My Cousin Rachel: The Movie in my Head

I am currently reading Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel for the manyth time.  I love this book!  But I digress.  Sort of.  Anyway, for many years now I have had a movie cast in my head for this book.  It is not a practical sort of cast by any means, but I invariably picture the characters like so when I read it.

Philip: I have always dearly, dearly loved the idea of Ioan Gruffudd as Philip.  Maybe because he played another Philip (in Great Expectations) but mostly because in his younger days he was just perfect for the part!

(Also, remember how great Horatio Hornblower was?  Remember when A&E did awesome miniseries instead of a million reality shows ending with the word "wars"?)

As for Ambrose, I could never quite picture him for some reason.  Or maybe I never bothered to, since Philip was his doppelganger.  So hey, maybe Ioan Gruffudd could play him now that he's older!

(Even though he totally looks the same.  Did anyone else watch Ringer?  No? Just me?  Okay.)

As for Rachel, I always pictured Olivia de Havilland.  I'm not sure why, since I really only knew her from my one viewing of Gone with the Wind, but she just had the right look.  And here I must say my casting was spot on because I found out later she did play Rachel in the 1952 (so so) movie.  In fact, here she is as Rachel:

No imagination required!

As for Philip's godfather/guardian Nick Kendall, well, I cannot explain this, but here is who I have always pictured:

No, not Sandra Bullock, but Saul from While You Were Sleeping.  Not the actor, Jack Warden, but Saul.  I guess godfathers=Saul, always.  Sometimes I even read his dialogue with his voice, which is...interesting.

Here my casting kind of veers off the rails of feasibility, but they are great picks nonetheless!  Like Rainaldi:

Yes, the asylum owner in Beauty and the Beast.  Did you know he has a name?  It's Monsieur D'Arque.  Yuk yuk yuk. 

(I also sometimes picture the Vulture, from Spiderman, which makes...more...sense?

Or less.  Maybe less.)

And Seecombe, the faithful steward?  How about Edgar from The Aristocats:
 

In looks only of course!

Also, I imagine Louise like Suzanne from The Scarlet Pimpernel but alas, no picture was to be found.  You would think I might picture Louise from that movie, but I always liked Suzanne better.  So there!

Maybe one day when reality and time fold in on themselves it will be possible to make a movie with all of these players.  Until that day I will keep reading and writing rambling blogposts about it. 

(PS: It goes without saying that I heartily recommend this book to everyone, regardless of whether it is their taste or not [Sarah].  So read it [Marcue]!  And love it, as I love it.)