Thursday, November 14, 2013

Rhett Butler – The Original Alpha Male


A few weeks ago I watched “Gone with the Wind”. It was by no means the first time I’d watched the 1939 classic, but this time something occurred to me. Rhett Butler, with all his swagger and charm, was indeed the original “alpha” leading man.

Think about it…

Long before Christian Grey pledged $100,000 for a dance with Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades, Rhett Butler offered $150 in gold for a spin around the floor with the recently widowed Scarlett O’Hara.

Long before Bennett Ryan tore Chloe Mill’s panties off in a conference room in Beautiful Bastard, Rhett Butler gazed at Scarlett as if he knew what she looked like “without her shimmy”. 

And long before Gideon Cross carried Eva Tramell across his office in Bared to You, Rhett Butler swept Scarlett up a wide staircase.


Rhett, like his fellow alphas, is a born leader, a man who stands out from the crowd. He is driven and yet always composed. He knows failure is only a minor setback and that in every problem therein lies an opportunity, he just has to find it. He dresses well, is physically fit and captures the attention of nearly every woman he meets. He is worldly and knowing, radiating a confidence even the willful Scarlett is unable to resist. But can you blame her? After all, what woman wouldn't feel a bit weak in the knees if a man took her in his arms and whispered…

“You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” 

Oh fiddle dee dee… pass me one of those fans, Scarlett…I do believe I might faint.








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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Casting Christian Grey…. Again!

The speculation had been finally put to rest, Charlie Hunnam was going to play Christian Grey. The fans reacted (some good, some bad, and some with online petitions) but then the dust settled and it was time to move to the production phase.

Not so fast.
Charlie is out and now fans are left to debate the casting of Christian Grey… again.

So who will it be this time? Rumor has it there are four major contenders:

Jamie Dornan. Most fans will know him as the very hot Sheriff Graham from “Once Upon A Time”.




Alexander Skarsgard. Eric Northman fans are divided on whether they'd liked to see the True Blood fave turn in his fangs for a flogger.





Theo James. This Brit might be a bit over-committed with the YA Divergent series to take on a more…adult trilogy.


Christian Cooke.  The name would certainly fit, but does he have the right look?





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Monday, August 19, 2013

Meet Jessie Pavelka

 
Who could resist that face? Certainly not me. So when Jessie Pavelka recently asked me to “hook him up”, I was quick to promise my next blog post would be about the real man whose face is synonymous with one of Twitter’s most popular “book boyfriends”.

How it all began….
I first learned who Jessie was the way nearly one hundred thousand other women did, when I stumbled across @ChristianTGrey’s twitter account. After getting over the initial shock of learning fictional characters have twitter accounts, my next thought was “who is this gorgeous man?”  A quick internet search revealed the handsome face actually belonged to fitness and well being expert Jessie Pavelka.  As one of the world’s top celebrity trainers, Jessie has appeared on numerous American and British television programs including The View, Lifetime’s DietTribe, and Oprah’s OWN Wake-Up Workout. He can currently be seen on Sky Living’s new documentary series, Fat: The Fight of My Life.
Jessie was recently a guest on Northwest Prime, a blogtalk radio program hosted by Seattle’s Lori Ness. I was fortunate enough to speak with him during the show and both Lori and I had questions for Jessie about his connection to the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey.

On being “cast” as twitter’s original Christian Grey…
 

@ChristianTGrey
Jessie Pavelka was the unofficial “face” of Christian Grey months before the Fifty Shades series was even released by Random House. “I have no idea how this happened,” he told Ness.  “It’s very flattering, I will say that.” 

When I asked Jessie what he thought about having 94,000 people following him as the AVI of @ChristianTGrey, he laughed and replied, “It makes me envy this guy, because I only have 25,000,” then quickly added, “I’m fortunate to have my picture used, so I’m not complaining.”
In fact, far from it. Jessie not only considers the use of his image to be flattering, he even follows the account himself. “I’m blessed in a lot of ways to have that happen. It was a picture of me and then people wanted to know who it was…Some of the stuff I do never kind of gets recognized, so what this does is allow people who would never see what I do…it gives them kind of a window into that as well. So if nothing ever came from this, at least there’s that.”
On whether or not he’s read Fifty Shades of Grey...

Jessie admits he was “given a copy of the book and went through it a bit”. While he “could see why people would like it”, he’s not sure the content was made for him.

On being considered for the role of Christian Grey…

While his work right now is fitness based, Jessie is no stranger to the screen. In addition to the previously mentioned fitness programs,   Jessie also appeared in the pilot episode of “Friday Night Lights”.  And while he’s “very open to the idea of a new role”, he says no one has contacted him about the role of Christian Grey. When a caller asked who he could see playing his co-star, Jessie very diplomatically answered, “my wife.” Hmm…well played, Mr. Pavelka, well played.  
 
More than just a pretty face….
One of Jessie’s latest endeavors is serving as patron of the UK Charity HOOP (Helping Overcome Obesity Problems) which aims to assist obese young people with finding healthy solutions.  The organization strives to be a hub of information while supporting not only the children, but their parents as well.  You can find out more about Jessie’s involvement in this worthy cause by visiting http://hoopuk.org.uk/  or watching this video from his website.

And finally…

Be sure to follow @Jessie_Pavelka on twitter. Seems only fair he have as many followers as Christian Grey!

You can find out more about Jessie through his website, http://jessiepavelka.com/

 

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Monday, February 18, 2013

Casting Your Novel (And how did I NOT know about David Gandy?)

The other day I was weaving through Macy’s - trying to reach the exit while avoiding the perfume sample assassins - when I ran straight into the most gorgeous man. Brown hair, blue eyes, white Speedo (did I mention he was a life size cut-out?) With the exception of his clothing, he was the epitome of the leading man in my WIP (work in progress).

We’ve all done it. Cracked open a book and before long we’ve cast the main characters. Whether a famous actor, a model or just a kid we knew in high school, by the end of the novel more than a few characters have taken on familiar faces. It’s no different for writers.  While it’s true authors use words to describe the characters they envision, when asked, most will admit they’ve already cast the motion picture version of their novel.

Never mind my next book isn’t finished, let alone sold. If Hollywood wants to make a movie out of my new novel, they can look no further. I’ve found the man! His name is David Gandy and according to one of my friends, I’ve been living under a rock not to know this “sexy beast”. So  without further ado, meet the leading man of my dreams...


UPDATE: I am thrilled to announce that the Chasing Fire Series will be released in April, July & October 2015 by Penguin Books. 







So tell me fellow writers, who is the “dream cast” of your novel?
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