Cassie Clare discusses reception to Robert Sheehan as Simon

Cassandra Clare said that she has received overall positive feedback with the casting of Misfits star Robert Sheehan. The actor, who is set to pay Clary's best friend Simon Lewis, is the most recent to be announced for the new Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. The movie begins filming on August 15 in Toronto.

Robert Sheehan will star as Simon Lewis in the
upcoming Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

"I haven’t run across much negativity," Cassie said on Tumblr today. "Robbie’s probably the best-received piece of casting we’ve had. I guess what I would say is that first, there’s always an adjustment period, when you adjust your mental image of the character (and everyone’s mental image of a character is different) to encompass what a cast actor looks like. It doesn’t have to replace your mental image. You just sort of mentally accept the actor as a version. That seems to be 99.9% of people’s process."

Cassie explains that most people didn't imagine that Sheehan was the Simon they saw while reading the books. "Until we replace actors with the human equivalent of Dr. Who’s psychic paper, where you look at it and see whatever you want to see, there will never be total consensus about what a fictional character looks like or whether an actor matches them. Especially if you’ve gotten attached to a piece of fancasting. All that goes away when you actually see the actor acting the part, because the acting is actually what matters. (Obviously, if they suck, that’s a whole different story, but Robbie is a fantastic actor and I think that’s a large part of the why the response to him was so positive. You tend to trust people who’ve given great previous performances.)"

When asked what scenes Sheehan did with Lily and Jamie, Cassie spilled the details.

"Two scenes with just Simon and Clary, one where he first meets Jace, and the one where he catches Jace and Clary kissing in the hallway," the author explained.

City of Bones will be released on August 23, 2013. Cassandra Clare is at at signing today at Rhinebeck, New York with authors Sarah Rees Brennan and Holly Black.