Cesare Aldo: Fantasy Casting
The second most common question I get asked about my Cesare Aldo historical thrillers is who would be my dream casting should the novels ever be adapted for the screen.
Hello, and welcome to the newsletter of author D. V. Bishop. If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter by a friend, feel free to subscribe! I’m busy writing Aldo book 5 at the moment, so here’s a quickfire edition of the newsletter.
Who do you picture as Aldo?
Firstly, it is worth saying there are no current plans for Aldo to go from page to film or TV. I would love to see the novels adapted, but costs make that unlikely. Historical drama budgets at least 25% more than those with a contemporary setting because of the costs arising from costumes, locations and the special effects to get rid of all those pesky signifiers of modern life (TV aerials, road markings, etc).
If a production company did option Aldo, there is no guarantee it ever gets made. Even if it was, there are a thousand things that can go wrong along the way. There’s a TV version of C. J. Sansom’s wonderful Shardlake novels coming to one of the streamers next week; it’ll be interesting to see how faithful and how effective that is.
An obvious challenge with adaptations is casting; deciding who is the perfect actor to play the main character. Every reader has a different image of Aldo. No matter who gets cast, that choice will never satisfy everybody. (Remember the furore when Daniel Craig was announced as James Bond?) But fantasy casting is still a fun game to play.
Six possible Cesare Aldos
Over at my Instagram account I proposed two possible candidates for the role of Aldo: Shaun Evans, who was wonderful as the young Morse in Endeavour; and up and coming British actor Jamie Bacon. Shaun is already older than Aldo will be in book 5, while Jamie is perhaps too young to play Aldo yet.
Lots of people offered their own suggestions of whom to cast. Among other names put forward were Russell Tovey from Being Human and the smouldering Raoul Bova. Both could be a great Aldo, but each is already at an age that might be too old for part.
There were two more suggestions: Murray Bartlett, and Luke Pasqualino. Murray was amazing in The Last of Us, but is above Aldo’s age. Luke is mid-30s, so he could be a strong choice (you might remember him from The Three Musketeers.)
Of course, age is only one factor in casting. Who is available, can they commit to multiple series or films, and how much the actor wants to be paid are all part of the discussion, not to mention the vision of those creating the adaptation.
So, just for fun, who do you picture when you imagine Cesare Aldo? Post your answers in the comments below!
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