It occurred to me the other day that we never got a movie of Neuromancer, which I found suprising, given the pervasiveness of the “cyberpunk” fad in the early 90s. Now, I fear, it might be too late for such a thing, since that whole concept seems a little dated to many people. I thoguht I read somewhere that the awful ‘Johnny Mnemonic,’ had it done better, would have led to a Neuromancer movie, but apparently not enough people were willing to buy that Keanu Reeves had too much information in his head.
So I got to thinking about other books that I’m surprised haven’t become movies. (Perhaps these have, and I just don’t know it.)
The Celestine Prophecy is best-selling and new-agey. I’m amazed no actor has demanded to do this to show his/her “spiritual” side.
Catcher in the Rye we all read in high school. The CIA reportedly uses it for mind control experiments. People all over the nation are saddled with the name “Holden” because of it. And yet - not a movie.
Those are the first three that come to mind. I’m sure more well-read folks will be able to name others.
It’s been up in the air for a few years now, and there’s talk that Tim Burton might do it, but so far there hasn’t been a movie of Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.
Speaking of Catcher…, Jack Nicholson was going to make the book into a movie back in the late 60s, but nothing ever came of it (obviously ).
The Talisman by King/Straub. Considering that every other novel (and many short stories) by Stephen King have been made into movies and/or TV miniseries (miniserieses?) the lack of this one sticks out like a sore thumb.
The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King. I guess they want to wait until the series is finished, but they should film at least one movie before Clint Eastwood dies/gets too old.
They were working on a Neuromancer movie… its still in production. I like to think that Trinity from The Matrix is another version of Molly… and as for Snow Crash, I read it right before seeing Blade. Badass black guy on a motorscyle with a samurai sword… sound familar?
Ender’s Game, though as I type this I’m thinking of all the reasons it wouldn’t work. The book is atypical in that almost all the main characters are quite young children, and it is short on thrilling space battles. Most of it takes place inside the heads of the characters. Dune was similar in this respect, and look what a shitty movie it made, with all those stupid voice-overs.
Books heavy on psychological drama rarely amke good movies, I’ll bet.
Lizard, there was talks that they were going to make an Ender’s Game movie, and of course there was a buzz that it would “blow Star Wars out of the water” yada yada yada; however, if you check the websites concerning the project (I apologize for my lack of citations, but whateva, I do what I want!), you’ll notice they have no new news items for the past two years or so.
As you mention, it’s incredibly challenging to base an entire movie around young main characters (much less a series of films). I would really enjoy the efforts though, as the books are my favorite sci-fi series ever.
Actually, according to this website, Wolfgang Peterson has signed on to direct the Ender’s Game movie as of a few months ago. It’s still a long way from filming, since he’s got a few other movies to direct first, but there’s still slim hope for the movie coming out within our lifetimes!
King says that there are no plans yet to make this into a film, which surprises me quite a bit. It’s one of the most “visual” of King’s book, with some pretty vivid imagery. Also, the nearly-automatic optioning of King’s books into movies somehow missed this one.
Guess I should get moving on my own Rose Madder script while I still can.
Darn you, Emilio Lizardo! You beat me to Snow Crash. I got done with that book and thought, “Now that would make one heck of a movie.” I’d love to see how Hiro delivering pizzas in the Deliverator-mobile would look on the big screen.
And in the ‘they kinda did this already, but not really’ department… John Steakley’s Vampire$. The book got semi-translated into the movie John Carpenter’s Vampires. Somewhere between the book and movie, the story got lost – the only thing remaining the same was the names of the hero and some of the other characters. The book was fantastic, reads very quickly and would translate very well into a 2-hour movie. The John Carpenter movie bears no resemblance to the book and sucks big doody. I’d love to see someone do that story justice.
And Ethilrist, I was surprised to find out a made-for-TV movie version of Empty Copper Sea was made in 1983 – but that don’t really count now, do it? I agree, I’d love to see the Travis McGee novels made into good movies. Same goes for some of the Robert Parker ‘Spenser’ novels.
This is a fabulous book, about reliving your life (repeatedly), that has “movie” written all over it.
I don’t want to reveal any more about the plot, but a movie based on this great book would, as a minimum, expose more people to it. And that would be a good thing.
This is a fabulous book, about reliving your life (repeatedly), that has “movie” written all over it.
I don’t want to reveal any more about the plot, but a movie based on this great book would, as a minimum, expose more people to it. And that would be a good thing.
I’m with ya, psiekier. Loved Armor, thought it was a great book. Unfortunately, if they ever tried to make it into a movie, I’m pessimistic enough to think that they’d ass it up as badly as they did John Carpenter’s Vampires. The book wasn’t as much about the science and the aliens as much as it was two men struggling with themselves – but I think that any screenwriter redoing Armor would probably concentrate more on the action and the special effects, thus ruining what was special and interesting about the book.
I wish Steakley would write more novels. Darn, that guy’s fun to read.
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