Who should play J.D. Salinger in the upcoming biopic?

Ryan Gosling, who bears some resemblance to J.D. Salinger, has acting chops and a swoon quotient that translate to ticket sales.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Leonardo DiCaprio has played a variety of literary figures -- Jay Gatsby, Romeo, Arthur Rimbaud -- as well as excelling in biopics as Howard Hughes and J. Edgar Hoover. But he might be too busy filming the just-announced biopic of President Woodrow Wilson to make time for Salinger.  (Warner Bros. Pictures / Associated Press)

Jesse Eisenberg, the Oscar-nominated star of “The Social Network,” has proved his range with a slew of small indie films.  (Ettore Ferrari / EPA)

Ben Affleck will be the next Batman, and he won an Oscar for screenwriting. So why not Salinger?  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has done comedic films and action movies -- and he founded the collaborative creative company, hitRECord, which makes films and books.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Alexander Skarsgard became popular thanks to his role on the series “True Blood,” which was a literary adaptation (in addition to being a sexy show about vampires).   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Admittedly, James Franco is a little more comfortable in the limelight than J.D. Salinger was, but he’s already played poets Allen Ginsberg and Hart Crane, has optioned a number of books, has written a short story collection and a memoir, and is behind the upcoming adaptation of William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying.” Salinger, Franco: It just might happen.  (Andrew Medichini / Associated Press)