Thoughts about character design

There are three main characters in the book. James, who is the man who is now living alone in this mansion after the sudden, abrupt death of his wife Stacey 12 months earlier. Stacey is not a character who has much dialog through out the story, because she is usually referred to in the past tense (James talks a lot through out the story about her, including personality and appearance) Annette is a woman who moves in next door to James just as the 12 month mark of Stacey's death is approaching. She forms a relationship with James, but she clearly has some issues and is quite a vulnerable character in some ways. After thinking about descriptions that were given in the book, mixed with my own interpretation I have put some thought into which actors might star in these roles. 

Jake Gyllenhaal - as James Hastings

In the book, James is a stand in double for the musician, "Ghost" however after the death of his wife he talks about how he lets his hair and beard grow back and gets his tattoos removed. He struck me as a character who has ended up looking quite rough, but not necessarily in a negative way. Stacey and James were both in their early 30's, so I imagined him as looking slightly aged but not to the point where he looks "old". It needed to be obvious that he is still quite young. I chose Jake Gyllenhaal as the possible actor in the titles for the main role, because he looks very similar to the character I created in my head after getting more familiarised a few chapters into the book. The title sequence itself wont be showing a lot of his face, however I have something to go off as reference for the frame he is visible in. 

Lily Rabe - as Stacey 

Stacey is described by James as being blonde, beautiful and quite curvy. After having recently seen Lily Rabe in another series her image came to my head straight away. (Stacey's character wont be seen up close in the title sequence so I don't need to think too much about this, however I still wanted to put some thought into it)

Rose Byrne - as Annette

Annette is described in the book as looking slightly similar to Stacey, however she is described as having a different face structure and a different skin tone. I think Rose Byrne would fit this role well. Again she isn't visible during the titles, however I wanted totally about this because I had her face in my head all through out the book and thought it would be useful to mention.