Oprah is planning to make An American Marriage into a movie. Who would you cast to be in it?

Oprah is planning to make An American Marriage into a movie. Who would you cast to be in it?

I would like to see unknown actors play the major characters Roy, Celestial and Andre. I can’t think of any big name Hollywood actors who would bring freshness and originality to the characters.

This would be a great movie. Sometimes I do cast a book as I read it, but no one in particular came for mind. An interesting question.

This is interesting to hear and contemplate - I am simply not familiar enough with the names of performers enough to be able to identify them, but I do think the role of Celestial will be most important in recreating this novel. Recently I have been viewing a Sundance mini-series titled Hap and Leonard. In it's most recent season there is a beautiful and young black woman who I can see as working well in the role of Celestial. In her role for that series this young performer is both vulnerable and strong, at different turns, of course, just as Celestial is in the novel. I agree with both of the above that unknowns would probably serve this adaptation best, but this young woman is excellent and not in the mainstream at this point in her career.

I clicked onto this question because I have a few more things to say in general about "An American Marriage." First if it already hasn't come out in my answers to the other questions, "An American Marriage" is one of my personal favorites. It taught me about the American prison system and cemented my belief that there is injustice in this country still to this day. I needed that reminder.

As to the question about casting the movie. I would like to leave that up to the professionals. I did not cast this book in my head (I rarely do that anyway). I will say one thing directly to Oprah - don't leave the dolls out!!! I can't wait to see what you do with them. That was another favorite visual for me in the book.

I have decided to have some fun with this question - why not? I would love to see Chadwick Boseman as Roy, Michael B Jordan as Andre, Idris Elba as Big Roy, Teyonah Parris as Celestial, Janelle Monae as Devina, Mekhai Phifer as Celestial's father, Halle Berry or Angela Bassett as her mother, Jaime Foxx as Roy's real father, Alfre Woddard or Octavia Spencer as Olive. Somehow get Taraji P. Henson a role (maybe make her the lawyer instead of an uncle...) and Thandie Newton always amazes me with her talent!
These are my favorite actors and I would be so excited to see them all in one movie! Oprah can afford it!

I have no casting suggestions but look forward to seeing this incredible story brought to life on the big screen. Thank you, Oprah!

I’d love to see Sterling K. Brown cast as Roy, and Susan Kelechi Watson as Celestial. (Both actors are in the tv show This is Us.)

Maybe it's because I love the show "A Million Little Things" so much, but the entire time I was reading An American Marriage, I was picturing Romany Malco as Roy and Christina Moses as Celestial. I think they would be phenomenal actors in the film version of this novel. As for Andre, I think I'd cast Donald Glover. I could see him doing justice to the difficult character of Andre ("difficult" because I didn't want to like him, but in the end, I definitely did.)

My Cast:

Jesse Williams- Roy
Sterling K. Brown- Andre
Denzel Washington- Roy Senior
Eddie Murphy- Walter
Kerry Washington- Celestial
Jennifer Hudson- Davina

I am also looking forward to the movie and, since there are a number of excellent black actors and actresses available, I hope that they cast those who fit the descriptions in the book. Also, the author did indicate that the rape victim was an older white woman.

The Light Between the Oceans is an example of a movie where the main characters were more attractive than the main characters described in the book.