The Ink Black Heart
wishcasting and other ideas
Hello, everyone, and thank you for returning! Because I made myself vulnerable with my last post, I decided to reward myself by writing fannish, pop cultural stuff. Naturally, Robert Carlyle will figure in here, but the real star of the show will be the original inspiration behind this Substack: J.K. Rowling.
The Cormoran Strike Series
Ten years ago, back before J.K. Rowling became the hated figure she is now, she wrote a mystery novel that was published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. She wanted to know if her book would be a hit without riding on the coattails of Harry Potter. She never really got to find out because after it received positive reviews and unspectacular sales, somebody leaked the secret, and it became an instant bestseller. Deservedly so. I was never a particular fan of the detective genre, but the “Galbraith” book sold me on it.
“Robert Galbraith” has since published five more books in the same series. The protagonists are detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Robin started off as Strike’s secretary, but he trained her as a detective, and she’s worked her way up to full partner. I think of them as parallels of Harry and Dumbledore. Harry was just a kid when the series started, and Dumbledore was the greatest wizard alive, but by the end, they did a reversal. Dumbledore was literally leaning on Harry.
In addition to the mysteries Strike and Robin solve together, they have a slow-burn romantic arc. Each one has a history to get over, and they’re both reluctant about compromising their detective work, but they’ve got chemistry that refuses to be ignored. It comes through beautifully in the TV adaptation of the series, which stars Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger. Here’s the opening video. The theme song alone is worth listening to.
The Unique Challenge of The Ink Black Heart
The war against J.K. Rowling was in full swing by the time the last two Strike books were published. I’ll only be discussing the most recent one, The Ink Black Heart, but the fight with her former fans seems to have shaped the plot.
The victim of the novel is a cartoon artist who definitely seems like a stand-in for Rowling herself. Like the author, she became an overnight success, enjoyed unexpected wealth and fame, and then watched her fandom turn against her. In the novel, it gets so bad that she is murdered. Critics say the book is J.K.R.’s “revenge” against her haters, but I say they’re reading too much malice into it. The book’s main message is about the toxicity of social media. Any author might want to tackle that theme, given the world we’re living in.
What makes the book unique is that parts of it simulate online chat rooms. The founder of the chat space goes by the name “Anomie.” Everyone participating there is required to use a false name, too, and no photographs are allowed to be exchanged. This sets up a whole bunch of mini-mysteries within the novel. Who is who? How do they match up with the characters Robin and Strike run across in “real life?” The identity of “Anomie” is the biggest mystery of all. Anomie is the presumed murderer.
Reading the chat room conversations took some getting used to. You’ve got to read them vertically for content and then horizontally to understand the timing of who is talking to who and when. It’s like a novel and a logic puzzle rolled into one.
Adapting this for TV is going to be a real challenge, and here is where my fannish speculation begins. I think the producers are going to have to hire some game designers and cartoonists to work with the writers. They’ve got to find a way to keep the screen visually interesting when the story is being told in text. They’ll probably need to add in some cool sound effects, too. I realize they might try to skip the chat rooms altogether, but that wouldn’t do justice to the story.
What would really be amazing is if they’d hire some fan artists to the team. As a fanfic writer, a break like that would be my dream come true. Why not wish it for someone else? There’s certainly a lot of great artwork out there:
Wishcasting for Robert Carlyle
Since I’m no visual artist, that’s about the limit to my ideas for the game/chat room presentation, but you’d better believe I’m wishcasting for Robert Carlyle. I’ve wanted to see him on a C.B. Strike adaptation for a long while, but until this book, none of the roles quite fit.
Reject #1
Originally, I wanted him to play Jonny Rokeby, Strike’s rock star father. Strike barely knows Rokeby, but I was sure we’d “see” him sooner or later. Now I know that if we’re going to see him at all, it’s already later. Six books in and he’s never actually appeared, though he’s often mentioned as backstory. He truly is an absentee father.
Another problem with that role is simply looks. Strike has a half-brother who makes a few appearances. The actor cast in the role has a strong resemblance to Tom Burke. Same dark hair, same blue eyes. Robert Carlyle’s eyes, as any fangirl can tell you, are a deep, melt-worthy brown. He’s also a much smaller man. He’s not believable as Tom Burke’s father.
Reject #2
By the third book, Strike and Robin have become more successful, so they have to hire a third detective. His name is Sam Barclay, and he’s from Glasgow, so that seemed a perfect role, but the character is only in his thirties, and anyway, the role has already been cast by now. Besides, there’s not enough meat to it for Robert Carlyle. Sam is a really likable character, and he provides the comic relief when he banters with Strike, but ultimately, it’s a minor part.
Inigo Upcott - PLEASE!!!
And then came The Ink Black Heart. Robert Carlyle would be ideal as one of the suspects. Strike and Robin question him twice and tail him once. Three scenes may not sound like much, but they’re pivotal to the story. It would take a high caliber actor to pull them off.
The character’s name is Inigo Upcott, and he’s absolutely hateful, but not in a Begbie type of way. He’s wheelchair-bound and acts like a total tyrant to his family. Aside from how brilliantly Robert Carlyle would play him, I’d imagine Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger would be honored to work with him. I also think he’d feel the same about them. All three are highly respected actors in the U.K.
But because of the challenges of the adaptation, it’ll probably be a long wait before we see The Ink Black Heart on screen. If they don’t fudge the chat room parts, it could be ground-breaking. Mixing actors with animation has been done before, and plenty of shows include characters receiving texts, but that’s only for a second or two. This has to be sustained long enough to convey multiple simultaneous conversations, and it has to feel interactive. I sure hope they can do it.
So I’ll be eagerly waiting. Meanwhile, I’ll get my Robert Carlyle fix with “North of Normal,” and the next Strike novel is supposed to come out this autumn. So thanks, everyone, for reading. I hope you enjoyed this post. I sure had fun writing it.