Cast and Justifications

After listing the given circumstances needed to cast actors for each character in Crimes of the Heart and doing a character analysis for each character, I have chosen the following people to play the roles in Crimes of the Heart:

Lenny Magrath: Felicity Huffman
Chick Boyle: Katherine Heigl
Doc Porter: Mark Wahlberg
Meg Magrath: Rebecca Gayheart
Babe Botrelle: Rose McGowan
Barnette Lloyd: Tom Cruise


I chose Felicity Huffman to play the role of Lenny. I think that she would be a good person to play a motherly role because of her "motherly looks" and the fact that she is well known for playing a mother of three boys and a daughter on Desperate Housewives. Lenny is the oldest of three sisters and because they no longer have a mother, nor is there mention of a father, Lenny tries to take on the role of the mother for her sisters. I think that Felicity's role in this television series is very well played out and I think that she is a very good mother. Her role in Desperate Housewives involves a lot of frustration with her children, and like Lenny, she takes on a lot of responsibility to take care of her entire family. She has a bond with her family, just like Lenny has with her sisters, so I think that Felicity Huffman would be a great Lenny.

I chose Katherine Heigl to act out the role of Chick. The description of Chick in the script says that she has yellow hair and shiny, red lips. Katherine Heigl has both of these, so she fits my idea of what Chick would look like. I believe that Heigl would be able to play the role of someone who is worried about what the community thinks of her and she would be a good person to play someone who gossips and is in everyone's business. The different roles that she has played such as in Knocked Up and 27 Dresses make me sure Heigl is a sure choice to play Chick Boyle.

Mark Wahlberg is my choice to play Doc, In the script, Doc is described as someone who looks older than he really is and he has a quiet, seductive personality. Mark Wahlberg fits my picture of what Doc would look like. He is an attractively worn man and I believe that if someone was casting two people to be a couple (like Meg and Doc were), my choice of Wahlberg for Doc would go well with my choice for Meg. Wahlberg plays many serious roles, such of that Four Brothers and The Lovely Bones. Because of the serious roles that he has played, I think he would be able to portray Doc well since Doc seems to be a serious man that values his friendship with the three sisters.

To play Meg, I am casting Rebecca Gayheart. The main reason I have chosen her is because of her looks. To me, she fits my picture of Meg perfectly. For Meg, I see someone with long, blond hair, blue eyes, and a very pretty face. Rebecca Gayheart is a very attractive actress and I think that she could play the role of someone who leaves home to pursue a singing career in California. In the movie Jawbreaker, Gayheart played the role of a snobbish high school girl. Because of Meg's "loose reputation" in high school and the fact that in Jawbreaker, Gayheart's character, Julie, was the only one to break away from everyone, makes me believe that she would be a good Meg because her roles have called for some of the same kind of actions as Meg's in Crimes of the Heart.

Rose McGowan is who I have chosen to play Babe Botrelle. In the script, it describes Babe as having an angelic face and fierce, volatile eyes. I think that McGowan's look fits this description perfectly. When I look at Rose McGowan, I see Babe. I think that McGowan just looks like the type of actress that could play someone who would shoot their husband. She reminds me of the "bad ass" type, which is kind of how I pictured Babe. Again, McGowan also starred in Jawbreaker. Her role was a cold-blooded, high school girl that accidentally killed her friend and tried to get away with it. Because of the role she played in Jawbreaker, I think that she would be able to play Babe well - especially because they both committed a crime and are trying to get away with it, although in Crimes of the Heart is is not nearly as drastic as in Jawbreaker.

Last but not least, the actor I have cast to play the role of Barnette Lloyd is Tom Cruise. Barnette is a slender, intelligent young man and I believe Tom Cruise fits Barnette's physical description well. I also think, based on his roles in movies, that Cruise would be able to play someone who would make sacrifices of things that he has dreamed of for a long time for someone that he has not known very long but cares about enough to give up what he wants for her. I chose Cruise to play the lawyer based on his role in A Few Good Men. In this movie he played an exceptional lawyer and this is why I ended up deciding on him to play the role of Barnette Lloyd in Crimes of the Heart.

This is my cast for Crimes of the Heart. I am satisfied with who I have chosen to play what role and I think that through the given circumstances and character analysis', I have chosen (and justified) my chosen cast well enough for someone to understand my decision behind my casting.