Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Chuck Black’s "Cloak of the Light"

Chuck Black, a former F-16 fighter pilot and tactical combat communications engineer, is the author of fourteen novels, including The Kingdom Series, The Knights of Arrethtrae series, and the Wars of the Realm series. He and his wife love traveling and spending time with their six children. They currently live in North Dakota.

Here Black dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest book, Cloak of the Light:
Much of my creative inspiration for Cloak of the Light came from some of my favorite movies: The Bourne Identity, Spiderman, The Matrix, The Adjustment Bureau, and Gladiator. I can’t help but think of Cloak of the Light in terms of the characters and the artistic genius I saw in each of those films.

Selecting an actor for the main character, Drew Carter is oddly enough the most difficult. Drew is quiet, confident, and a prisoner of his innate sense of justice. The ideal actor for Drew would be a young Matt Damon, but I would love to see how Doug Liman, director and producer of The Bourne Trilogy, would cast his films today. Whoever he picks would be the man. Perhaps Drew Roy from Falling Skies could pull of this quiet, subtly charming hero.

Hands down, AnnaSophia Robb is the perfect choice for Sydney Carlyle, the elusive heroine that keeps Carter mesmerized and surprised throughout the book. Robb is a great actress that could effortlessly capture the essence of Sydney’s uncompromising but mysterious character.

Benjamin Berg is a quirky genius with limited social skills who trusts no one. I think that Josh Hutcherson would bring Ben’s character to life in such a way that he might even steal the movie. Hutcherson did a phenomenal job with the difficult role of Peeta in The Hunger Games, and it would take such skill to pull off a great Benjamin Berg. After having already selected each of these actors, I realized that both Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb have already worked together in Bridge to Terabithia…a natural fit.

Ironically, today I got a text message from the Producer who purchased the option for my first series of books, The Kingdom Series. He was listening to the audio drama of Cloak of the Light and said, “This [book] will make an awesome movie.” Let’s go!
Learn more about the book and author at Chuck Black's website.

--Marshal Zeringue