Seeing as shooting is set to begin next month on Harald Zwart’s adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s smash-hit YA fantasy novel “City of Bones,” it’s starting to become crunch time as far as putting together a cast is concerned. When we made our last casting update, pretty much every major role had been filled other than that of Luke Garroway, the teenage protagonist’s surrogate father-figure, and Valentine Morgenstern, the primary villain of the story who has many and sometimes mysterious ties to the pasts of the protagonists.
Well, worry not, fans of demon-killing Shadowhunters, because it looks like the film is going to be able to fill all of its big roles with weeks to spare. First off, Luke Garroway: he’’s the gruff, flannel shirt wearing fellow that spends a lot of time hanging around with the protagonist Clary’s (Lily Collins) mother (Lena Headey). Though I can’t find any place where this casting was actually announced, Irish actor Aidan Turner is now listed as playing the role. He’s probably best known for his role on the BBC show Being Human, which is also heavily concerned with creatures of the night, so he should feel right at home dealing with mystical and dangerous things.
Next it’s on to Valentine Morgenstern, the Darth Vader meets Lord Voldemort villain of the piece. THR is reporting that The Tudors actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is currently in negotiations to take on the role. Though Meyers seems like he’s probably a little too young to be who fans would have pictured as Valentine, he’s very pretty, and his eyes are piercing enough to look evil, so I can’t imagine his casting is going to be the cause of too many complaints.
So, there you have it. The long arduous journey of tracking the latest YA adaptation casting process is complete. Do you think Hollywood is going to give us a bit of a break after this, or is it only a matter of weeks before the announcement that somebody is developing Kristin Cashore’s “Graceling” into the next big franchise?