# Tell us why your favorite novel would make a great (or terrible or mediocre) movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437 "2010-06-08T16:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/41 "2010-06-08T23:15:48Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Zelazny’s _Lord of Light_ would be dreadful as a movie, as well as offensive to Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and probably Muslims. Good fight scenes though. How about _Creatures of Light and Darkness_? In the hands of the right director, it could actually work - once you get past the prose, the plot is actually fairly straightforward. If not that, then _Roadmarks_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/42 "2010-06-08T23:16:37Z")
Another of my favorite novels is [_Illuminatus!_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminatus) by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea . . . but, I dunno if any director could do it justice. It’s actually a more tightly-constructed story than a summary makes it appear, but there’s a lot of intellectual stuff hard to translate to the screen, and the late-'60s-early-'70s cultural-political milieu is awfully dated now. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/43 "2010-06-08T23:21:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Dhalgren** by Samuel R. Delaney – an 800 page science fiction novel about ambiguity (described as “a riddle that was never meant to be solved”), with hundreds of pages of explicit sex scenes (usually, two men and a woman, so there’s gay sex in it), and no coherent narrative. Lots of luck with that one. How about Delaney’s [_Hogg?_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogg_%28novel%29) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/44 "2010-06-08T23:25:17Z")
Well, my favorite novel is _Gone with the Wind_, so… Anyway, my favorite non-movie novel I guess would be _Down the Common_. I don’t think it would make a great movie. Mostly it’s just about a year in the life of a medieval village in England. Nothing of great note happens, but I found the life it described fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/45 "2010-06-09T00:01:40Z")
A long, long time ago I read a library book called, “The Off Islanders”. It was a light, frothy piece with some interesting use of language and some improbable action. “They” made a movie from the book, and totally re-wrote the whole storyline. If memory serves, the script writers kept the locale and then went to town re-creating the story. The movie was, “The Russians Are Coming!” I would suggest, if you have a yearning to see a favourite book made into a movie, that you insist on retaining creative control. You can’t trust them Hollywood dudes. an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/46 "2010-06-09T00:31:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > How about Delaney’s [_Hogg?_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogg_%28novel%29) Months go by with no comment, then that book is mentioned in [thread=566305]two threads on the same day.[/thread] **Argent Towers**! Come home, the prophecy has been fulfilled! ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/47 "2010-06-09T02:20:06Z")
I think Stephen Baxter’s “Evolution” would be interesting, although it would be better served as a Discovery Channel miniseries. “Without America” could be good with a lot of editing. It may not do well in the States though. Same with his WWII trilogy. The biggest problem I could see with that is one of the main issues was the casual racism the uptimfrs had to deal with, and I don’t think that would sale well with the ‘greatest generation’. I’d like to see “Dies the Fire” on the big screen. It would be a modern day fantasy, although they’d have to get rid of all that pagan stuff Stirling has in there, which is fine by me. I hate those sections of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/48 "2010-06-09T02:28:57Z")
A faithful, word-for-word reproduction of the Wheel of Time. It’d have a costume budget larger than the entire cost of the LOTR trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/49 "2010-06-09T02:29:51Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I’d like to see “Dies the Fire” on the big screen. It would be a modern day fantasy, although they’d have to get rid of all that pagan stuff Stirling has in there, which is fine by me. I hate those sections of the book. That’s your mileage, but why would they have to be left out of a movie? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/50 "2010-06-09T02:33:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That’s your mileage, but why would they have to be left out of a movie? I think there would be a market backlash of a movie showing a Christian town converting to witchcraft. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/51 "2010-06-09T02:42:56Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I think there would be a market backlash of a movie showing a Christian town converting to witchcraft. No such thing as bad publicity . . . Outraged picketing Christians (there were some) didn’t noticeably hurt the box-office for [_The Last Temptation of Christ_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_%28film%29) (not that it was ever going to be a blockbuster in any case). Nor did actual or potential religious opposition hurt [_The Craft_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Craft_%28film%29) nor any of the Harry Potter movies. On that note, I wonder if Starhawk’s [_The Fifth Sacred Thing_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Sacred_Thing) could make a good movie? I doubt it . . . there is plenty of action, but the story is just a bit too preachy at the end (and it portrays an ephebophilic homosexual relationship sympathetically at the beginning). ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/52 "2010-06-09T02:43:34Z")
