Casting Aldo book six

And my almost Jacobi writing job

Welcome to the free newsletter of David (D. V.) Bishop, author of the Cesare Aldo historical thrillers set in Renaissance Italy. This time: casting characters, and almost writing for Sir Derek Jacobi…

Putting faces to names

I’m due to start drafting the sixth Aldo novel this month. As part of the prep for that, I have been fantasy casting the new supporting characters I will need for the novel. Once I find the right face, I create a small casting sheet that details their attitudes and characteristics at the start of the story, along with an on-brand headshot of them.

My casting process for Aldo book six does not look like this!

This is not always a step which feels necessary; indeed, I’ve only done it once before with an Aldo novel. When prepping to write The Darkest Sin I knew Aldo would spend much of the story inside a convent. There the small core cast of characters would all be nuns, with only their faces and hands visible to him (and the reader).

That made it important to have a very clear sense of each nun’s face, as there would be little else to distinguish them. So, I made a look book with photos of nuns, several of them borrowed from British TV drama Call The Midwife. I also threw in Meryl Streep playing a severe nun in the film Doubt (most of the Midwife nuns are very nice).

My plans for the sixth Aldo novel include another enclosed setting and a small supporting cast, so I have been creating a new look book for it. Among the actors I have fantasy cast is Sir Derek Jacobi, a venerable veteran of British stage and screen recently seen in cinemas reprising his role as Senator Gracchus in Gladiator II.

My almost Jacobi moment

Oddly, I almost wrote for Sir Derek more than 20 years ago. The BBC series Doctor Who was enduring a long hiatus from TV screens, but indie production company Big Finish had a license to make audio dramas based on the show. BF wanted to make a special series of stories to celebrate Doctor Who’s 40^th anniversary in 2003.

The core concept was called Unbound, with each audio drama telling a Doctor Who story from a different angle or by exploring a different continuity pathway (sometimes called a Sliding Doors moment). Unbound was inspired by Marvel Comics’ What If series, which does pretty much the same thing to Marvel continuity.

Unbound also gave Big Finish six opportunities to recast the Doctor, employing actors who could or perhaps should have played the role on TV. What if a woman played the Doctor, for example? (Years later Jodie Whittaker became the first female Doctor.) Essentially, it was a chance to turn fantasy casting into reality.

I was among the writers invited to discuss Unbound over a meal in London at Bertorelli’s (appropriately, this restaurant appears prominently in the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film Sliding Doors). If memory serves, each writer had already developed their Unbound concept; mine was a Doctor who believed the end justified any means.

During the meal we threw round ideas for which actor might be cast in each story. For a moment it was suggested Sir Derek might play the Doctor in mine. The fear I felt in that moment was palpable. Me, writing for an acting legend, a man more used to bring alive the words of Shakespeare? Rarely have I felt so unworthy!

Ultimately, Sir Derek starred in another Unbound, the excellent Deadline by Robert Shearman, and later played The Master when Doctor Who returned to TV. The wonderful David Collings was cast in my Unbound story, Full Fathom Five (a title I borrowed from The Tempest), and did a brilliant job, so it worked out for the best.

Listen to the trailer (above) for my Doctor Who Unbound story Full Fathom Five

Now, more than twenty years later, I have fantasy cast Sir Derek in my next novel. Knowing he’ll never actually play this part, I can write his character with confidence. Speaking of which, I have plenty more prep to do before starting my first draft…

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