Mary Anna King's "Bastards"

Mary King was born in southern New Jersey and grew up in Oklahoma City, OK, where she was adopted at the age of ten. After studying English Literature at Colgate University she moved to Los Angeles where she lives and writes.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her debut memoir, Bastards:

Bastards is the story of how my six siblings and I were separated by adoption, grew up apart, and later reunited. The question of who would play whom in the hypothetical movie has been a favorite topic of sibling conversations over the past few years.

I have always loved Mary-Louise Parker's work and would love to see what she would bring to the role of my complicated, hopeful, birthmother Peggy.

Alongside her I would choose Greg Kinnear to play my hapless, spiritually searching disc-jockey/construction-worker birthfather.

Jake Gyllenhaal is ideal for my older brother Jacob; a gentle soul who spent his childhood being shuttled back and forth between homes until he enlisted in the Army. Mae Whitman would play my sister Becca—she has such a knack for articulating messy internal struggles. My next sister Lisa would be played by Emma Stone; they are doppelgangers for one another. Little Rebekah, the delicately boned pocket-sized sister would be played by Ellen Paige. The next in line, Meghan, is a gregarious nerd, a perfect role for Zooey Deschanel. And Miley Cyrus simply is my gender-fluid, fashion-forward, youngest sister Lesley.

As for my character in the book—the quiet cipher taking note every story and secret that passes her way—I'd choose Ruth Wilson.

Visit Mary Anna King's website.

--Marshal Zeringue