Hello hello! So I saw starryeyedturtle do this over on her spam, and I'm a little obsessed with the idea of breaking this down because I LOVE casting families - it's so so fun! So, I just had to give it a go myself!! (I'm actually just procrastinating writing)

I've messed around with some different family dynamics across my books but I love all of my families equally (she lies) and imagining how they'd come to life has always been really fun. Honestly the amount of just overly-studying actor's faces I've done in my time is a little absurd. but gotta do it for that family resemblance n all that. somebody hire me, I beg!

So without further ado, some insight into the process behind my beloved fictional families...

FAWN FAMILY ࿐

Burton Fawn (49) ─── played by Jason Isaacs
Lisle Fawn (48) ─── played by Virginia Kull
Parker Fawn (19) ─── played by Kaitlyn Dever
Paisley Fawn (17) ─── played by Sadie Stanley
Polly Fawn (14) ─── played by Isabella Sermon

Cannot emphasise enough how much I adore this family! They have a very complicated and troubled dynamic but the love they have for each other still, arghhh — they might honestly be my favourite (although the Callaghans are tough competition). The sister casting for this family I'm particularly proud of — after I casted Sadie as Paisley for some reason I just couldn't get the vision of Kaitlyn Dever as her sister out of my head. I think they work so well! And then Isabella as little Polly (my personal favourite Fawn) was something I loved as well. Casting parents is always a little more tricky, but I'm honestly very content with what I came out with. Lisle in particular I think resembles Paisley really well.

Also, for a fun little extra, Preston does have a face claim as well (even though we see him so little because *spoiler?* he's dead). BUT I do really envision him as Evan Roderick. I was rewatching Spinning Out recently and just went PRESTON! So here he is side by side with little flashback Paisley!

CALLAGHAN FAMILY ࿐

Brandi Callaghan (39) ─── played by Sally Field
Calix Callaghan (40) ─── played by Colin Firth
Marvel Callaghan (17) ─── played by Jack Quaid
Laurent Callaghan (14) ─── played by David Mazouz
Amber/Amethyst Callaghan (12) ─── played by Raffey Cassidy
Copper Callaghan (10) ─── played by young Tom Holland
Ruri Callaghan (7) ─── played by Noah Jupe
Jules Callaghan (3) ─── played by young Malina Weissman

Okay, onto literally my FAVOURITE FAMILY OF ALL TIME. Their dynamic, their relationship, their vibes >>>> Everything is just mwah mwah, makes me so happy and I love them so much. They're easily my most developed family and I'm very very proud of their casting tbh. But Sally Field as Brandi, I'm just obsessed. She has such good resemblance with Jack in my opinion, and I can just envision their dynamic so well! Listen, casting all of these kids was a challenge - there are literally seven of them. The main thing for me was that the boys all needed to have the signature Callaghan curls (with the exception of Laurent, who is meant to look slightly different!). The only casting that I really found difficult was Jules (because there aren't many famous toddlers lol), but I'm relatively happy with young Malina.

RIVERE FAMILY ࿐

Jensen Rivere (43) ─── played by Greg Bryk
Bentley Rivere (17) ─── played by Max Irons

My smallest little family :(   But I thought I'd pop them in here anyway. These guys are obviously Marvel's uncle and cousin, so the Callaghans' extended family! For context, Bentley's mother (rip to her) was Calix's older sister, but I've never bothered to cast her since we never actually see her. However, I really am quite proud of the family resemblance between Jensen and Bentley, I think they fit as father and son super well!!! And real ones know that Bentley is my favourite OC, so these guys have a special place in my heart.

BEAUMONT FAMILY ࿐

Cicero Beaumont (39) ─── played by young Brian Dennehy
Aeliana Beaumont (38) ─── played by Amy Adams
Jada Visage (40) ─── played by Isla Fisher
Cobalt Beaumont (18) ─── played by Thomas Doherty
Antoinette Beaumont (17) ─── played by Abigail Cowen

Annnnnd FINALLY, onto the last of our Lapis Lazuli families... the ever so toxic Beaumont-Visage family... I do love these guys, even if they are possibly my worst family in terms of dynamic and love — some of these guys are prettttty awful (I'm looking at you, Cicero). BUT I do really adore the casting choices for them. Cicero is slightly older looking in comparison to his actual age (because the Beaumont's popped out their heirs veryyyy young), but that was intentional! Being a miserable oppressive man tends to age you faster, y'know... But the main vision was to have the beautiful redheaded Visage girlies all resembling each other, and then Cobalt looking more like his father — almost symbolic of the divide in the family.

BRIGHT FAMILY ࿐

Bradley Bright (46) ─── played by Ke Huy Quan
Georgina Bright (44) ─── played by Kristen Davis
Elodie Bright (18) ─── played by Paris Berelc
Bowie Bright (13) ─── played by Charlie Bushnell

Okay, I won't lie... this family casting was TRICKY. Essentially, Elodie is an OC I've had for a couple of years, and she's always been played by Paris Berelc. But, Paris is Filipino-European, so it was really important for me to get the ethnicities of her family right, but also keeping in mind the resemblance, and just the overall vibes of each character. And I really struggled to find actors that matched Elodie's exact ethnicity, PARTICULARLY for her brother. But Charlie is also of part East-Asian and part European descent, and he also fit the age and look very well, so he was the closest to Bowie I could find. I've also always kind of had the vision of Ke Huy Quan in my head for their Dad, I just think he captures his personality really well. If anybody has any suggestions for actors they think are better fit with the Brights' ethnicities though, please let me know! I've tried my best to get as close as possible, but I really struggled to be exact.

BECK-SINCLAIR FAMILY ࿐

Ruthie Beck (43) ─── played by Lashana Lynch
Jolie Beck (19) ─── played by Ryan Destiny
Silas Beck (19) ─── played by Mitchell Edwards
Willow Sinclair (19) ─── played by Sarah Jeffrey

Okay, so for context on this one, Willow is my Big Time Rush OC, and she's adopted! Her parents died when she was very young, and she was adopted by her mother's best friend (who was her godmother), Ruthie, who had her own twins Willow's age. So naturally, Willow doesn't share their resemblance. I've never casted her birth parents because they obviously never appear, but I might get around to it at some stage, idk... But the Beck family I do really adore tbh. I'm really happy with the resemblance of the twins especially - I think specifically their eyes just have such similarity! And I, like most people, adore Lashana so it had to be done, even though she's technically a little young for Ruthie!!

GRANGER FAMILY ࿐

Graham Granger ─── played by Greg Kinnear
Jean Granger ─── played by Jennifer Connolly
Hermione Granger ─── played by Emma Watson
Felicity Granger ─── played by Poppy Drayton

Now this family is slightly cheating because obviously they aren't exactly mine. BUT, Felicity is my OC and because of that, I've expanded on the Granger family a lot, & I've changed the face claims and personalities of the characters to reflect that. I don't necessarily dislike the movie actors for Hermione's parents, but I wasn't completely happy with them, and honestly I'm very content with the pair I did come up with. Felicity has been in my head for 12 years (she was my first ever role-play OC when I was nine!), but it took me 11 of those to find a proper face claim for her *cries in perfectionist*. I am very happy with Poppy for her though, once I saw her it honestly just clicked — and I used Poppy as the main vision when casting the parents!

Whew... I have wayyyy more families than I thought. But this was good fun, so big thanks to Imogen for the idea of another way to procrastinate my writing, I always appreciate it!

Jokes aside though, now that this is out of my head and I'm no longer hyper-fixated I am actually going to go write so that I can attempt to get a new chapter out asap!!

Much love as always,

Dani x