Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is a publishing juggernaut, and I’m sure that the producers of the film adaptation of One for the Money are hoping that the character’s overwhelming popularity will translate into a big film franchise as well, but predicting the success of book to film adaptations is uneasy at best. Casting the central character is huge, but not everything. Neither a big star or rabid book fan-base guarantees a hit film. So, I’ve made some lists that span various successes, failures and rumors in franchise casting. Good luck Ms. Heigl.

MY FAVORITES:

- Paul Newman as Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer (though in the films he’s 'Lew Harper') in Harper, The Drowning Pool and Twilight (oh, this absolutely is a third Harper film even if it’s not based on a MacDonald book and the character’s name is changed again – this time it’s Harry Ross. Ross, as in Ross MacDonald, get it? Shut up, it does so count.)

- Lee Marvin as Richard Stark’s Parker in Point Blank (again with the name changes 'Walker')

- Elliott Gould as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe in Long Goodbye

- Casey Affleck as Dennis Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie in Gone Baby Gone

- Fred Ward as Charles Willeford’s Hoke Moseley in Miami Blues

ONE ROLE, MULTIPLE FACES:

- Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley (Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, John Malkovich)

- Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe (Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Elliot Gould, James Caan)

- Ian Fleming’s James Bond (Sean Connery, David Niven, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, George Lazenbi, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig)

- Richard Stark’s Parker (Lee Marvin, Daniel Ivernel, Jim Brown, Robert Duval, Peter Coyote, Mel Gibson and next up: Jason Statham - yup, and he'll be the first character to bear the name ‘Parker’ after Marvin’s 'Walker', Brown's 'McClain', Ivernel's 'Edgar', Duval’s 'Macklin',Coyote's 'Stone' and Gibson’s ‘Porter’, though interestingly, Taylor Hackford’s upcoming film is based on the character and, for the first time, not a specific book in the Parker series)

- James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux (Alec Baldwin, Tommy Lee Jones)

- Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck)

- Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer (Biff Elliot, Ralph Meeker, Robert Bray, Stacey Keach, Armand Assante - even Mick himself)

- John Le Carre’s George Smiley (Alec Guinness, Gary Oldman)

- Elmore Leonard’s Raylan Givens (James LeGros, Timothy Olyphant – how cool was it to see LeGros appear in Justified's Second Season? Nice casting, I thought)

- Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, Richard Chamberlain and supposedly the film franchise will continue – not reboot – with Jeremy Renner not in the Bourne role, but still carrying the series? Wait, I’m confused)

ONE AND OUT:

- Jeff Bridges as Matthew Scudder in 8 Million Ways to Die (from Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways to Die)

- Kathleen Turner as V.I. Warshawski in V.I. Warshawski (from Sara Paretsky's novels)

- James Woods as Lloyd Hopkins in Cop (from James Ellroy’s Blood on the Moon)

- Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins in Devil in a Blue Dress (from Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress)

- Mark Wahlberg as Bob Lee Swagger in Shooter (from Stephen Hunter’s Point of Impact)

TWO WAS ONE TOO MANY:

- Chevy Chase as Irwin Fletcher in Fletch and Fletch Lives (from the Gregory Macdonald books)

- John Travolta as Chili Palmer in Get Shorty and Be Cool (from the Elmore Leonard books)

- Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons (from the Dan Brown books)

RUMORS:

- Tom Cruise is Lee Child’s Jack Reacher in One Shot? (confirmed, but I thought he’d be taller)

- Samuel L. Jackson is Roger Smith’s Disaster Zondi in Mixed Blood? (Gosh, I hope so)

- Leonardo DiCaprio is John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee? (been a long time, I doubt it’s happening)

- Billy Bob Thornton is Kinky Friedman’s er Kinky Friedman? (too much fun to actually work)

- Melissa Leo is Sophie Littlefield’s Stella Hardesty in A Bad Day for Sorry? (let’s make this happen!)

- Joe Don Baker and Ving Rhames are Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard in Mucho Mojo ? (okay, now I'm just making them up)

Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.