The Wheel of Time series would be an incredible disappointment, imho. Maybe the first book would be passable, but the best books include a huge (200-300 page) flashback sequence or 3-4 storylines. Does anybody know if anybody successfully made a 1,000 page novel into a movie done right? Last I checked, WoT was pushing something like 7k pages. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/53 "2010-06-09T06:52:36Z")
\*The Fountainhead \*is screaming for a re-make. The original is actually painful to watch. Gary Cooper is one of my favorite actors, but his performance can best be described as “constipated.” Plus, he was at least 10 years too old for the role. And then there’s the dialog, which Rand insisted be given verbatim from her script . . . we need a film with updated vernacular. The only great things about the movie are Patricia Neal, Max Steiner’s music, and the art direction. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/54 "2010-06-09T08:54:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > How about _Creatures of Light and Darkness_? In the hands of the right director, it could actually work - once you get past the prose, the plot is actually fairly straightforward. > > If not that, then _Roadmarks_. Roadmarks would be fun, with Hitler driving around in his VW. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/55 "2010-06-09T09:20:36Z")
Plus dragons, cyborgs, kung-fu masters, dinosaurs and alien robots. Something for everyone! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/56 "2010-06-09T09:51:22Z")
My favourite book series is _Memory, Sorrow and Thorn_ by Tad Williams. It suffers from what most fantasy epics are saddled with, which is it is so filled to overflowing with story and characters, there’s at least three movies _per book_ in the trilogy, _nine_ movies to tell the whole story. Adapting it to fit in a single movie would eliminate 90% of what I love about it, so for that reason it would be unsuitable for a film. Having said that, a single plotline could probably be picked out and moulded into a decent tale. However, the other series I love is _Discworld_, and though there have been decent adaptations made into 3hr mini-series (the recent _Going Postal_ was really well done), I would rather see an independently plotted movie that is a completely original story, using most of the popular characters (much like _The Last Hero_ was written solely to showcase Paul Kidby’s artwork). In fact, I’m confident I could write a Discworld movie myself, if I can nail down a decent plot. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/57 "2010-06-09T12:33:49Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Roadmarks would be fun, with Hitler driving around in his VW. > [@Alessan](#): > > Plus dragons, cyborgs, kung-fu masters, dinosaurs and alien robots. Something for everyone! Great DVD fodder, too; make it look like a perfectly straightforward actioner at first glance, but with at least half a dozen scenes featuring other action from much earlier/later in the movie going on in the background. I don’t understand why Zelazny hasn’t been picked up for more movies. Lotsa fun stuff blowing up in there. My favorite choice used to be “Home is the Hangman” but I think modern tech has finally obsoleted one of its central plot conceits by now. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/58 "2010-06-09T12:42:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Great DVD fodder, too; make it look like a perfectly straightforward actioner at first glance, but with at least half a dozen scenes featuring other action from much earlier/later in the movie going on in the background. > . Maybe Christopher Nolan should direct - he’s good with mind-twisting non-linear narrative. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/59 "2010-06-09T13:43:44Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Roadmarks would be fun, with Hitler driving around in his VW. Is _Amber_ too bloated or long or something? [Technically it isn’t a _single_ novel so may be OT] As a 3 movie trilogy it could definitely work, with inspired casting and appropriate CGI; natural breaks are after Corwin escapes, and when he “invades” Amber only to be its savior. Instead the Skif-Fy Channel will undoubtedly get their collective mitts on it, turn it into a one-movie travesty (c.f. the two _Riverworld_ films, or E_arthsea_), ruining/ignoring every thing that made the series special. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/60 "2010-06-09T14:09:20Z")
Simon Green’s _Blood and Honour_ would make an excellent film: a reluctant hero, a heroic sidekick, deliciously evil villains, high magic, sword fights, traitors, a whiff of romance, and a whodunnit at the bottom of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437.md?page=4)