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I'm a writer in the scheme of things. Outside of the scheme of things I don't know what I am. After living my life like an intense, racy, and savage novel--I wrote one. With a literary bite!
Hey! I'm Charles Casillo. Author of "THE FAME GAME." The sexy novel about the climb of a lethally ambitious, preternaturally beautiful (if self-destructive) supermodel named Mikki Britten. She crosses path with Mario, a sultry and equally ambitious male prostitue and Carla Christaldi,the fiendish daughter of a high profile movie director. The knives start flying fast and furious as the scheme and double cross their way up the dirty show business ladder. Sex. Fashion. Makeup. Murder. The unconventional characters and their lives are trashy, but the book is not. This is a realistic and merciless satire on the pop culture, fame-obsessed world we live in.
I started my career years ago as a model and then an actor and then spent many years as an entertainment journalist. I used my experiences in this novel but it was also fueled by my emotions and who I am. One realization I came to when talking about myself lately (and writing about me too) is that I have always been a conspicuous person--meaning that I don't blend in the crowd. It used to make me uncomfortable and embarrassed without knowing why. It added to my already ultra-sensitivity. Even going back to the days of the nuns in Catholic school. They were either very fond of me or I was despised and tormented. Today it's the same. Very few people feel neutral about me. I've learned to accept this. And even live with it. The only thing that bothers me sometimes is that I like being a fly on the wall and it would nice to be benign sometimes. I've managed, sometimes, at parties or in a crowded bar, to fade my intensity to be a mere curiosity--languishing in corners, waiting, watching. It's in those corners I do a lot of my writing.
I've always liked people, was interested in them. Sometimes I'll observe a stranger, quietly, and feel tremendous connection and love. As I've said, I've been cursed (or blessed) with an acute sensitivity and inferiority complex which did not start to leave me until very recently. As a result I've had knives put in my back. I've learned to remove them and rub away the wound. Now I take people more on a one on one basis. Always willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but somewhat skeptical. The trick is to try and keep a sense of humor about everything.
I have a myspace page where I talk more about myself...this one is mostly about my latest project, "THE FAME GAME." But,well, since so much of who I am is my work...this is a good place to start as an introduction to me. I've always been interested in Hollywood and glamour but for some reason, lately, I am fascinated by the nature of fame today. The current tabloid culture and the world's absolute obsession with celebrity--reading about others and trying to become one themselves. A few decades ago people were obsessed with becoming noticed for creating a great work or some wonderful achievement or some contribution. Today people want to get on television. They'll parade their perversions on Dr. Phil or talk about their misdeeds on Oprah all for a few moments of screen time. I've always been an admirer of talent but this new obsession with fame for fame's sake freaked me out for a while. I've come to terms with it now--this is the state of the world created by talk shows and reality television--but it took me a while.My latest novel, The Fame Game, is written from an emotional place in me. My gut reaction to pop culture madness. I worked in the entertainment world in NYC and Los Angeles and this book is distilled from the people I knew and the experiences I had (or read about). The psychologically damaged decadents, corrupted members of the entertainment elite, and cracked-up wannabes from the world of show business. Fear, deception, ambition, beauty, lust, ugliness, brilliance, mistrust...and an insatiable hunger for more. These are the things I've seen and exerienced and I infuse them in my characters like an infection.
I was born in New York and lived and worked there early in my career as an actor and a model and later as a writer in both NYC and Los Angeles. "The Fame Game" is based on the gorgeous wannabes and sleazy agents and faded stars and sexy supermodels that I met along the way. In her column Liz Smith called me the new Jacqueline Susann. Well, it's a racy read with plenty of sex, booze, drugs and glamour. And because of that the media has been calling THE FAME GAME a modern day VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. I'm happy with the comparision--even though I look at as a sardonic satire with some literary bite about the absurdity of fame today. People becoming famous for gimmicks rather than accomplishments--and being totally content with that. So far Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Mario Lopez have been linked to a movie version.
The press release reads as follows, my dears: THE FAME GAME by CHARLES CASILLO***"Any similarities between any persons, living or dead, and the characters in THE FAME GAME are unintentionally intentional.****Every season there is one novel that becomes the most sizzling, must-read book of the day. The Fame Game--Charles Casillo’s epic, show business saga—is the real deal, a true literary event that is sure to be the most talked about book of the year.Remove from your mind the slick, Hollywood, press release type stories glamorizing the rise of contemporary stars. THE FAME GAME tells the dirty truth of how desperate people really play to make it. Not since "Valley of the Dolls" has the merciless climb up the show business ladder been so deliciously and originally chronicled. The modern day “dolls” in The Fame Game are an alluring female model, a vapid director’s daughter, and a sexy male prostitute, each with an insatiable appetite for celebrity—all grasping, climbing, clawing, and backstabbing their way to stardom. They will stop at nothing—not even murder—for one moment in the spotlight. Each character pushes away their fears and vulnerabilities as they traipse through all the venues in popular culture that lead to stardom: Manhattan’s modeling world, the publishing scene, and of course Hollywood’s A-List movie arena. THE FAME GAME is a big, glitzy commercial thing, yet it contains enough contemporary satire, weird sexuality, and literary prose to bring the novel into a league of its own. Like a long blind item, the novel has the feel of a tell-all memoir, brilliantly weaving tabloid-like anecdotes with a cast of sordid characters that will keep you guessing, “Who’s that supposed to be?” The book explores the modern obsession with celebrity—a world where gimmick has replaced talent. Fame for the sake of fame, rather than accomplishment. And the quest for celebrity has never been so juicy. Or so dangerous.Meet Mikki Britten. Smoldering, gorgeous, she’s got the heat, the talent, and the drive. A promising model, she just needs the right people to open the right doors…and she’ll have the acting career she’s desperately craved. She’ll play dirty to win.Meet Carla Christaldi. She’s the troubled daughter of famed Hollywood director Jonathan Christaldi. All Carla wants is to make it on her own merit. All she’s missing is that magical “spark” that makes people take instant notice. She’d deceive anyone to win. Meet Mario DeMarco. The sultry hustler with an idea for a screenplay--he’s the guy who has cruised through life on his looks, whether it’s bedding someone for love or money. All he’s ever wanted is recognition for the talents that lay beyond the bedroom. He’d barter his soul to win.* Take one fateful party…toss in a chance meeting…stir in a startling betrayal…and suddenly the game has begun—a ruthless sport where the rules are constantly changing The exploits of the bewitching main character, Mikki Britten, the lethally ambitious model and actress, will certainly appeal to the masses. Dripping with sardonic New York attitude, and laced with the seductive glamour of Hollywood, Charles Casillo’s The Fame Game is a hip, modern-day cautionary tale of just how much our dreams can cost us.***
CHARLES CASILLO--aka me--is the author of the novel, "The Marilyn Diaries" and the biography "Outlaw: The Lives and Careers of John Rechy." He describes The Fame Game as “chick lit with a dick, because it is written by a guy—me!” After penning a fictionalized recreation of the lost diary of Marilyn Monroe and the authorized biography of Rechy, the infamous hustler and writer, it’s only natural that Casillo’s new book is brimming with sex, intrigue and characters with an insatiable appetite for more. He has worked in New York and Los Angeles as a model, actor, and entertainment journalist. “I know these people,” he says of the characters in The Fame Game. Casillo is a good speaker on the subject of the current obsession with fame and the frantic modern day quest for celebrity. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, New York Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times.