As April 1 ends and we all breathe a sigh of relief that we escaped being fooled. Not all of us are so lucky, and not just by friends, no no, but by media and personalities whom we trust and believe they’d never steer us wrong. With Facebook and Twitter allowing access to fans in a more direct manner, celebrities and companies can trick us in very creative ways. What is worse I feel is when you do not realise you have been fooled, it isn’t until a few hours later when it finally clicks that you feel foolish.
My experience was when author John Green posted on Twitter that he had been given the role of Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars Film. Being a day ahead I wasn’t aware that the US had hit April yet so I was still trusting. Alas ’twas not so and I was fooled; I had been going so well all day too. I had but one hour remaining and I was out, fool free for another year. But this is not a post about being fooled, well not entirely. It got me thinking, are there cases where authors are actually allowed to act in their own films? Surely this is possible, directors slip themselves into their works all the time, being on Hitchcock watch is one of my favourite games while watching his films. I did a search and I managed to find this great article by Michelle Orange – Getting in the Act: 11 Novelists Who Found Their Way Into the Script. It is a few years out of date but interesting nonetheless. Not being actors themselves they are typically cameo appearances, not huge speaking roles like John was aiming for; but for fans of authors and the books from whence these pictures came, spotting a familiar face, or having these fun facts are just an added joy in enjoying the film version of their beloved book (or, as it were compiling a list of complaints about a film ruining their book interrupted only by spotting the familiar face).
There are many authors who do not approve, and many who do, of where films have taken their cherished and slaved over works, and I can’t say even if they did a bang up job, I would be putting my hand up to be cameoing into anything I had written either. This feeling may be a common occurrence which could account for the fact I could only find this list of 11. There may be others I have yet to discover, and now I know it is possible I shall keep an eager eye out in future.
I hope you are already enjoying April, how did we get to month four so soon I don’t even want to think about, I hope you were not fooled too much and I hope you managed to find time to read something spectacular.
Lost in a Good Book 