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Cassie Dandridge Selleck

Leesburg native’s acclaimed first novel has been optioned into a movie.

STORY: THERESA CAMPBELL ≈ PHOTO: ANTHONY RAO

uthor Cassie Dandridge Selleck is living a writer’s dream. BCDF Pictures has purchased the lm rights to the Leesburg native’s rst novel, “The Pecan Man,” a drama Director So Yong Kim praises as an essential story that should be told cinematically. “What drew me to the material was its deeply felt humanity and the strong female characters who are richly drawn,” the director told Variety magazine. “I’m excited to bring their story to the screen.”

“The Pecan Man” tells the story of a small 1970s southern town after a homeless black man is hastily and falsely charged with the fatal stabbing of the police chief’s son. A white widow and her black housekeeper struggle with what they know of the crime that turns the whole town upside down.

Cassie says it was exciting to get the call about “The Pecan Man” becoming a lm.

“My mother, Patty Dandridge, was in her last days when I rst got the call about the option. She was thrilled they wanted to make a movie of the book and she wanted me to tell them to get Jean Smart to play Ora Lee. Of course, I have no control over casting, but I’ll never forget her face as she was talking about that. As for the movie, it has been a constant source of amazement to me that my story has gone as far as it has; I still have to pinch myself. I’m looking forward to seeing my characters come to life on the screen. I write cinematically, and I always imagined it as a movie, but really…who would imagine those dreams would come true?”

Cassie, who now lives in Mayo, Florida, says the movie was stalled because of COVID-19, but there’s hope lming will begin this year. “They are working on casting again.”

Her novel has been selected by book clubs across America, taught in high school classrooms in the U.S. and London, and translated in two foreign countries. Cassie also has penned “The Truth About Grace,” “What Matters in Mayhew,” and “The Mayhew Junction Historical Society.”

The author credits an elementary teacher for inspiring her to write as a young child. “My secondgrade teacher, Mrs. Jean Miller at Skeen Elementary in Leesburg, told me I was a writer, so I’ve been writing as long as I knew how to hold a pencil,” says Cassie. “It just took a while for me to have the con dence to pursue it as a career.”

never forget her face as she was talking about that. As for the movie, it has been a constant source of amazement to me that my story has gone as far as it has; I still have to pinch myself. I’m looking forward to seeing my characters come to life on the screen. I write cinematically, and I always imagined it as a movie, but really…who would imagine those dreams

Cassie, who now lives in Mayo, Florida, says the movie was stalled because of COVID-19, but there’s hope lming will begin this year. “They are working on

Her novel has been selected by book clubs across America, classrooms in the U.S. and London, and translated in two foreign countries. Cassie also has penned “The Truth an elementary teacher for inspiring her to write as a young child. “My secondgrade teacher, Mrs. Jean writing as long as I knew how to hold a pencil,” says Cassie. “It just took a while for me to have the con dence to pursue it as a career.”

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