At 20 years old, Joan Didion arrives in New York City helpless and confused, but excited by the new faces and the new parties the city seems to offer. As she thinks back to the time she spent in New York, she recalls the moments of loneliness and disenchantment that led to her return to California. Nevertheless, Didion had always considered her time in the city transient. To channel the nuances between Didion's naivity and sorrow, we nominate bright-eyed and passionate Carey Mulligan.

Didion describes one of her new New York friends with a telling anecdote: "There had been fifteen people in the room. He had already slept with five of the women, and owed money to all but two of the men." Didion's friend is clearly a bit of a bad boy, and a veteran of the New York scene. We nominate sexy and sleek Jack Huston.

Goodbye to All that is an essay about recollection, and we think the film should be narrated by a slightly older Didion. The older Joan Didion is more mature and wise. She has come to terms with her past experiences, and is confident in her own skin. Tilda Swinton is an obvious choice.

There is an underlying melancholy throughout Didion's essay. To evoke just the right tone, we would like to suggest Spike Jones as the biopic's director.

While she only briefly mentions her writing in "Goodbye To All That," we know that New York is where Joan Didion began her career in journalism. She had moved to New York after college, where she had been offered a job at Vogue. We imagine her editor was beautiful, but cruel; fashionable, but cut-throat. In short, a much less pleasant version of Sigourney Weaver.

It is Didion's husband, John Gregory Dunne, who suggests they leave New York shortly after their marriage. Didion sees Dunne as an escape from her depression, and the reason for their relocation to Los Angeles. To play the sympathetic, gentle and loving husband, we nominate Rory Kinnear.