To see this done well would be really, really great but I have a hard time imagining how it would work. IMHO one of the most powerful aspects of the book is that Horselover Fat’s theories encompass such a wide range of religious and philosophical thought, and to a great extent are, if not always coherent, at least throughly researched and consistent. And it’s awfully dense material to present well in a film; even its presentation in the book presumes a kind of “early 70s Berkeley liberal arts obsessive intellectual curiosity + paranoia” (apologies for the unnatractive stereotype, but I think it’s an important aspect of the context of this novel, and the audience for which it was perhaps originally intended).
As a simpler tale of sanity questioned and regained, it might work but it probably wouldn’t be anything special. As pure SF involving rays from space satellites, secret societies of possibly-dangerous people playing with dangerous technologies, it might work too. But the key to Dick’s genius in this one has always seemed to me to lie in ambiguity and open questions, and for that to work the reader/audience must be presented with Fat’s complex theories and understand them enough to see how they explain his situation equally well as insanity, drugs, or more literal-minded technological explanations like microwave beams and satellites. Or some combination of the above. Or something completely different.
I have a theory (well, that’s a bit pretentious; call it a theoryette) about P. K. Dick adaptations: he was first and foremost an idea man who tended, especially early on and especially in his short stories, to kind of blurt out his ideas onto paper without a whole lot of refinement. This is the perfect formula for screenplay adaptations: great ideas without a lot of stylistic writing or character development getting in the way of the rewrites. Something more fully developed and realized like Valis, even if it were composed of the same simple-yet-compelling ideas as much of Dick’s short fiction, would be quite a bit more challenging to bring to screen successfully.
Sorry that got so long. I’m new here, I’m sure my enthusiasm will wind down after a bit.
I read the reason why Gibson replaced Molly in the screenplay with another character was that they knew they were going to get a no-name actress for ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, and they planned on getting someone more famous to play her in ‘Neuromancer’.
I’m not sure if this is true or not, though, I don’t think it’s a big deal to have the same character played by two different actresses, especially when it’s not in a true sequel.
Gate to Womens’ Country by Sherri S. Tepper. A futuristic tale of a re-ordered society. Excellent. I think it would be incredibly easy to make into a movie, too.
I started to write a post about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but then checked the IMDB and found it had already been done. Twice. The 1982 version even had Sean Connery as the Green Knight, but apparently it didn’t go over very well and sank like a stone.
So maybe I could semi-hijack this thread to include books that haven’t been made into movies that we could have a chance of actually seeing.
I would like to see an attempt at the FLASHMAN novels be George Macdonald Fraser. (yes i know ROYAL FLASH was filmed. )I might do it for TV like the recent Hornblower series.
> I have a theory (well, that’s a bit pretentious; call it a
> theoryette) about P. K. Dick adaptations: he was first and
> foremost an idea man who tended, especially early on and
> especially in his short stories, to kind of blurt out his ideas onto
> paper without a whole lot of refinement.
In fact, the reason that his novels and stories frequently had lots of ideas jammed together rather randomly is that he was using speed much of the time so that he could stay up at night in order to write as quickly as possible. This was particularly true in the early '60’s when he had to support a wife, a daughter, and three step-daughters. Even with his writing and his wife’s jewelry business, he was barely scraping by (partly because he and his wife weren’t very good at living frugally). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is typical of the novels of that period, full of brilliant ideas but not well edited by Dick or by his editors.
When I was reading ** Rose Madder **, I kept seeing a movie with Bruce & Demi. That would be great.
King’s short story “Do The Dead Sing” should have been a movie by now. It’s perfect.
Andrew Vachss’s Burke mysteries and Kinky Friedman’s Kinky mysteries would be good movies.
Has Mary Higgins Clark’s ** Silent Night, Holy Night ** been filmed?
A short story by Conrad Hill called “The Grief Connection” would be a great Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror episode, except the censors would never allow it. If you want to read it, find a copy of Julian Lloyd Webber’s complilation ** Short Sharp Shocks **.
You know, when I was reading this book the first time, I even had the movie cast (mentally, of course), but all the actors are now too old (Henry Thomas as Jack) or dead (Scatman Carrothers as Speedy Parker). Upon a second reading, just before release of Black House, I re-read it, and realized why it hasn’t been done: the movie would have to be, like, 10 hours long. However, as I was reading it the second time, I was giving my adolescent/teenage daughters updates on the plot, and it occurred to me that it could be adapted into a (possibly animated) movie aimed at older kids.
I agree completely. Stallone would make a better Norman, if only he could act.
Eastwood? Ya think? I think he’s already too old, and not dark enough.
Yes, with Frances Sternhagen in the lead role.
Now for my own two: Stephen King’s short story The House On Maple Street. Also, with comp. animation getting so good, Watership Down would be a natural.
Prince Ombra (sorry, forget the author’s name), very similar to King/Straub’s The Talisman, but published either before The Talisman, or at the same time, so it’s not a rip-off.
The Ivanhoe Gambit (also forget the author’s name), time travel novel which has the heroes wielding tommy guns in the Age of Chivalry!
Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, baby elephants from outer space invade the Earth!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic *
**I’m kind of surprised that Caleb Carr’s The Alienist has not been made into a movie. It would seem like a natural
Actually I’ve seen a preview for this movie at one time about 1-2 years ago but It never came out … It wasnt much more like the the description that waso n the paperback version and a seeir shot of the pic on the front with ominious music …
I’ve thought about looking it up to see if the idmb had anything on it …
Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Pioneered the holoprojected, self-aware computer, and I loved the portrayal of line marriage and other aspects of life in a lunar colony.
Didn’t Fred Saberhagen sue because the Terminator movies were essentially his Berserker story, stolen and slightly altered? 'Cause when I saw Terminator I sure thought “That’s a Berserker!”
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series. A combination space opera/ barbarian swordsman story? It’s a natural. They’ve done (bad versions of) Pellucidor and The Land that Time Forgot, not to even mention Tarzan, so why not Barsoom?
Gor might be too kinky for mainstream release, but maybe as a Cinimax (or Playboy Channel) project?
Well there was this. I haven’t seen it, but it’s supposed to be quite bad. Its sequel was used in an award-winning episode of MST3K.
Personally I’m dreading an Ender’s Game movie. I don’t think it’s possible to film without ruining it. Even using older children, combining characters, and eliminating subplots, a director wouldn’t be able to convey the key parts of the story in two hours without making it intolerably stupid.
I am interested in the (somewhat stale) rumors that another Orson Scott Card story, Dogwalker, is being prepared for the big screen. I think its appealing characters and concise plotline make it a good candidate. It’s certainly less daunting than Neuromancer. Card wrote it as a challenge to see whether he could fill a story with all the usual cyberpunk clichés and still make it good fiction.
I’m surprised they haven’t made a movie version of Michel Chrighton’s Timeline. Simply because they make movies of all his books, not because the “Hey lets go back in time to the midevil days of knights” genre hasn’t been done to death.
