Have you ever read a book and thought - that would make a great film ?
So tell me, what books have you read that you thought should be made into a feature film.
It can be fact or fiction, but please don’t suggest The Joy of Cooking or similar. That would be a recipe for disaster.
And say why you would like to see it. Maybe you think it would be a challenge to the film makers to try
to portray the book as a film. An example of that would be E.E. ‘Doc’ Smiths Lensman series. Although there has been an attempt to make an animated version of it see here. Anyone seen it ?
I’d like to see that done. The challenge of how to convey telepathic conversation convincingly must be difficult. No doubt someone will give me an example of that process being shown in a movie.
There was a book I remember from childhood that would make IMHO a great childrens film. The book was The Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton, about two children who acquire a chair that grows wings and transports them to lots of magical places.
This enchanting novel was a stunning departure from his best known work, “Remains of the Day” but would make a fascinating movie. With its hazy, ambiguous tone and surreal narrative, it would take a fabulous filmmaker to do it justice. The result would be a dreamlike (or nightmarish) film, full of humor, mystery, and intrigue – But I don’t know who would want to see the film other than myself.
I always hoped someone would do a really good film of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. It’s got lots of potential – ample opportunities for cool special effects, severed heads, plenty of nudity, an interpolated story set in the Jerusalem of Jesus’ time, a black cat the size of a pig that cries out for state of the art CGI work, someone gets to play Satan, etc. – but as the Soviet era of Russian history recedes in the rear-view mirror, the time left in which a satire on Soviet society will make any sense to any part of the audience is waning (if not already past).
I’d love for someone to take another crack at Jim Thompson’sThe Killer Inside Me; the 1976 version starring Stacy Keach is without doubt the worst adaptation of a Thompson novel ever made – how you manage to screw up material that good is beyond me.
Donald Hays’ The Dixie Association would make quite a good little baseball movie, though it’s been so long since it was first published that it’s unlikely to ever happen. The baseball novel I’d really like to see filmed, however, is even older: Mark Harris’ The Southpaw – you’d think that the success of Harris’ Bang the Drum Slowly would have made someone want to film the first book in Harris’ series of novels about pitcher Henry Wiggen, but no one has.
I would love to see Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress given a fair shake in the theater. I’m hard pressed to think of a book that combines classic sci-fi themes, rollicking action and thought-provoking ideas more effectively. And considering that it is a story set primarily on the lunar surface, written before the Apollo moon landings, it has worn extremely well.
Then again, after witnessing the indignities the movie industry heaped upon The Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers maybe they shouldn’t even bother trying.
lobley I posted in This thread
about the two DVDs that have been made from Pratchett books.
It’s probable that you saw it already if you are a big Pratchett fan. If you didn’t then have a look at it and the comments made by Why A Duck about the Soul Music DVD.
AFAIK these are the only Pratchett books to be made into films.
Interesting topic. I just finished up a course “Novels and their Film Adaptations.” From the movies/books I saw, it seems that their are certain books that are capable of better movies than others. Some books, no matter how good they are, just aren’t meant to be movies. (Also, some books, no matter how well they could be made into a movie, are turned into movies that suck.)
That being said, I was initially against the LOTR movies. I didn’t see any way a movie could properly capture the world that Tolkien described. Thankfully, I was proven wrong, and enjoyed the movies tremendously. However, we should all be thankful they didn’t do the LOTR series ten years ago. Special effects have come so far in that time. I just don’t think the story would have been as effective with FX from the early 1990’s.
Okay, back to the topic at hand… I think in order for a book to be a successful movie it must have some very visual element to it. This can range from the monsters in LOTR, to the mom in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, to the stunning scenery in “Snow Falling on Ceders” (which I enjoyed, but I know many people did not).
While I concede in advance some successful movies have been made from books without that one everlasting image that is imprinted in your brain, I want to choose a book here that undoubtably has that image. So I am choosing “The Mist” (actually a short story) by Stephen King. I know Stephen King’s books have been done to death in movies. However, that image of an incoming wall of fog just sits in my head waiting to be tapped…
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It would be incredibly expensive to make, but in the age of CGI it could definitely be done. And if done right, it could be the best SF film ever made; Bester really pulled out all the stops and wrote a wild, insanely imaginative story that would have great mass appeal.
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, would make an excellent movie. I don’t know how some of the “sci-fi” trappings would come off using special effects, but the story was the best combination of action and ideas ever.
Cruddy, by Lynda Barry, if it was animated using her distinctive art style would be amazing, but probably too creepy for anyone but me to want to see it.
I see Winston Bongo beat me to The Stars My Destination. Great story (basically a retelling of “The Count of Monte Cristo”). I think Gully Foyle’s face, looking like a furious tiger, would be a lasting image.
Albert Bester’s other great novel, The Demolished Man, could be dynamite, although it’s always hard to depict telepathy.
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp. Come to think of it, a lot of movies are made from shorter-than-novel works, even short stories, and some of de Camp’s would be good. I’m thinking of “The Gnarly Man” (about a 50,000 year old immortal Neandertal) and “Divide and Rule” (set in a future where aliens rule the Earth, having imposed a medieval-style feudal state on humans – I know that sounds hackneyed, but this was written in the 1930’s, and it’s still very entertaining). Or the “Incomplete Enchanter” novels de Camp wrote with Fletcher Pratt.
And so many more…
And of course, the novel I’m currently trying to write.
Hm. I second The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. That would make a very interesting movie. Also Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams. Has anyone made a film ofMy Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, and if they did, did it suck? That’s got lots and lots of good visuals.
I have to weigh in with Mr Blue Sky here on “Owen Meany”. I ts my favorite book ever, and I think it fits with the OP’s remarks of the challenge in translation… I cannot see how the filmakers could do Owen’s voice, no matter that I can hear it perfectly in my head. And its important to the concept of the novel, immensely so.
My other nomination is Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”. Any filthy rich investors out there take note: I can do this one… and I have no film experience. I have seen it in my head many times.
