"Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying" would make a great teenage coming-of-age story.

 For casting the main trio in the story, I tried to cast fairly young actors for the main three, as they were high schoolers in the story and the best coming-of-age films take place in the midst of the teenage years. I also chose Asian-American actors, as their Korean identity is essential to the plot. I did attempt to find Korean-American actors, but after skimming cast lists of other films and shows featuring a Korean main character, I learned that Hollywood does not strictly specify ethnicity.

An example of this is Lana Condor, who will be portraying Ronnie in my adaptation. She was previously cast as Lara Jean in All The Boys I’ve Loved Before - Lara being half Korean and Lana being Vietnamese. Despite that, I found her character in the movie very stereotypical and not too striking to take away from the greater plot. I found this behavior very similar to Ronnie, who, for the most part of the story leading up to her climax, was not particularly drawing.

Lana Condor as Ronnie

For the other two, Mini and Caroline, I cast Stephanie Hsu and Lola Tung respectively. Stephanie Hsu played the daughter, known as Tubaki, in Everything Everywhere All At Once. I found this role to seem very edgy and “camp,” which captures the description of the gothic and almost edgy character of Mini. For Caroline, I cast Lola Tung, who is well known for her role as Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP). I chose Lola because she has a “softer” face which makes her seem kinder and “perfect,” like Caroline. Her character in TSITP also has many moments where she acts a bit overbearing. I took this into consideration after Mini and Ronnie pointed out Caroline’s occasionally “annoying” personality. 

Stephanie Hsu as Mini

Lola Tung as Caroline

In the text, they don’t think they explicitly mentioned a physical setting and if they did, it was not impactful to the plot. I imagined it to take place in a suburban town in the Midwest. From what we know, there are enough Asians to successfully hold a Korean-adoptee meet-up, but not enough for the main three to feel “in place.” I also like the idea of (at least one of) them residing in a stereotypical suburban home - not overly large but large enough to host a few of your friends over without it being uncomfortable. 

During the story, they mention the idea of school, such as when they talk about their social dynamics and how they wouldn’t be friends at school. However, I don’t think it was that relevant to the plot, and with everything else going on I think this story would be best set in the summer leading up to another school year, such as late July and early August. 

On top of all of the Asian-American angst in this story, I think a great song that fits with many scenes is Drunk Walk Home by Mitski. I truly cannot describe this song and capture the emotion it portrays. While I would love to have this song for multiple scenes, I think it would best fit Ronnie's resolve, where she decides to ask Mom for her strength and decides to forge her own life, beginning with ending her relationship with Alex.