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Casting Call: Ghost

Never underestimate the power of a haircut. Demi Moore's bowl-cut crop in the film was a perfect balance of early '90s androgyny and her character Molly's waif-like emotional vulnerability. Jennifer Lawrence's recent pixie cut is probably  more low-maintenance than symbolic, but we're sure that even the hair can act. Although Lawrence usually does gravitate towards pluckier leads, we seriously doubt her Molly would lapse into a damsel in distress.

When Sam Wheat is shot dead, his love for Molly trumps death's usual get-out-of-jail free card for unresolved mortal dilemmas, and allows him to live on as a ghost until danger is averted. As a performer-turned-actor like Patrick Swayze before him, Channing Tatum's hulking good looks led to Prince Charming-like leads in films ranging from romantic dramas (Dear John), tween blockbusters (She's the Man), and pure unadulterated action (almost everything else), which he approaches with an uncomplicated earnestness. After seeing him play a male stripper in the vaguely autobiographical Magic Mike, we're convinced no one could recreate Ghost's famous erotic pottery scene as well as Tatum.

 

If he's still in the acting biz when the pilot season comes around, we think Jared Leto's feral good looks would be just menacing enough as Carl's hit man, Willie Lopez. The role would likely come as second nature, as Leto played a similar brand of cornrowed home intruder in David Fincher's Panic Room, and coincidentally played Matthew McConaughey's friend/business assistant in Dallas Buyers Club.

Like Vincent Schiavelli, who played the poltergeist in the original film, Bill Hader is unusually tall. Hader has an uncanny grin, but his closest tie to the Poltergeist that died on the New York subway tracks is his coverage of New York's most underground, perverse, and exclusive nightclubs. Pushed to his death in front of a subway? That's just what the cool kids do.

With the title role in this year's Identity Thief under her belt, the role of a fraudulent medium who discovers serious psychic powers would be perfect for Melissa McCarthy, whose sense of the absurd spans a dynamic range. Whether sassy, authoratative, or heartfelt, McCarthy always cranks a performance all the way to 11. The banter that would flow between ex-con artist Oda Mae Brown and Sam, the martyr for financial honesty, would verge on priceless.

Golden curls, perpetual tan, crooked grin remain... thankfully, Matthew McConaughey stopped being the romantic comedy dream date (ew) in 2009. Dazed and Confused-era McConaughey is back, and David "just keep livin'" Wooderson's slightly sleazey, slightly charming moral ambiguity is exactly what we're looking for in our Carl. Murder, betrayal, and corruption will all come in due time, and McConaughey's indulgently drawling Southern accent would push the suspense over the edge.