Do you mentally cast your stories with movie stars when you write them? If so, who?

[ofbuttons]

I do this constantly! It helps me ground the characters in my head and write their physicality and how they behave in spaces. Of course, I don't rely on it so much that I describe them in overt detail -- in the story itself I stick to basics, like skin/eye/hair colour and general ideas of their build, because I think the audience can do their own filling in the blanks for their own preferences. I also don't necessarily want the characters to actually be as attractive as the celebrities I might reference. So when I cast my own characters, it's just for me.

In my series Into the Dog House, I imagine Gregory as Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Rachel as Florence Pugh. Height difference and energy (doggish vs cattish), mainly, more so than glamour. The next series I'm working on, my main lady is an Anne Hathaway type.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I don't always do this, and it's rarely actors or actresses that inspire me, but sometimes I have a porn star in mind (or close approximation of them) for certain characters.

In my first story, The Moment, the main female protagonist was a sexy daughter who became a porn star. Initially, I think I had a couple of younger porn stars in mind, but then I saw a British reality TV star called Lucie Donlan and she instantly became the visual image of the character.

In Insatiable, if you want to know what the main female character looks like, think of Ava Addams. In Boardroom Bitch, the filthy, nasty, horny mother is based on Emily Addison.

I have in mind a story where the main female character will look like Sydney Sweeney.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My "Before they were stars" series kinda required celebrity casting in each story.

Other than those, I have used real-life personas for inspiration in main stream works and named characters after people who have purchased that right through charity donations.

 

[ElectricBlue]

In my series Into the Dog House, I imagine Gregory as Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Rachel as Florence Pugh. Height difference and energy (doggish vs cattish), mainly, more so than glamour. The next series I'm working on, my main lady is an Anne Hathaway type.

I don't know him, but I wouldn't have remotely thought of Florence Pugh for your Rachel character, not even close.

The first time I saw Pugh was in Little Drummer Girl, and I thought, she's got a different sexuality to many. Very sexy, reminded me a lot of Theresa Russell.

 

[Rob_Royale]

No. My FMCs are most often women I have known. Or women I've seen photos of. Occasionally a porn star but most times just some random beauty that gets posted here on a thread in the General forum. My MMC is usually some Mary Jane version of myself, as vain as that sounds.

 

[jehoram]

I've made a description of a woman who "looked like Marina Sirtis, but with a few more pounds." Somebody complained that they'd never seen Marina Sirtis, and didn't get the reference.

But no, I don't generally base a character on a celebrity, or a character that the celebrity has portrayed. Instead, I base them on people I know, and give those people a different life than the one they're living.

 

[Escierto]

I've made a description of a woman who "looked like Marina Sirtis, but with a few more pounds." Somebody complained that they'd never seen Marina Sirtis, and didn't get the reference.

But no, I don't generally base a character on a celebrity, or a character that the celebrity has portrayed. Instead, I base them on people I know, and give those people a different life than the one they're living.

Obviously that person was not a fan of SNG.

 

[THBGato]

No. Not at all. I guess I just want the characters to really exist as themselves, not be clone or cheap copies of celebrities.

Some have aspects of people I really know/knew, but most are themselves alone.

didn't get the reference.

I think that's a good reason not to as well.

The closest I get is my character Nadine, who is described as sounding like Tracy Chapman or Joan Armatrading, but that was about her singing voice and song-writing style, not her appearance. (However, it was also my way of hopefully making it clear to the reader that she was black, without having to bang on about it.)

 

[AchtungNight]

Casting specific movie stars in character roles does date my stories and may conflict with some readers’ visions. But I sometimes try anyway. Heh. Here are some recurring characters-

Doug Ramsay- Seann William Scott or Ryan Gosling.

Lisa Coleman- Natalie Dyer, Karen Gillian, or Natasha Lyonne.

Silvan Farrow- Mel Brooks.

Clarke- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Dr. Tess Winfield- Rachael Leigh Cook.

Elena Ruiz- Ariana Dubois.

Lord Jim Kurtz- Cillian Murphy.

Cat Osterman, Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen, Keira Knightley, other celebrities- themselves.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Only one character in one story, the "stagiest" of mine. Every time I think about No Place to Go, I envision the late, great Andre Braugher in the role of Marcus.

 

[djrip]

In my series Into the Dog House, I imagine Gregory as Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Rachel as Florence Pugh.

Ok maybe I would put up with the dog stuff...

 

[djrip]

Mostly no, but I wrote New Rules as a storification of the song by the same name, and was loosely inspired by some of the ladies from the video.

More the situation than any of their particular appearances, though, if I'm being honest.


And I kind of had some of the people from this in mind for my New RA at the Girls' Dorm series, especially Euphrata as Nina...

 

[MyBareTorso]

Most of my characters are inspired by women I see at the beach, or on public transport, but I have certainly "cast" movie stars in some of my stories.

My sexually deranged French art teacher Jacqueline Chabrol was written very much with Charlotte Gainsbourg (sorry, Charlotte!) in mind.

https://www.literotica.com/s/oz-beach-boy-vid-and-french-cougar

My brash, clumsy, sexed up American cougar tourists Merry and Mac were wholly inspired by Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. Apologies, ladies.

https://www.literotica.com/s/oz-beach-boys-summer-resort-fun

And I have long thought of my recurring sexy exhibitionist hero Matt as having Andy Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro's face on athlete Eloni Vunakece's body, with John Holmes' penis...the perfect man!

https://www.literotica.com/s/oz-beach-boys-exhibitionism-essay

Fun thread!!!!

