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I think I may be psychic
Apr. 11th, 2013 03:13 pmI'm ridiculously excited that Natalie Dormer has been cast as Irene Adler for CBS's Elementary. Partly because I love Natalie Dormer ever since The Tudors; but more so because she's, well...the physical inspiration for a character in The Book that (arguably) could be seen as Irene Adler-like. So, yeah, I'm probably psychic.
Yet, as excited as I am, I can't help but be a little bothered by the casting. I'm super, hyper-aware that a lot of things in The Book could have connections to Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlockian Fandom is really, really critical and mean-spirited with anything that seems to borrow from the source material and then change it up. So this coincidence is just...ugh. But like, I don't want to change or deny the character inspiration just because a Sherlock Holmes show happened to cast the same actress that I had in mind for a similar character. Nobody's being a copycat: I had no idea that Ms. Dormer was up for the part, and the Elementary casting director/producers don't know who I am or what's going on inside my brain. (I hope not, anyway.)
It reminds me of the Nutcracker Incident. Which, incidentally, is where the character inspiration came from. I originally "cast" Natalie Dormer as the Rat Queen in the story. When I reconstructed the story, the Rat Queen became this other character and I kept the physical appearance. Similarities like these happen all the time: story ideas sound similar, characters remind people of other characters, etc. Still, I can't believe how the stars aligned on this one.
(For purely selfish reasons, I want this documented here so if I ever sell The Book/The Series, I can have some evidence that I had Natalie Dormer in my mind before this casting news.)
Yet, as excited as I am, I can't help but be a little bothered by the casting. I'm super, hyper-aware that a lot of things in The Book could have connections to Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlockian Fandom is really, really critical and mean-spirited with anything that seems to borrow from the source material and then change it up. So this coincidence is just...ugh. But like, I don't want to change or deny the character inspiration just because a Sherlock Holmes show happened to cast the same actress that I had in mind for a similar character. Nobody's being a copycat: I had no idea that Ms. Dormer was up for the part, and the Elementary casting director/producers don't know who I am or what's going on inside my brain. (I hope not, anyway.)
It reminds me of the Nutcracker Incident. Which, incidentally, is where the character inspiration came from. I originally "cast" Natalie Dormer as the Rat Queen in the story. When I reconstructed the story, the Rat Queen became this other character and I kept the physical appearance. Similarities like these happen all the time: story ideas sound similar, characters remind people of other characters, etc. Still, I can't believe how the stars aligned on this one.
(For purely selfish reasons, I want this documented here so if I ever sell The Book/The Series, I can have some evidence that I had Natalie Dormer in my mind before this casting news.)
