If Margaret Wise Brown Gets a Movie, Why Not Others? A Suggested List for Cinematic Splendor

By now you may have heard that a film based on the Leonard Marcus biography Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon is currently in the works. So far, director Rebecca Miller has attached two stars: Elle Fanning and Julianne Moore. Initially, upon hearing this, I thought that maybe Elle would play Brown and Moore would play a slightly different Moore: The librarian Anne Carroll Moore. It was someone at The Rabbit hOle who pointed out that Julianne Moore is far more likely to play Michael Strange, Brown’s sometimes paramour. That means that we can still cast the roles of Anne Carroll Moore (only Meryl Street will satisfy me) and Ursula Nordstrom (I thought Melissa McCarthy initially but then Renee on Bluesky mentioned Olivia Coleman and now that is ALL I want to see). Extra points to Nick Bruel for suggesting Paul Bettany in the role of Clement Hurd.

But why stop here? What if, for whatever reason, this film becomes a massive hit? What then? Could we see a whole host of remarkable films based on the fantastic lives of various children’s book creators? I mean, we have seen Beatrix Potter played by Renee Zellweger (oog) and there was supposed to be a Dare Wright film, but I guess that got shelved.

With that in mind, I propose the following:

Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature by Phil Nel

Folks, it’s right there in the title. Two children’s books creators getting in trouble for being members of the Communist Party at a time when that wasn’t exactly smiled upon. Let’s cast Paul Giamatti as Crockett (he’s too short, but I just love him so much that I’ll cast him in anything) and maybe Alia Shawkat as Ruth Krauss. Though, if I go with Shawkat then Giamatti is too old for her. Hm. Okay, let’s cast Nicholas Hoult or something instead then.

So Alia:

As Ruth:

And Nicholas:

As Crockett:

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Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy by Leslie Brody

A plum role if ever there was one. Fitzhugh was at the heart of the lesbian Greenwich Village scene of the 50s, but suffered so much anxiety and stress in the course of her too short existence. You could honestly just take direct quotes from her life and make a whole movie out of those alone. Casting her is tricky, because you’d want to show her at a range of ages. At the very least, though, I’d like to see someone like Tig Notaro really dig into her later years.

So Tig:

As Louise:

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Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan

Oh yeah, oh yeah. You could get creative with this. I envision a film that has a lot of animation swirling in the corners. You get the crush of war, but also that connection to his mother and then, near the end, that incredible home he had in Maine with all the puppets n’ such. Casting is hard, though. Again, I feel like you’d need someone as young Ashley and someone as old Ashley. Could we see what LaKeith Stanfield’s schedule looks like (can you tell I just watched Sorry to Bother You for the first time)? And Danny Glover appears to still be acting, so he could play Ashley in his later years.

So LaKeith:

As young Ashley:

And Danny:

As old Ashley:

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A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein by Lisa Rogak

Aw, I’m just kidding you. They tried to make it already and it fell through.

But if they do make it and they don’t hire Jason Mantzoukas then I don’t even know what we’re all doing here. Look…

Jason:

Shel:

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I could do this all day, people, but I’m curious about your own picks. Who would you cast in these roles? And what other children’s literary creators would make for interesting films? And if you say Kay Thompson I agree, but boy it would take some work to figure out what you could legally include…

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