If I had some cinema know-how and a ton of money...

The Pact by Jodi Picoult was made into a movie by Lifetime back in 2002, but I really don’t think the film adaptation did the book justice. They changed major parts of the plot and the way it was organized. The actors who played the characters seemed off—even Megan Mullally (crazy Karen Walker from Will and Grace) who was cast to play one of the major character’s mothers. This movie was a downright disappointment. 

But maybe I’m a bit biased. After all, if you read a book before it's made into the movie, you go into it with high expectations, and you’re bound to be a little disappointed.

So if I had the chance, I would make this movie a little differently. First, I would have followed Picoult’s original narrative. This book is all about timing. It sets the viewer up with one story (the present) that parallels the backstory (the past) until the two ultimately meet in the middle. Done right, this would be great in film format. 

As for the plot, Christopher Harte is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Emily. But Chris claims that the night Emily died, they had agreed to carry out a suicide pact. Forensic analysis tells a different story, though. Chris’s fingerprints were found on the trigger Emily supposedly used. So he's hauled off to jail, awaiting trial, while his and Emily’s families are torn at the seams.

I would cast Emile Hirsch (the guy from Into the Wild, Lords of Dogtown) to play Chris. I think he would give Chris an edge that stays true to the character, but he’ll give the role a vitality that’s innate to Hirsch as an actor. As for Emily, I think Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks, Scooby Doo… she’s Velma!) would play her well. Emily is a multi-faceted character and the face she shows to the world isn’t necessarily true to the way she feels inside. Emily hides her traumas from her loved ones and the actress who plays her has to take on both the character's subtleties and extremes.

No doubt, Nicole Kidman would be perfect for the role of Emily’s mother, Mel. Mel becomes depressed (for good reason, her daughter died) and strangely unsettled. Kidman could play this role with ease. As for Chris’s mother, Gus, I would cast Catherine Keener (40-Year-Old Virgin, Being John Malkovich). I always pictured Gus as the free-spirit type and Keener has this hippie vibe to her that, in my mind, characterizes Gus. As for the fathers, I’d consider Steve Martin a good fit to play Michael and Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List) as James. As for the setting, I always pictured a medium-sized town in a woody, semi-rural/semi-suburban area.

The Pact is a story about family, about hope lost and hope found. It moved me when I read it and a good film adaptation could move audiences, too, I’m sure.