I’ve noticed that movies adapted from books will frequently change names, making them simpler. It never seems to go the other way around.
they did this with the recent version of Last of the Mohicans, changing Hawkeye’s real name from Natty Bumppo to Nathaniel Poe. I think they thought “Natty Bumppo” sounded to ridiculous and hicklike*. “Nathaniel Poe” has grace and dignity.
Brian de Palma did it in The Fury, where John cassavetes’ Bad Guy gets his name shortened from Ben Childermass to * Ben Childress*.
In The Relic, the creature is called the Mbwun, worshipped by the Kathoga tribe. For the film, they decided that Mbwun was unpronounceable, or something, because the creature is called the Kathoga. Also the character of Julian Wittlesey in the novel became John Whitney in the film.
Shakespeare didn’t exactly change the name of Lady Macbeth, he just omitted it. Seeing as her historical name was Gruoch, this was probably just as well.
In the book Where Eagles Dare prominent supporting characters include a Gestapo Major von Brauchitsch and a British spy/commando named Ed Carraciola, changed to “von Hapen” and “Ted Berkeley”, respectively, in the movie.
Interestingly, the movie script actually seems to have been written by Alistair MacLean first, and the novel later.
The 70’s TV version of The Incredible Hulk changed Bruce Banner to David. The reason varies according to who you ask [ul]
[li]They wanted to avoid silly sounding alliterative names[/li][li]To disrance themselves from the campy Batman series (Bruce Wayne)[/li][li]Because the name Bruce sounded “gay”[/li][li]As a tribute to the producer’s dead son David.[/li][/ul]
The narrator-character in H.G. Wells’s The Island Of Dr. Moreau is named Edward Prendick. The 1977 film version changed the last name to “Braddock”, and the awful 1996 version changed it to “Douglas”. For that matter, the 1932 version, going by the title Island Of Lost Souls, changed the character’s name to “Parker”. To be fair, “Prendick” doesn’t exactly sound like “action movie hero” to most folks, so the changes are understandable.
Can’t forget (if this also includes titles) the first Harry Potter movie changing “Philosopher’s Stone” to “Sorceror’s Stone” (at least in the US). I can certainly imagine hordes of preteens fleeing madly from the theatre, lest they hear the word “philosopher.”
In the book The Stunt Man, the director’s name is “Gottschalk” (God’s servant in Old High German). In the movie, it was changed to “Eli Cross”, because really, who speaks Old High German anymore?
Not really related, but sort is when I read the title of this thread. The movie Three Days of the Condor with Robert Redford, was made from a book titled Six Days of the Condor.
To be fair, the protagonist is called Johnny by people in the book, as well. (Chalk this up to Signs of the End Times: I never thought I would be saying anything, ever, in defense of Verhoeven’s Abortion.)