Casting

Tam Lin (Haley)-

I chose Gerard Butler to portray Tam Lin because of Tam Lin's initial introduction on page 63, "I picked up this lot in Scotland... they were thick-necked and brutal, with flattened noses and scars wandering across their arms and faces. They both had curling, brown hair that grew low upon their foreheads, ruddy faces, and bright blue eyes. When Matt looked into Tam Lin's eyes, he was surprised to see a glint of friendliness." Although Gerard Butler isn't as violent looking and battered as Nancy Farmer describes, he fits the criteria nicely with his Scottish heritage, slightly curly brown hair, and friendly-looking blue eyes. 

El Patron (Bryden)-

http://innovationnation.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/old-man-in-sombrero.jpg?w=497&h=279

I think that El Patron looks like this because in the book, they describe him as an old and frail man, who is also very skinny and small because of the deterioration of his 148-year-old body.  I think he looks like this because on page 54, when Matt first meets El Patron, it says, "Matt saw that what he'd taken for an empty armchair actually contained a man. He was extremely thin, with shoulder length white hair neatly combed beside a face so seamed and wrinkled, it hardly seemed real." I think that the closest representation of this would be this man because of his white moustache, skinny figure, and his wrinkled skin.

Matt (Tyler)-

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk2M4m1E3nvnDsFXxzwEIn4ZDZgYAwWinVwPMEej4pPKS0kfa8awQqQ1mS0ZAFel1Hy7I9zSv3KYf9DsjNzUhPcBVBUgpbGgv_jZl8WR2UfDt_dKnAqXCxGKGBJGQkcSQFWnQmTfdNV5m/s200/Matt.jpg

I think Matt looks this way because in chapter 2 on page 5, Farmer says that he is almost six and has wild bushy hair. Also in chapter two on page 9 when first spotted by Steven, Emilia first described him and then tried to contact him. They say that "he is a little tall for his age and has long hair" but I think Farmer purposely didn't describe Matt very much to leave it to the reader to decide what Matt looked like to them.  I think an actor that can play Matt as young boy is the picture on the bottom, and we created a face matching what we think Matt will look like when he is older. 

Tom (Emily)-

 The description of Tom at the bottom of page 44 in the book is, "He was a boy somewhat older than himself, with bristly red hair and freckles." I think Nolan Gould (picture above) looks how I pictured Tom looking in the novel. Nolan Gould has red hair and a few freckles on his face. In this picture he isn't too old or too young to be Tom considering the age of Tom changes quite a bit throughout the book. I think Nolan Gould is a good person to play Tom because I think they look similar and his age matches pretty well.