Casting OSCAR WAO

Last night at book club we discussed Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO. The group consensus was that if it should take Junot Diaz another 10 years to write a book, then we will stay upon his leisure.

Very briefly, it's not often that I finish a book and immediately want to read it again. When I shut OSCAR WAO I felt like, while the story was over, my acquaintance with Oscar, the nerdy and frustrated title character growing up Dominican in Paterson, New Jersey, was just beginning. The book is written in a style which lends itself to re-reading because it's so dense with cultural allusions, some of which I'm sure I missed in the first pass. If I could compare its style to any other books, I would say it's ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE meets MICROSERFS -- without particularly resembling either one of those.

Anyway, I threw out at the meeting that we should try to cast the forthcoming Miramax adaptation, before realizing how little I knew about Dominican-American actors. Since the author and most of the characters in the book are Dominican it would be neat to cast with that in mind, although Hollywood is not always very sensitive to this. (Remember the controversy over "Memoirs of a Geisha" and its pan-Asian cast?) Well, I did my homework and here's what I've got:

Victor Rasuk as Oscar -- I saw Rasuk in a little indie flick called "Raising Victor Vargas" and he really delivered in it. I believe he was in "Stop-Loss" as well although I didn't see it. He'll have to gain weight for the part, though, because a comedic fat suit won't do the trick.
Judy Reyes (Carla on "Scrubs") stepping out of her comedic bubble to play Oscar's sister Lola.
Wilson Jermaine Heredia, from the original cast of "Rent," as Yunior. He's played a transvestite, now let's see if he can play macho.
Zoe Saldana as young Beli
Cam'ron the rapper as The Gangster
Cameo: Oscar de la Renta as Abelard 'cause why not?
and Michelle Rodriguez playing way, way outside type as Ybón (whose role in the book is kind of a spoiler, so I will leave it there).

There are some major holes in this cast, so if you have any ideas for minor characters, let me know.