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Thursday, September 26, 2013

"The Black Cat" Cast


Peyton Wolonsky
Blog Option #1 B

        In the short story, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe the main character is slightly insane. In the beginning he comes off as a normal man with a strange affection for animals. If I was to cast this tory for a movie I would choose Johnny Depp for the lead role. Whenever I think of Johnny Depp as an actor I think of him playing a mysterious and crazy male role. He is a very strong actor and could play the insanity very well. I can easily imagine him narrating the movie with lines like “There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man” (79). The protagonist’s role transitions to creepy and gruesome acts of murder throughout the story without any show of remorse. I think that Johnny Depp has the right facial expressions to play the over-confident murderer. I constantly picture Johnny Depp in his role in Pirates of the Caribbean where he has numerous monologues. This great skill of his is what makes me think he is perfect to play the main character in Poe’s short story especially in the part where he would have to say and act out, “I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls - are you going gentleman? - these walls are solidly put together” (86), as he proceeds to rap on the wall with his cane and give away his traits.

        The only other notable human role in “The Black Cat” is the wife of the protagonist, which I would cast with Michelle Monaghan. As I was reading the short story I was picturing the wife as a soft-spoken brunette. Someone who is portrayed as smart enough to notice the unusual white markings on the second black cat that appears in the story. This is exactly how I view Michelle Monaghan. She comes off extremely timid to me and I think she would play the part of an almost silent spouse. These are just a few ideas of how I see the “The Black Cat” playing out on the big screen and I think that the pairing of these two actors would make a strange couple that would fit the bizarre story.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat." American Gothic Tales. Ed. Joyce C. Oates. New York: Penguin Group, 1996. 52-64. Print.

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