If The Coal Room were a movie, who would I cast?

Writers talk a lot about whether we picture actors while creating our characters. I tend to write a book as if it might someday be turned into a movie, but I usually don’t typically assign familiar faces to the characters. By the time I finish a book, the people in it have faces of their own.

But imagining The Coal Room as a movie was too much fun to resist.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for exact physical matches. I wanted actors who could capture what each character communicates before saying a word: warmth, humor, danger, eccentricity – or the sense that they might know much more than they’re telling you.

After far too much serious consideration (and scrolling through far too many actor photos), here is who I would cast if The Coal Room were a big Hollywood movie and I were the casting director:

Delaney Black: Bethany Joy Lenz

Delaney arrives in Everwind at a vulnerable point in her life. Her father has died, her marriage is unraveling, and she’s suddenly forced to confront a past she thought she’d left behind.

But Delaney isn’t helpless. Beneath her uncertainty is a quiet determination, and the more questions she uncovers, the less willing she becomes to accept the answers she’s been given.

Bethany Joy Lenz has exactly the combination I picture in Delaney: warmth, relatability, and a little steel beneath the surface. She feels approachable and emotionally open, but you can also believe she’ll keep digging long after someone tells her to stop.

She also looks like a real person whose ordinary life is about to become very, very strange. That matters in a story like this.

Cam Bennett: Wes Bentley

Wes Bentley was the easiest choice.

Cam is Delaney’s controlling husband – a man who is polished, composed, and accustomed to getting his way. I needed someone who could be charming without ever letting you completely relax around him.

Bentley has an intensity that works perfectly for Cam. Even when he’s perfectly still, there’s something happening behind his eyes. He can make control look like concern and menace sound entirely reasonable.

Paired with Bethany Joy Lenz, the contrast becomes even more effective. Her warmth makes him seem colder. Her openness makes him harder to read. Together, they capture the imbalance at the center of Delaney and Cam’s marriage.

Brandon Miller: David Denman

The moment I looked at David Denman, I thought, There he is.

Brandon needed to feel like a safe haven – not in a glossy, romantic-leading-man way, but in a steady, deeply human way. He’s grounded, mature, and reassuring. He feels like someone who will show up when he says he will and quietly take care of whatever needs doing.

Denman has that perfect everyman quality. He’s rugged without seeming overly macho, warm without being too polished, and solid without becoming boring. You believe he could belong in a place like Everwind.

More importantly, he looks like a good man who has lived through a few things. That’s Brandon.

Eddie Danner: David Walton

Eddie was the hardest character to cast.

He was the class clown in high school. You know, the kid cracking jokes from the back of the room who somehow grew up to become a perfectly competent attorney. I needed an actor who could be funny without turning Eddie into comic relief, intelligent without seeming stuffy, and attractive without looking too much like a Hollywood leading man.

David Walton has exactly that mix of boyishness and adult competence.

You can look at him and immediately believe he was always in trouble for making his classmates laugh. You can also believe that, years later, people trust him to handle their estate planning.

Eddie is familiar, quick-witted, and able to make Delaney laugh when she doesn’t feel much like laughing. Walton feels like the guy who grew up – but wisely decided not to become entirely serious.

Pru Weber: Cherry Jones

Cherry Jones, but with purple hair. Obviously.

Pru is a little whimsical and a lot eccentric, but don’t mistake either quality for foolishness. She is sharp as a tack, exceptionally perceptive, and definitely knows more than she initially chooses to share.

Jones has the intelligence and quiet authority Pru needs. She might appear slightly disarming when Delaney first meets her. Then she says something so perceptive that it becomes clear she hasn’t missed a thing.

Add Pru’s purple hair, and the picture is complete.

Welcome to Everwind

So, there you have it:

• Bethany Joy Lenz as Delaney Black

• Wes Bentley as Cam Bennett

• David Denman as Brandon Miller

• David Walton as Eddie Danner

• Cherry Jones as Pru Weber—purple hair included

It’s an ensemble that feels right for the world of The Coal Room: warm but weathered like the prairie of western North Dakota, a little eccentric, and never quite as ordinary as it seems at first.

Now all I need is a producer, a director, and someone willing to build an old North Dakota cottage with a scary furnace and a very ominous coal room.

Hollywood, call me!