The House on Hoarder Hill- Blog Tour

Written by Mikki Lish and Kelly Ngai, Cover by Maxine Lee-Mackie, Published by Chicken House

I am incredibly excited to be a part of this blog tour. The House on Hoarder Hill is a top pick for 2020 from me and I simply adored every moment spent in the house with Hedy, Spencer, Grandpa and the amazing cast of characters. Learning about TV Rights being sold, it seemed an apt question to ask the authors Mikki and Kelly about their dream casting for the characters! My questions are in bold and their brilliant answers are below those. Do watch the sizzle reel for an idea of what’s to come!

“The House on Hoarder Hill” has captured my heart and my imagination.  I loved the story line, mystery and magic, not to mention my favourite characters of Stan and Doug. 

Hello! And we so love reading the above. And we do have to say that, yes, Doug and Stan will probably become their own hashtags #TeamDoug #TeamStan!

Having found out that TV rights have been sold I am immensely curious as to who you would LOVE to play the characters.  Which celebrities do you think would bring this story to life, especially the main characters but not forgetting the importance of the supporting cast.

Who would voice Stan and Doug and portray their incredibly funny relationship in the best way?

Ohhhh, we go back and forth quite a lot with this question. Unfortunately casting will be out of our hands, but with our book author hats on, we did quite a lot of fantasy casting as we wrote…

Hedy: The most important qualities for Hedy are really intelligence, curiosity and courage. We loved what Emmy Marriot pulled off in our sizzle reel of 3 minutes!   (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thW2Md9s6Ks)

Spencer: Paddy Holland – who also played the part in our sizzle reel. He’s not only talented but brings a natural sense of wonder and innocence to his performance.

Grandpa John: This is a character who has a significant arc, so ideally it will be an actor with incredible range and charisma in very still moments. We’d be thrilled to have any of the following – Sir Ian McKellan, Sir Patrick Stewart, James Cromwell, Roddy McDowall.

Uncle Peter: Whoever plays Uncle Peter will also have to carry some very tricky moments. We love Simon Callow and Owen Teale.

Mr Nobody: Ioan Gruffudd. Who doesn’t want Ioan Gruffudd in their project?

Mrs Vilums: We’re not even entirely sure what age Mrs Vilums is – and it doesn’t really matter. Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helen Mirren all have popped up in our fantasy cast list.  

Soumitra: Dev Patel. Don’t get Kelly started on Dev Patel, she will never shut up about his dynamic hair.

Doug: Doug should have a salt of the earth, gravelly tone. Hi, Ray Winstone or Liam Cunningham!

Stan: We imagined Stan as being more high-brow than Doug. Richard E Grant and Simon Callow’s voices played in our heads.

Of course, the pair of them are very much in the spirit of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets!

Thank you so much for answering my questions about casting! I love your answers and the sizzle reel is AMAZING! Those children are perfect and I love the sense of magic, mystery and wonder shown in the short space of time! This is one to watch over and over again.