Ash Q&A #1: Would you agree to let ASH be made into a movie?

A while ago, I asked for interesting questions about Ash, with the idea that I would write up a post interviewing myself with these questions. Well, let me just say that some of the questions are so interesting that they deserve a blog post of their own! So, instead of torturing myself by trying to do a whole gigantic huge Q&A all at once, I'm going to answer a couple of these questions at a time. So without further ado, here is this week's question!

Melissa from Pittsburgh asks: If you were ever approached by someone who wanted to turn ASH into a major motion picture, would you agree to let it be made? If so, who do you imagine would play the lead characters? If not, why not?

I am really tickled by how many people have been asking me about an Ash movie, but Melissa from Pittsburgh's questions came first, and I think they bring out a few issues I want to explore in more detail.

The short answer is: It depends.

The longer answer is: Having worked as an entertainment reporter (and specifically covered movies about queer women) for several years, I am skeptical that a movie of Ash would ever be made. But weirder things have happened, so I suppose it's a possibility. If the right offer came along, I'd definitely consider it.

What would go in that "right" offer? Well, I know that most authors who sell their film rights have little input into the actual film that gets made. This makes sense to me because a book is a fundamentally different experience than a movie. I think of them as two entirely separate entities. I don't really have any desire to take up screenwriting, so a "right" offer would have nothing to do with my penning the script. A "right" offer, I think, would have to do with casting.

It's not that I have specific ideas about which actors to cast in the roles of Ash, Kaisa, etc. But there are a couple of qualities in the characters that I would strongly prefer to see in any film version.

The actor who plays Ash must be Asian. She could be biracial (Asian and Caucasian, Asian and Latina, etc.), but she should be visibly of Asian descent.
Kaisa must be portrayed as butch. I actually hesitated to even write that knowing how many inaccurate stereotypes are associated with that word, but seriously, that's what she is. She has short hair; she doesn't wear dresses; she has a somewhat masculine energy about her. I also see Kaisa as Asian (or biracial, with her green eyes), but I'd compromise. I'd accept a Caucasian actor in the role as long as Kaisa retained her butchness. Sometimes Hollywood interprets that as "androgynous" (à la Shane on The L Word), which I guess I would be OK with, but I would hate the movie if Kaisa turned out to be a long-haired femme. I would really, really hate it. (OK, if Angelina Jolie took the role, I'd deal with it!)

If those two requirements were met, I would be really interested in seeing a movie made of Ash. Now, I think the actual chance of this happening is about 0.001%, but it's fun to contemplate. :)