Jessica Anya Blau's "The Trouble with Lexie"

Jessica Anya Blau's books include The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, Drinking Closer to Home, and The Wonder Bread Summer. Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Trouble with Lexie:

I’m a big daydreamer. Maybe most writers are. Often when I’m in the car, I’ll turn off the radio and just tune in to a daydream. In this way, hours can pass unnoticed. My daydreams run like movies in my head. It’s not surprising since the simplest way to describe my writing process would be to say that I watch a movie I’m creating in my head and then write it down as I see it.

When I was writing The Trouble with Lexie, I was also binge-watching Friday Night Lights. So, of course, I was thinking of Kyle Chandler for Daniel. Daniel doesn’t have Coach Taylor’s wholesome goodness. But he has his looks, his charisma, his confidence.

Lexie is a version of me—younger, prettier, taller, blonder, a much smaller nose! But she’s neurotic and a worrier like me. She’s 33, and I have no idea how old any Hollywood star is but I like Kristen Stewart and think she would be the perfect Lexie. She has a certain mysteriousness to her that makes her appealing. And you don’t read about her everywhere—I have no idea what she is like, I only know what her characters are like.

Dot, the 80-year-old tap-dancing English teacher who curses like a truck driver could be played by Betty White. Or by my mother, who isn’t a star except in her own home with her human-sized sheep dog and her cross-eyed, obese cat to whom she sings.

Peter needs to be played by someone who can do that sort of boneless, hipster, low-slung jeans thing. Maybe Armie Hammer, but scruffed out, unbathed, sans underwear.

Amy could be played by Anna Chlumsky. I love her in Veep. And she has the perfect look for Amy: together, pretty, but not overly-groomed and not-overly thin. Amy/Anna looks like someone who eats carbs without thinking Oh mah gawd, I’m eating carbs!

Dream directors . . . oh, you know, Steven Soderbergh would be the ideal. I like his sensibility: he sees the humor in life, in reality. And he has a good sense of women and how real and strong they are. Also, he understands the importance of plot and tension. High-stakes things happen in his movies; something changes by the end.

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Anya Blau's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Jessica Anya Blau and Pippa.

The Page 69 Test: The Wonder Bread Summer.

My Book, The Movie: The Wonder Bread Summer.

--Marshal Zeringue

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