’t mean to be nosy but do you have any ideas of where to film or are you planning to film inside hollywood? I would suggest going to a pond that looks sort of similar to Blackbird pond to film because filming in the place the story took place (or similar to where it took place) always has given a movie more depth to me. I am very exited that this movie is being made.
By: Asha on January 23, 2011
at 4:18 am
Judi Dench would most absolutely make an excellent Hannah Tupper. She could play dirt and make it memorable.
As for Prudence, I gotta think about that one a little. All the child actors I know are growing up too quickly to be a 9 yr old. Although, some of these kids that play parts on Criminal Minds are incredible little actors – you’d have to be for serious crime drama.
I heard news, btw, that production is undergoing for the movie! Woo-hoo! No word of casting, though.
By: Cellina on March 12, 2011
at 9:11 am
I’m reading this for the third time with my daughter (I read it with two of my older children) and Hooray!!!! NYT says that WOBP is in PRE-PRODUCTION!!!! So, perhaps in my lifetime, this will FINALLY become a movie!
By: Kym Kelly Kent on September 27, 2011
at 6:48 pm
OMG I’M IN LOVE WITH NAT EATON TOO!!!!!!!!
By: katy needham on November 2, 2011
at 4:01 pm
They look different then what they discribe in the book.
By: Kathy on November 20, 2011
at 11:08 am
I read this novel to my fifth grade students every year. There is nothing like great historical fiction to engage young minds and transport them into a different period in time. This blog has given me an idea for an extra credit project. I’ll ask the students to use their iPods tomorrow to find present day actors whom they would cast in the major roles.
By: Teacher5 on January 10, 2012
at 6:20 pm