Show me the body!One of our eagle-eyed tweeps alerted us to the news that in the upcoming film adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s Red Mist, Angelina Jolie will play Dr. Kay Scarpetta. We will leave it to you to debate whether this rises (sinks?) to the level of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, but it certainly had our eyebrows up. After all, we’d just become accustomed to thinking of “Scarpetta” as a guinea pig!
I agree with NoraA…I thought Scarpetta was blonde. And more mature? I don’t know if this reaches the same level as Cruise as Reacher (I’m still upset about that one!), but it does seem to indicate a decided trend torwards the lack of faithfulness to the written word.
Susan Dalsing
December 6, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Angela Jolie is Scarpetta in the same way that Katherine H is Stephanie Plum.
And who says that makes it right? I’m sorry that Estelle Getty passed on, she should have been the grandmother in the Plum movie. In which case they should have gone with Betty White, since she can play crazy real well. I can just see her pulling out a long barreled .44 magnum at the Plum dinner table and shooting a hole in the ceiling. LOL
Susan Dalsing
December 6, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I guess the casting director says that makes it right, I sure don’t.
You’re kidding, right? Oh, I guess you’re not. Well, I don’t know about Jolie playing Scarpetta. She always give a tinge of psycho to her characters and I don’t see Scarpetta as a psycho.
Susan Dalsing
December 6, 2011 at 7:36 pm
I am beginning to wonder if you people can read…….so I will lay it right out. I think the casting of Angelina Jolie and Katherine Heigl is bad bad bad. Is that good enough. I will now make sure never to enter your special place and post again.
Terrie –
I have to say, “you’re kidding” was my first reaction to the news. But that was also my first reaction to the Tom Cruise news. I just don’t get the vast majority of casting decisions for movies made from books!
Nishita
December 7, 2011 at 1:39 am
I would have loved to see Jodie Foster or Meryl Streep as Kay Scarpetta
If forced at gunpoint to cast Angelina Jolie (whom I do actually like in the right movie) in some role in a Cornwell adaptation, she could make a decent Lucy. Or Carrie Grethen, for all those diehard fans who remember her in From Potter’s Field. Of course, that would all depend on the Scarpetta casting. I’d love to see someone like Helen Mirren take up KS’s scalpel. Alas…
Linda O.
December 7, 2011 at 6:13 pm
No more improbable than Tyler Perry as Alex Cross. Sometimes I wish books could remain books and I could continue to nurse my vision of what the characters look like.
There are those who think she is sexy, so maybe that was the criteria for casting her as Kay Scarpetta. Jodie Foster or Meryl Streep would have been great.
Andrea Slaughter
January 11, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I saw it on a blog somewhere that Cornwell and whoever produces the Scarpetta movie are going to base the movies on a younger, up-and-coming Scarpetta, in the formative stages before she became the unassailable doctor we read about today. If that’s true, should be interesting!
i think michelle pfeiffer would be a great kay scarpetta, and i also think, kathryn morris.
and maybe jeremy ratchford for marino!
Shelby
November 9, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Scarpetta is said to have been born in 1954, or possibly 1956 (when author Patricia Cornwell was born).
This means that, by any measure, Scarpetta would now be in her mid-50s.
Now, as a healthy, robust, still-evolving woman born in 1956, I think this is 100 percent OK. I do have some concerns about AJ playing Scarpetta. I’m thinking perhaps a more age-appropriate actress: Meryl Streep, Debra Winger, perhaps Kathleen Turner…
RottN1
December 26, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Diane Lane is Scarpetta. This is disappointing.
CathM
January 15, 2013 at 11:41 pm
Jodie Foster would definitely do a tolerable job as Scarpetta, but I really think Sharon Stone is Scarpetta. I mean, she’s not one of my favourite actresses or anything, but for the Scarpetta role, she’s got the look, and can do the demeanor.
Lindseyyyyy
January 24, 2013 at 5:23 pm
I really like the idea of Jodie Foster as KS. Also, not sure why, but Kate Mara enters my mind as Lucy.
Nancy Allison
April 10, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Laura Linney. She has the right stuff – intelligent, bold, yet a bit shy and tentative at the same time. Love the idea of Denis Franz as Marino. Sarah Wayne Callies as Lucy, Mark Harmon as Benson.
