Rising author Colleen Hoover, creator of the BookTok hit “It Ends With Us”, sent fans into a frenzy after announcing her popular book was coming to theaters. Personally, I am not ecstatic about the choices made for this movie. This romance novel includes, among others, serious topics such as domestic abuse, homelessness, first love and first heartbreak. 

Hoover’s fanbase has some strong opinions about the choice of casting for the characters in her well-known book. Many readers create images of the characters in their own minds as they read a novel. As a result, when a movie comes out based on a book and the characters are not what these readers imagined, it can create a problem for both the readers and the author. Although the whole cast is not confirmed, Hoover has confirmed the main characters Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid for the movie. 

Blake Lively who is most known for her role as Serena van der Woodsen in “Gossip Girl” has been cast as the main character Lily Bloom. In the book, Lily Bloom is 23 years old and is believed to be a redhead which has resulted in lots of backlash about Lively playing that character. Although Lively is stunning, she does not look as young as Lily Bloom is portrayed in the book and has naturally blonder hair. Of course actors can put on wigs to match a character’s looks, but the appearance is much more authentic with natural hair color especially for a color such as red. Many Hoover fans, myself included, believe that a better actor for this role would be Sadie Sink who made her professional debut as Max Mayfield in “Stranger Things”. She has a younger look and is a natural redhead; I believe that she fits Lily Bloom’s character perfectly. 

Now the other main character, Ryle Kincaid,  played by Justin Baldoni who is famously known for his role as Rafael in “Jane the Virgin ”. Personally, I neither disagree or agree with this casting as it doesn’t seem totally wrong but also not completely right. Ryle Kincaid is seen by readers as someone with dark hair and darker eyes. Baldoni naturally has these features which means he does physically fit the appearance of Ryle. However, many fans think that the best actor for this role would be Theo James who established his career as Four in the “Divergent” series. While I think that Baldoni is not an incorrect casting for Ryle, I do agree that James gives that assertive and stubborn attitude that Ryle is described to have. 

Overall the Hoover fanbase and myself are not extremely happy or satisfied with the casting choices, but only time will tell to see if these actors can truly play the part.

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