I just finished the audiobook of Stephen King’s “The Langoliers” and then for kicks and grins, watched the made for TV miniseries of it. While I liked the audiobook, what bothered me the most about the movie version was that it followed the book almost exactly. The dialogue was almost identical and somehow I found that disturbing.
Has anyone else experienced this and if so, what title was it?
I would expect the story to be exactly the same, scene for scene, and if the screenwriter/adapter liked the book’s dialog I don’t see why they would change it, so no, it doesn’t bother me if things are very close or even identical between the book and the movie. I can’t remember the last time I read a book and watched the movie made from it. Usually they are made years apart, and I don’t remember the book all that well to notice if they are different.
IMO, this is the usual turn of events:
< producer > “We’ve optioned this fantastic book, with the best plotting and dialogue. Can you turn it into a shitty movie by changing it?”
< screenwriter > “Can do!”
It didn’t help that the acting was comically bad even though it had some well known actors in it. The casting was also dubious as Bronson Pinchot cannot pull off the psychotic killer role.
Yes, tho technically off-topic since it is a TV series. I was offputted by The Sandman often doing a rote word-for-word transcript of the comics, felt strictly by-the-numbers, so much so that whenever it happened I tended to tune out emotionally from the scene.
A good adaptation brings more to the table than just the bare minimum dialogue. Say what you will about Peter Jackson’s ME films (OK the original 3 LotR ones at least), but he brought a LOT more to the table than just the bare bones dialogue.
As you noted Nars_Glinley, just because the book is good doesn’t mean the movie will be, for a variety of reasons. Picking the wrong director, or screenwriter, or actors can sabotage even the best story.
And while it can happen, it’s often said that the movie didn’t live up to the book. I think it’s mainly because when we read a book we imagine the characters and action in our mind, and seeing it all played out on the screen doesn’t live up to what we imagined.
The first film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain followed the book almost precisely. The only real difference is that they reversed the sex of one of the characters – Kate Reid played Ruth Leavitt, instead of having a male actor playing Peter Leavitt. This was apparently the work of screenwriter Nelson Gidding. Whenever people bring up Alien as the case where they had a female actor playing a role written for a male, I have to bring up this earlier example. And, notably, a 41, Reid was arguable middle-aged, unlike the younger female roles in Alien and Fantastic Voyage. Pretty impressive.
Overall, I can’t say I’m disappointed with having the movie follow the book. I was already disappointed in the book. It brought up some interesting ideas and points, but the ending was anticlimactic, and I thought the setting was lifted wholesale from Ivan Tors’ movie Gog.
I enjoyed “The Langoliers,” despite some really abysmal acting (I wanted to pitch the little blind girl out of the plane, and Dean Stockwell was terrible (which I assume was due more to bad directing than his acting skills). My favorites were Nick Hopewell (I’ve always liked the actor who played him) and the pilot (David Morse, whom I usually don’t like but he worked here, as he did in “The Green Mile”).
Bronson Pinchot went totally over the top, and the CGI was really, really bad. But I liked it anyway, and didn’t mind that it followed the story very closely.
The Netflix version of Sandman followed the comics very closely. I was a little disappointed since I had read the comics numerous times so there was nothing new. I liked what they did to bring it to life, but I’d seen it before.
Did you see my post? [just curious since you didn’t quote it]