I am presently in discussions for marketing the screenplay of my novel.  As the visual representation of my story becomes eminent I have begun to consider what I find appealing in  films that feature romance.

My definition of " romantic" is : a passionate longing.  As with reality, the more thwarted the physical longing, dangerous, and evocative the setting, the more intense the romantic experience. With this in mind, I hope to create a visually  lush, sensuous, and dangerous romantic love story.

My favorites are in no particular order, although Casablanca, Gone with the Wind and Dr. Zhivago are universally accepted as the top romantic films of all time. I have tried to pick films of different times and genres to give a broad overview.

1. Casablanca

2. Dr. Zhivago

3. Ryan's Daughter

4. Mrs. Soffel

5. Bonnie and Clyde

6. A Summer Place

7. A Walk on the Moon

8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

9. Reds

10. The Postman Always Rings Twice

11. The Last of the Mohicans

12. Titanic

13. The Graduate

14. From Here to Eternity

15. Queen Margot

16. An Officer and a Gentleman

17. Urban Cowboy

18. Out of Africa

19. Brokeback Mountain

20. The Big Easy

21.  Pride and Prejudice

22. Romeo and Juliet

23. Shakespeare in Love

24. Mountains of the Moon

25. The Age of Innocence

26. The Summer of '42

27. The Way We Were

28. Unfaithful

29. A Room with a View

30. Chocolat

31. Legends of the Fall

32. Gone with the Wind

33. Dirty Dancing

34. Dangerous Beauty

35. The Year of Living Dangerously

36. Love Story

37. The English Patient

38. Tristan and Isolde

39. Persuasion

40. Wuthering Heights

41. Swept From the Sea

42. The Phantom of the Opera

43. Dances with Wolves

44. Against All Odds

45. Body Heat

46. Splendor in the Grass

47. The Notebook

48. Revenge

49. The French Lieutenant's Woman

50. Atonement

A producer recently asked me for my shortlist of actors to play the alpha male characters in my novel. As I pondered this "difficult" task I began to look over the males in film that made an impact with their masculinity and were also able to be vulnerable in expressing romance and passion. I came up with a very short list, then wrote down my choices of the top contemporary and classic actors that have filled this daunting task.

Ramey Sandeley is the hero of The House on Black Lake. He enters the book/film smelling of burnt flesh, fresh from branding animals with his own custom tools. He can ride a horse like a native, has been taught to hunt wild game in the Serengetti, is the heir to a fortune in land and real estate in Montreal, is highly educated, and a successful entrepreneur in his own right. To add to this cache are extraordinary good looks,  a strong, athletic frame, straight white teeth, and lustrous gold flecked dark hair. He is married to stunning red head, Ruth Sandeley, and the father of five children. I did not entirely make up this man, he does exist, although I did combine a few men I've met to make him just right. Ramey is in his forties, and like Dorian Gray has not yet begun to show his age.

I believe the right actor to play Ramey has likely not yet been discovered, but if I had to choose then these men could likely fill his custom shoes:

1.  Clive Owen

2. Eric Bana

3. Dylan McDermott

Rock god Georgie La Pointe is Ramey's cousin and has also inherited wealth, power, and influence. However, he is a a supreme narcissist who never dates a woman more than once, and grooms his hair by peering into the eyes of his admirers. Most notably he makes love to recordings of his own bellowing baritone. My first choice of actors are:

1. Johnny Depp

2. Chris Hemsworth

3. Daniel Craig

4. Tom Hardy

Many alpha male roles are filled by males who are only playing a part. They are poseurs, pretty boys, muscle bound oafs, or Peter Pan types. A true alpha spirit cannot be recreated, the drive lies in the soul of the actor. The top 25 sexiest, most romantic (true) alpha male film actors (in random order):

Contemporary Film:

1. Mel Gibson - If you look back at his body of work (especially early in his career) he is a master of sexy maculinity mixed with aching vulnerability

2. Laim Neeson  - same with Mel, but bigger than life

3.  Russell Crowe - hit or miss, but he does deliver when required, i.e. "Gladiator"

4. Heath Ledger - his best was yet to come

5. Clive Owen - "Camelot" brought it all together

6.  Gerard Butler - "The Phantom of the Opera" and "300" were enough for a lifetime

7. Eric Bana - "Troy" was the beginning, but his potential has only been touched

8. Daniel Craig - A dark and brooding blonde is beautiful to behold. He can nail a seductive look like no other

9. Richard Gere - Sexiest kisser of all time

10. Ian McShane - Now nearly into his seventies and still killer sexy and romantic in a cruel sort of way

11. Tatum Channing - the most alpha/romantic of younger actors

12. Robert Redford - "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Three Days of the Condor", and "The Way We Were" make him an icon of the sexy alpha romantic and he still delivers, now into his 70's.

13. Dominic West - "The Wire" established him as the quntissential "bad boy", "300" placed him on throne of sexiest villain in film.

14. Brad Pitt - More pretty boy than true alpha, but he is cast in the role more than any other actor

15. Denzel Washington - The perfect combination of vulnerability and tough male sex appeal.

Top Ten Classic Film Actors:

1. Cary Grant - Smooth, sexy, romantic, but still strong and alpha in a classy way

2. Steve Mcqueen - Daniel Craig takes on the  legacy of this golden man

3. Clint Eastwood - Gorgeous in his younger days and that steel gling melted to raw passion with the right woman

4. John Wayne - "The Duke" is an iconic legend of powerful masculinity mixed with integrity

5. Gary Cooper - Both laconic and boldly masculine

6. Robert Mitchum - They don't make men like him anymore

7. Clark Gable - He was the original "man's man and ladie's man"

8. Spencer Tracy - Both romantic and domineering

9. Gregory Peck - He owned his masculity completely, with no need to give more than he desired or was required

10. Marlon Brando - a beautiful specimen, boldy sexual and animalistic with a dark river of vulnerability and a sadness about him that made him riveting as an actor