Some (possibly) fantastic news landed in our inbox this morning courtesy of the The Daily Beast: “Rita Wilson is developing a series for HBO based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2003. It’s a coming-of-age tale about an intersex girl named Calliope Stephanides, who later becomes Cal. Wilson will produce the series with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies.”
Like HBO’s recent new series Hung, the majority of the action will take place in Detroit (which only further proves our point), but the family saga really begins in a small town in Greece. While we couldn’t find any information on casting as of yet, we do have a few suggestions.
For the role of 41-year-old male Cal, the narrator who opens the book and frames the story, John Stamos. He’s both Greek and pretty enough to have once been a woman. For Desdemona, Cal’s grandmother from the Old Country, we’d like to nominate Olympia Dukakis. Jennifer Aniston could be good as the middle-aged version of the same character, with Hank Azaria playing Lefty, her brother/husband.
Casting the part of young Calliope is tough because it’s definitely the most important role. We’d like to see one of Hollywood’s more androgynous young stars take the part (think Ellen Page in Hard Candy), but no one immediately springs to mind. Maybe they should go with an unknown? Just please not Dakota Fanning.
We’d also like to find a part for our personal favorite Zach Galifianakis in this. Last names don’t get more Greek than his. Perhaps he could play Lefty and Desdemona’s son, Milton? But that would make him John Stamos’ dad. Weird.
Actually, now that we think about it, we don’t envy the person who ends up casting this epic television series. It’s one of the more complicated novels you could try to adapt.
Side note: Did you realize that Rita Wilson is Greek too?