# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/61 "2010-06-09T14:18:50Z")
Not my absolute favorite, but John Scalzi’s **Old Man’s War** would work really well as a movie. They’d have to ditch the green skin on the soldiers and the movie would have to be at least 2.5 hours long to properly include all the great action scenes, but it’s certainly doable. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/62 "2010-06-09T14:46:39Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > 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. I don’t think _Amber_ would translate to the screen at all. It would require too much exposition to be interesting to the average movie-goer, and large hunks of it would be downright boring. How do you explain walking through Shadows to someone cinematically? I would, however, like to see _Doorways In The Sand_ made into a movie. Funny, lots of action, aliens, a Snark… ---
**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, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/63 "2010-06-09T14:58:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I don’t think _Amber_ would translate to the screen at all. It would require too much exposition to be interesting to the average movie-goer, and large hunks of it would be downright boring. How do you explain walking through Shadows to someone cinematically? > > I would, however, like to see _Doorways In The Sand_ made into a movie. Funny, lots of action, aliens, a Snark… The period where the protagonist is reversed would be great. You could reverse his features - maybe give him a scar or something - and reverse the world from his point of view. ---
**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, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/64 "2010-06-09T15:05:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > How do you explain walking through Shadows to someone cinematically? Show it first (after all, Corwin has no memory, right?), then explain afterwards. You’d have the awesome visuals of makes of automobiles or styles of road signs or construction styles shifting as Corwin/Random drives down the street, and then you could drop in some exposition that at least wouldn’t be worse than the first Matrix movie. ---
**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, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/65 "2010-06-09T15:16:42Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Show it first (after all, Corwin has no memory, right?), then explain afterwards. You’d have the awesome visuals of makes of automobiles or styles of road signs or construction styles shifting as Corwin/Random drives down the street, and then you could drop in some exposition that at least wouldn’t be worse than the first Matrix movie. He drives down a modern city street. It gets a bit misty, and the landmarks and autos alter slightly, just a bit. It gets misty again, and there one or two really different things, just barely glimpsed - like a car spouting steam, or a couple of guys walking in business suits and sheathed swords - and then it jerks back again. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/66 "2010-06-12T00:46:42Z")
I’d be half excited, half filled with dread if I found out that they were making a movie/mini-series by adapting: **The Talisman** by Stephen King and Peter Straub If they could do it properly, it’d make for the best mini-series ever made. But what are the odds of them getting everything right? **Here On Earth** by Alice Hoffman This could be an extremely powerful look into a poisonous relationship…or something like a Nicholas Sparks flick. **The Bone Doll’s Twin** by Lynn Flewelling Or the whole trilogy, actually. It suffers the same could they do it justice problem as The Talisman. But to go completely the other way, I bet they could make a really good movie out of **Dragonfly** by Frederic S. Durbin. The plot was a really neat idea, but the writing was pretty stiff. Or it could suck like **Inkheart** did…hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/67 "2010-06-14T00:34:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > How do you explain walking through Shadows to someone cinematically? The same way Zelazny did in the later books. When Corwyn went on a hellride, Zelazny just described a series of visual images. I think Heinlein’s _The Rolling Stones_ would make a good movie. The actors would have to spend a lot of time in flying harnesses for the zero-G scenes, but the sfx would be no harder than an episode of _Star Trek_. And, with all due respect to the _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ fans, the grandma Hazel is a much more interesting character than the child Hazel. Moorcock’s Elric stories would have visual appeal. Twenty years ago, David Bowie would have been perfect for the role. Today, who knows? Now that CGI has come of age, I would love to see some Edgar Rice Burroughs movies. Mars, Venus, Pellucidar. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_McAwful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@Larry\_McAwful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_McAwful)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/68 "2010-06-14T01:40:57Z")
It’s already been disparaged upthread, but I think _A Confederacy of Dunces_ would make a fantastic movie. I’ve heard that someone’s working on it, and I’d definitely see it. I could see David Anthony Higgins (you might remember Craig Feldspar from _Malcolm in the Middle_) would be a wonderful Ignatius J. Reilly. I could see Sally Field as his mother, and maybe Christina Ricci as Myrna Minkoff. _Confederacy_ is an epic story about a thirty-year-old boy whose mother tells him to head out into the world and finally get a job. It’s set against the backdrop of New Orleans, circa 1960, and the civil rights movement which was starting to bubble up to the surface. The book is a scream, and it’s got a lot of jokes that work wonderfully in visual context. I could see Ignatius writing on his Big Chief tablets, scratching away with a pencil, while Higgins does voice-overs. I won’t spoil it, but the book has a climax (or, rather, a set of climaxes) that are perfectly cinematic. If this were made into a movie, I’d not only see it, but I’d be first in line. I support any efforts to film it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/69 "2010-06-14T13:01:37Z")
They’ve been trying for years; Stephen Fry was working on a screenplay. Many of the people previously mentioned for Ignatius are too old now (or dead – John Belushi? Chris Farley?). Will Ferrell wanted it; Oliver Platt. I think Philip Seymour Hoffman could handle it. This article reports Mos Def as Jones; I think that’s great casting. Lily Tomlin as Mrs. Reilly, not so much. > **[The development hell of A Confederacy of Dunces.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/12/the-development-hell-of-a-confederacy-of-dunces.html)** > > In January of 1980, Scott Kramer, a young executive at 20th Century Fox, received the galleys of an oddly titled novel. The publisher, the Louisiana... ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/70 "2010-06-14T13:26:36Z")