@eva_hudson just tweeted: Will she do the whole thing in skimpy vest and shorts?
HA!
*snicker* Well after Tomb Raider, I guess she liked working with corpses.
Does anyone other then me think that Scarpetta was BLOND??? So I’m guessing it will be artistic license if they don’t put her in a wig.
I agree with NoraA…I thought Scarpetta was blonde. And more mature? I don’t know if this reaches the same level as Cruise as Reacher (I’m still upset about that one!), but it does seem to indicate a decided trend torwards the lack of faithfulness to the written word.
Angela Jolie is Scarpetta in the same way that Katherine H is Stephanie Plum.
And who says that makes it right? I’m sorry that Estelle Getty passed on, she should have been the grandmother in the Plum movie. In which case they should have gone with Betty White, since she can play crazy real well. I can just see her pulling out a long barreled .44 magnum at the Plum dinner table and shooting a hole in the ceiling. LOL
I guess the casting director says that makes it right, I sure don’t.
You’re kidding, right? Oh, I guess you’re not. Well, I don’t know about Jolie playing Scarpetta. She always give a tinge of psycho to her characters and I don’t see Scarpetta as a psycho.
I am beginning to wonder if you people can read…….so I will lay it right out. I think the casting of Angelina Jolie and Katherine Heigl is bad bad bad. Is that good enough. I will now make sure never to enter your special place and post again.
Terrie –
I have to say, “you’re kidding” was my first reaction to the news. But that was also my first reaction to the Tom Cruise news. I just don’t get the vast majority of casting decisions for movies made from books!
I would have loved to see Jodie Foster or Meryl Streep as Kay Scarpetta
If forced at gunpoint to cast Angelina Jolie (whom I do actually like in the right movie) in some role in a Cornwell adaptation, she could make a decent Lucy. Or Carrie Grethen, for all those diehard fans who remember her in From Potter’s Field. Of course, that would all depend on the Scarpetta casting. I’d love to see someone like Helen Mirren take up KS’s scalpel. Alas…
No more improbable than Tyler Perry as Alex Cross. Sometimes I wish books could remain books and I could continue to nurse my vision of what the characters look like.
For a while, Idris Elba was attached to play Alex Cross. Then I read somewhere that he was considered “too edgy.”
It’s like a contest to see who can make the biggest mis-cast. This choice may well win.
Ooh, I love the idea of Jodie Foster as Scarpetta! Too bad that didn’t happen.
how stipid, needs a woman with brains and charcter will not watch or read her books again
Agree with N above–Jodie Foster would be a much better Scarpetta.
There are those who think she is sexy, so maybe that was the criteria for casting her as Kay Scarpetta. Jodie Foster or Meryl Streep would have been great.
I saw it on a blog somewhere that Cornwell and whoever produces the Scarpetta movie are going to base the movies on a younger, up-and-coming Scarpetta, in the formative stages before she became the unassailable doctor we read about today. If that’s true, should be interesting!
i think michelle pfeiffer would be a great kay scarpetta, and i also think, kathryn morris.
and maybe jeremy ratchford for marino!
Scarpetta is said to have been born in 1954, or possibly 1956 (when author Patricia Cornwell was born).
This means that, by any measure, Scarpetta would now be in her mid-50s.
Now, as a healthy, robust, still-evolving woman born in 1956, I think this is 100 percent OK. I do have some concerns about AJ playing Scarpetta. I’m thinking perhaps a more age-appropriate actress: Meryl Streep, Debra Winger, perhaps Kathleen Turner…
Diane Lane is Scarpetta. This is disappointing.
Jodie Foster would definitely do a tolerable job as Scarpetta, but I really think Sharon Stone is Scarpetta. I mean, she’s not one of my favourite actresses or anything, but for the Scarpetta role, she’s got the look, and can do the demeanor.
I really like the idea of Jodie Foster as KS. Also, not sure why, but Kate Mara enters my mind as Lucy.
Laura Linney. She has the right stuff – intelligent, bold, yet a bit shy and tentative at the same time. Love the idea of Denis Franz as Marino. Sarah Wayne Callies as Lucy, Mark Harmon as Benson.