From the vault: The BWC movie

On Monday, I received an e-mail from Melbourne IT, which sells domain names to clients of Freeservers. Since 2007, I have maintained a website, buddywaynebarefoot.com, at Freeservers. However, for financial reasons, I will not keep the domain name after May 31. Therefore, Melbourne IT will reclaim the address for sale to another possible owner. More importantly, everything on my site will be erased.

The next several posts will be devoted to preserving some of the highlights of the site by transferring them onto this blog. First will be a "casting" of a movie based on The Buddy Wayne Chronicles, as posted on Dec. 7, 2007.

About one year ago at this time, the idea for The Buddy Wayne Chronicles was hatched. A sports and music celebrity gets away from it all, finds new adventures, and becomes more than he ever expected to be in the process.

All in all, it reads like a script for a Hollywood movie, with one exciting scene after another. So who plays the role based on the characters I created? And who fills the behind-the-scenes roles?

ACTORS

• Buddy Wayne Barefoot - Jason Lee (My Name is Earl). Of all the major film and TV stars, he is the closest in age, physical appearance, and accent to B.W.
• Shayla McLamb-Barefoot - Reese Witherspoon (I Walk the Line, Election). I would be so privileged to have an Oscar-nominated actress in this film.
• Bunky Barefoot - Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings trilogy). Picked because of his youth and his distinctive curly hair, matching what I think Bunky should look like.
• Brenda Barefoot - Kathy Bates (Misery). Even better: an Oscar winner in this role! Trivia to wow your friends and co-workers: Her original stage name was Bobo Bates.
• Dylan Bryan-Brown - Either Adrien or Adam Brody. The brothers are both favored by many movie critics and have been nominated for awards.
• Will Hawks - Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy). Derrick "McDreamy" Shepherd is not only a rising star, but also a sports-car driver.
• Bubba Ray Lumpkin - Nick Cannon (cut his teeth on Nickelodeon, several other films since). The moon face looks familiar...
• Alonzo Barefoot - Wilford Brimley (TV commercials, 1980s series Our House). If he could be persuaded to shave his mustache and put on a gray wig, he would be perfect.
• BooTeasha Baltimore - Tyra Banks (Tyra, America's Next Top Model) - My personal pick may also be the most difficult to obtain due to her schedule. If Banks is not available, either Gabrielle Union or Queen Latifah could step in.
• Brittany L. Spears - Taylor Swift. This teenage country singer beats out Kellie Pickler (American Idol) for the role of a bluegrass star. Swift is closer to the age of the character than Pickler is.
• Bubba Brister - Taylor Hicks (American Idol). Another reach, as Hicks would have to dye his hair for the part. But Hicks' R&B/blues background is somewhat like Brister's.
• Voice of Althea McBiddlewhiskers, the guardian angel - Marianne Muellerleile (too many TV shows and movies to count). One of Hollywood's great character actresses, she has over 200 credits in the last 30 years.
• Ms. McBynum, the restaurant owner - Mo'nique (various TV shows). This would be her first big movie role, no pun intended. And she deserves it.
• The other roles - including pro wrestlers Big and One Man Gang; Blackman Bibb, who runs the conference center; and Randy Mantooth, the serviceman turned racer, will be filled by unknowns, either character actors or first-timers. (For example, some National Football League players could play the pro wrestlers.)

BEHIND THE SCENES

• Head scriptwriter - Bonnie MacBird. MacBird not only has a name that could fit among the denizens of Idealia, but she more importantly has more than 25 years of writing and executive experience. Her most famous script was for the 1982 Disney hit movie Tron. She currently teaches a scriptwriting class at UCLA Extension called "Write Side of the Brain."
• Director - Ron Howard. The co-head of Imagine Entertainment has been a fan favorite as an actor, director, and producer for over 40 years, going back to when he played Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show. I think he is best at telling this type of story.
• Stunt/race coordinator - Stanton Barrett. Currently driving in the Busch/Nationwide Series, Barrett has over 25 movie credits as a stuntman, including Spider-Man 2, The Dukes of Hazzard (film), and 8 Mile. No actual person knows the world that Buddy Wayne inhabits better than Barrett.
• Brian Barefoot is not only the namesake of the star character, he has worked on all 14 seasons of Survivor to date as an editor. Don't know if he has any film experience, but I would hire him for this.

Some updates: Mo'Nique is now the second Oscar winner in my cast, as she won Best Supporting Actress in 2010 for Precious: Based on Push by Sapphire. Instead of 14 seasons of Survivor, there have now been 20. In 2009, Cannon became the host of America's Got Talent, and returns for a second season in that role on June 1. Finally, Tron: Legacy hits theaters this coming December.