 

[jaF0]

I will not confess that a perpetually 25-30 year old Heidi Mark has not crossed my mind a few times.

 

[PennameWombat]

I've based various characters very broadly on people I've known or met in real life, when it comes to general physical attributes. As a rule, their personalities are nowhere near what I portray them as and their physical appearances just pull bits and pieces.

As to celebrities, I only have one character somewhat inspired by a celebrity. And she wasn't an actor, and someone that almost no one in general will have heard of, much less recognize. And, it's more of a 'place and time' thing, the character isn't meant to invoke thoughts of the real person for any reader.

And I never build casts of who would play any of my characters. One, I don't care, and two, I just don't have the right sort of thought process, nor do I pay attention to most celebrities unless I happen to be watching them Right Now.

I do occasionally come across a picture online that invokes, for me, one of my characters. But it's almost never been a celebrity, rather just some random person.

 

[AchtungNight]

I've based various characters very broadly on people I've known or met in real life, when it comes to general physical attributes. As a rule, their personalities are nowhere near what I portray them as and their physical appearances just pull bits and pieces.

I’ve done this also, though my characters’ personalities are closer to those of the people who inspired them. Doug Ramsay is an Author Avatar character, a parallel universe version of me who achieved more success with his career and the opposite sex. Lots of writers have done similar things, many of them bestsellers. Dante, Byron, King, Plath, Meyer, Wilde, the recently departed Kinky Friedman… Other characters I’ve written are partially based on friends of mine or paramours. They will hopefully be able to recognize themselves and accept the honor. I intended it as an honor, believe that or not.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

No, because I rarely find makeup-plastered movie stars attractive. Even looking up 'actresses without makeup' produces photos with highly-sculpted brows and pouting puffy lips. They don't do it for me. UK TV characters provide more inspiration, but the looks of most of my characters are taken from people I've met or seen out on the street. I do a fair bit of eavesdropping in cafes.

 

[WendyTrilby]

I started this thread because I was rereading some of my works and remembered having some actors on my brain as I wrote some of my stories—Timothy Oliphant, for one, and Jeremy Allen White, for another. I love the replies. Some of you do as I do, and many do not, but either way, it got me to think deeper about my writing,

I realized I'm not so much using the actor as my muse, but rather the characters they've played in TV/Movies that impacted me. (Jeremy Allen White in The Bear is amazing).

But after reading the insightful replies to my question from some of my favorite fellow writers (thank you for participating), I embarked on a second review. While I certainly had some actors in mind, I realized the majority of my characters are from two additional sources: real people who were actual former lovers or fantasies of unattainable people (like my BFF's husband).

But my characters whom I love the best are based on people I see often but do not know personally. The thrill of creating these characters based on mere observations of real people might be my greatest sexual thrill that does not require touching of the body.

Who are these everyday people who live in my character lounge waiting to be called into a story and come to life? There's the Real Estate agent who stops by every month to see if I am interested in selling my house. There's the middle-aged woman who owns the boutique where I buy my dresses. There's the silver-haired dad who I see on my daily run. They are all in the lounge waiting to be called into a story meeting.

Some who have made it in include the attractive middle-aged check-out clerk at my grocery store. For whatever reason, I always seek out her line (even if it's not the shortest) and then rehearse some kind of witty banter for the two minutes that I stand before her as she scans my groceries. I ran into her once at the mall and suddenly became red-faced and embarrassed because I had created an entirely private world for her in my story Portmanteau: Gone Hollywood, and in the process, developed a major crush on her and the character.

Another is the six-foot-tall female CEO of the nonprofit I volunteer for. I don't know her personally, she's kind of a bitch, but she made it into my most recent rambling (Portmanteau: No Sleep Til Brooklyn) as a duplicitous FBI agent. After I wrote her, I fell so hard for my fantasy of the real woman that when I rode in the elevator recently her, I once again panicked and blushed, thinking: what if she read my story and figured out it's about her and I'm the crazy bitch who wrote it.

Thank you to all who responded to my question; it helped me review my work, and I appreciate your input. Now it's back to the lounge to interview that tattooed bartender from my favorite restaurant in Petaluma to see what story I can build around her.

- WT

 

[soflabbwlvr]

In most cases my characters are fictional creations with some traces of people I know or have encountered in real life. One story, however, contains a character based on a movie star. In Desperate Measures: The Driver the female protagonist was named after my seventh grade English teacher, but her look and mannerisms were based on Helen Mirren.

 

[Zandrite]

I've done this, absolutely.

I find that casting someone I've seen helps me with particular things like mannerisms and expressions.
I have difficulty picturing faces in general (mostly from avoiding eye-contact) so having a cue is great. It doesn't need to be 100% faithful, but drawing from somewhere can be a helpful jumping off point. Even looking at a face that I don't plan to describe can help me think of how they sound / what they might say.

Admittedly I don't tend to do that for Lit. But I have a non-erotic project that has got a full-fledge dream cast.
My main character is Celeste Holm and my villain is Richard Widmark, for example.