There was a fun article published over on Buzzfeed a couple of months back, entitled 20 Book-To-Movie Castings That People Actually Kind Of Hated. It's one of those pieces of internet fluff that shouldn't be taken too seriously, but which will kill a few minutes of your time and make you nod in agreement or scowl with incredulity at least a few times.

I was firmly in the latter camp when it came to number 6 on the list, which was John C Reilly as Mr Crepsley in the Cirque Du Freak movie. I know he divided opinion, with a lot of people unable to separate him from the more comical characters than he's become famous playing, but in my opinion he's a brilliant, versatile actor, who's graced many a fine serious movie (one of the most recent being Stan & Ollie, when he nailed Oliver Hardy to a heartbreaking tee). I loved it when he was cast as Mr Crepsley, as I always felt the actor playing him should be more of a quirky bent than a dashingly good-looking leading man. And he actually read all the books in the series and championed their cause with the team adapting them, pushing to have the film more faithfully reflect the tone and story of the books -- unfortunately, the writer/director had other ideas. Still, I felt he was the best thing in the movie, and that its best moments all happened when he was on screen.

As I've always said, I enjoyed the movie on its own terms, for what it was, but I fully understand those fans of my books who look upon it as an abomination, as it really did take massive liberties with the story and characters. I'm more than happy to respect the opinion of those who hate it and do their best to blank it from their memories, and I never try to argue a different point of view with them. But when it comes to John C Reily in it... no, sorry, I'm not having it! He's a great actor, he turned in a cool little performance and gave his all with the material he was dealing with, and that's that -- end of discussion!!!! :-)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasminnahar/book-to-movie-castings-people-actually-kind-of-hated?

For the latest Darren Shan news and updates, including info about my new Archiblad Lox series, see the July issue of the Shanville Monthly: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly