Casting news is rolling along for the big screen adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s New York Times best-selling YA series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Just this past Monday, we told you that Kevin Zegers has been cast as Alec Lightwood in the film and Clare has indeed confirmed quite a few casting announcements since.
First, Clare has confirmed that Zegers has been cast as Alec and second, she announced the casting of Warehouse 13’s Mrs. Frederic, C.C.H. Pounder and Being Human’s vampire Mitchell, Aidan Turner. Pounder would play Madame Dorothea and Turner would be Luke. Here’s what Clare had to say about the two roles along with her comments on Zegers’ casting:
Clare On C.C.H. Pounder as Madame Dorothea:
Madame Dorothea was a lot of fun to write. She’s Clary’s downstairs neighbor and a “witch” — the kind with crystal balls and Tarot cards. Her secret is that none of that magic is at all real: it’s a cover for the powerful position she actually does hold in the secret society of Downworlders.
Our Madame Dorothea is:
CCH Pounder.
You may know her from The Shield. Or The X-Files. Or Warehouse 13. Or ER. Or The West Wing. Or pretty much every cool show in the known universe. Our director’s wanted to work with her for ages and I think she will be amazing. Welcome, CCH!
Clare on Aidan Turner as Luke:
Luke — Clary’s surrogate father figure, he has a hell of a dark past despite his current mild-mannered, bookstore-owning ways. The scars he bears belie his gentle heart — but he could tear you apart with his teeth if you threatened something he cared about.
[Luke is:]
Aidan Turner.
He was terrific in Being Human and there’s massive buzz about his upcoming role in the Hobbit. He’s Irish so perhaps he and Robert Sheehan can sit around and talk about Irish things.
Looking more the flannel-shirt wearing Luke we know and love. Harald was so excited to work with him he was hopping around. I’m pretty excited about him playing Luke myself! Welcome Aidan!
Clare on Kevin Zegers as Alec:
Kevin was actually one of the first actors approached to play Alec but his schedule didn’t work with the filming originally so they went with someone else; then the scheduling changed once again and it didn’t work for Alec Mark Two, but did work for Kevin. Such are the vagaries of casting.
I’ve always liked Kevin, since Transamerica, and I had him on my website for Sebastian for ages which is funny in retrospect because now I’ve seen him play Alec so I think he’s much too nice for Sebastian.
One of the things I really liked about Kevin was that one of Alec’s audition scenes was the scene where Alec shouts at Clary in City of Bones and tells her she endangered Jace’s life. And a lot of the actors who auditioned played it yelling and really mean so you just thought, boy, Alec. What a jerk that guy is. Kevin played it with a quiet sort of intensity that grew through the scene so you could see through the cracks of the anger and think: wow, this guy is really scared and vulnerable. Because that is the Alec people love.
Also he will not have to wear contacts to get Alec’s baby blues because he already has them. Which is just a fortunate plus.
So yes, welcome Kevin!
Synopsis for City of Bones, the first book of The Mortal Instruments series:
City of Bones begins with a sixteen-year old girl named Clary Fray (Lily Collins,) who lives in New York with her mother, an artist. She comes home one night to find her apartment ransacked, her mother gone — and a slavering demon ready to tear off her head. Once the demon’s dealt with, Clary follows the clues to her mother’s disappearance into an alternate New York filled with hideous demons, hard-partying warlocks, not-what-they-seem vampires, an army of werewolves and the scariest thing of all: the secrets of her mother’s past. She also finds herself torn between two boys — her best friend Simon, for whom she’s developing new feelings, and the mysterious demon hunter Jace, who has a past more tangled than her own. She becomes a part of the secret word of the demon hunters, or Nephilim, and as she does discovers she might be more connected to them than she originally thought.
The Mortal Instruments is slated to hit theaters August 23, 2013.
