I picked this book up because I love a mythical retelling, and it was pretty fun. The entire time I was reading this book, I kept trying to think about the casting, because I think it would be a fun movie or miniseries. And because I’m a sucker for polytheistic, supernatural beings being forced to live in the modern world.
Gods Behaving Badly finds the Olympian gods trapped in a house in London in the 20th century. They have lost much of their power, and only have enough to keep the world going, the sun rising, the moon… rising?, love blooming.
However, most of the gods are not made for a mortal life. Especially Apollo, god of the sun, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. Their fickle and self-centered personalities wreak havoc on the mortals they meet. And, one day, Aphrodite decides to teach Apollo a lesson. She has her son, Eros (cupid), shoot an arrow into his heart and he falls in love with a rather ordinary cleaner. He cannot figure out why she doesn’t love him back, but he does his best to woo her. All the while, is there a secret hero in Alice’s life who could be her salvation?!?
Maybe.
But let’s get to the casting:
Aphrodite – Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Apollo – Mat Bomer
Artemis – Janelle Monae
Eros – Mena Massoud
Alice – Zooey Deutch
Neil – Dev Patel
Zeus – Antonio Banderas
Hera – Lucy Liu
Ares – Michael B. Jordan
Hermes – Rico Rodriguez
Hephaestus – Dave Bautista
Dionysus – Jack Black