I think _English Passengers_ would make an awesome HBO mini-series. Don’t think it could translate well to theatre film but with some extra time to build the characters, it could be awesome. I’d cast James Purefoy (Marc Anthony in HBO’s\* Rome\* as Captian Kewley and the actor who plays Ben from Lost as the preacher/pseudo-geologist. We could have all sorts of fun casting the rest of the characters, especially the doctor. The eugenics/racist angle and the creationism would have to be handled delicately though. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/71 "2010-06-14T14:16:38Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The same way Zelazny did in the later books. When Corwyn went on a hellride, Zelazny just described a series of visual images. > > I think Heinlein’s _The Rolling Stones_ would make a good movie. The actors would have to spend a lot of time in flying harnesses for the zero-G scenes, but the sfx would be no harder than an episode of _Star Trek_. And, with all due respect to the _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ fans, the grandma Hazel is a much more interesting character than the child Hazel. > > Moorcock’s Elric stories would have visual appeal. Twenty years ago, David Bowie would have been perfect for the role. Today, who knows? > > Now that CGI has come of age, I would love to see some Edgar Rice Burroughs movies. Mars, Venus, Pellucidar. Heinlein’s Mars isn’t exactly the Mars our scientists have shown us. But Heinlein’s early solar system & the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs bring me to suggest S M Stirling’s [Lords of Creation](http://www.smstirling.com/) series. Consisting of only two books so far, set in an Alternate Solar System where we Earthians are exploring the jungles of Venus, stocked with dinosaurs, sabre tooth cats, ape men & at least one beautiful warrior princess. Mars boasts an ancient, bizarre civilization–with another warrior princess! (Oh, and there are airships on both planets.) > [@](#): > > Thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Otis Adelbert Kline, Leinster, Heinlein, and to all the other great pulpsters for gracing my childhood with John Carter, Northwest Smith, “Wrong-Way” Carson of Venus, and all the heroes gifted with a better solar system than the one we turned out to inhabit. From the jungles of Venus and the Grand Canal of Marsopolis, I salute you! Excellent reading, both books could make fine films (or miniseries). Plots are not overly subtle & swashbuckling adventures abound. In amazing settings, of course. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/72 "2010-06-14T15:13:49Z")
David Drake’s [Ranks of Bronze](http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0671318330/0671318330.htm?blurb) would make a great movie. Basic plot is that a galactic trading guild buys a captured Roman legion from the Parthians to fight for them - they’ve got a Prime Directive-like law that you can make war on primitives to get resource rights, but you can’t use advanced technology to do so. It’s got everything - Roman soldiers, aliens, huge battle scenes, hot naked chicks, and ends with a scene of justice/revenge just as satisfying as “The Shawshank Redemption”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/73 "2010-06-14T16:08:27Z")
I think Christopher Moores, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff Christ’s Childhood Pal would make a great movie. It would really only work as a cartoon though. Or A Dirty Job. That one could possibly be live action. I would love to see the sewer harpies. Really any Christopher Moore book would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/74 "2010-06-14T18:50:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Not my absolute favorite, but John Scalzi’s **Old Man’s War** would work really well as a movie. They’d have to ditch the green skin on the soldiers and the movie would have to be at least 2.5 hours long to properly include all the great action scenes, but it’s certainly doable. I’d actually prefer _The Forever War_, which _Old Man’s War_ borrows from heavily. Both would be fun movies - but I think _The Forever War_ has a poignancy to it that makes for a richer story. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/75 "2010-06-14T22:14:52Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I’d actually prefer _The Forever War_, which _Old Man’s War_ borrows from heavily. Both would be fun movies - but I think _The Forever War_ has a poignancy to it that makes for a richer story. What Mr. Excellent said. ---
**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 15, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/76 "2010-06-15T01:40:21Z")
Elric appeared to be on the fast track to being filmed, but sometime in the last year it got put back on the back burner again (by Universal)… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/77 "2010-06-15T03:13:55Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Elric appeared to be on the fast track to being filmed, but sometime in the last year it got put back on the back burner again (by Universal)… That should be animated. And done by Ralph Bakshi. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/78 "2010-06-15T03:16:15Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I’d actually prefer _The Forever War_, which _Old Man’s War_ borrows from heavily. Both would be fun movies - but I think _The Forever War_ has a poignancy to it that makes for a richer story. That’s the problem. Poignancy is dated. They’ve stopped making 'Nam movies. Even if you stretch the definition, _Tropic Thunder_ was probably the last one ever. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/79 "2010-06-15T11:26:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That’s the problem. **Poignancy is dated.** They’ve stopped making 'Nam movies. Even if you stretch the definition, _Tropic Thunder_ was probably the last one ever. Does the bolded sentence mean “The poignancy of _The Forever War_ is dated, it is based on the similarity of the book’s storyline to the tragic events of the war in Vietnam” or “The idea that a story should be deeply emotionally affecting is passe?” ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/80 "2010-06-15T11:26:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That should be animated. And done by Ralph Bakshi. I agree with animated, but not by Mr. Bakshi. Any attempt at a live action Elric, if it were going to include the dragons, demons and other fantastical elements, would end up being such a huge cgi-fest that itwould be damn near animated anyway. [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=3) [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=5)