# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![bourbonstew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@bourbonstew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bourbonstew)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/101 "2010-06-18T07:10:40Z")
Hamilton’s _Reality Dysfunction_, et al : Way too much going on for less than three movies, but how hooked would folks be after the first ? Possession, combat boosted mercs, combat wasps, kinetic harpoon bombardments, tactical nukes, aliens, a spreading virus of sorts… ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/102 "2010-06-18T09:25:50Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > A lot of Niven’s Known Space. There have been rumors of a “Ringworld” movie for quite some time; James Cameron’s name was floated about and given what he did with Avatar I think he could get the look right, but the story (and all the backstory that goes with it) would be mighty long - it’d either wind up a multipart saga like LOTR or it’d be a mess. Maybe both. > > World Of Ptavvs might be a better place to start. The “Gil Hamilton” stories (scifi detective stories, set in a relatively near future) could make a miniseries, as could the Man-Kzin Wars. Ringworld wouldn’t work these days, too many people would think it was ripped off of the Halo video games. I would love to see the Outlander books made into movies, but I fear they’d focus more on the love interest and time travel and less on the Master and Commander-esque history of the time period. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/103 "2010-06-18T10:09:07Z")
I think that any book by Ian M. Banks would make a good movie. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/104 "2010-06-18T19:05:51Z")
_A Free Man of Color_ by Barbara Hambly. It’s a murder mystery set in New Orleans of the 1830s. The main character, Benjamin January, is 3/4s African, 1/4 European. He is a surgeon and a musician. He spent the first few years of his life as a slave, was emancipated along with his mother and sister, and then educated by his mother’s “protector” before moving to Paris. After his wife dies of cholera, he returns to the only other world he knows. The setting and the characters are rich and complex. The plot is tight and fast-paced. It tackles questions of race relations, justice, and human nature. Done properly, it would be a fantastic movie. To pull it off, though, you’d need an incredible casting director, a superior art department, and a director and producer who wouldn’t shy away from the controversial and often painful facets of the demimonde society. Done half-assed, it would be a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/105 "2010-06-18T19:35:09Z")
It would be difficult to adapt Michel Faber’s _Under The Skin_ for the screen. The aliens look more or less like centaurs, which could look really goofy if not done exactly right. It would be cheesy rather than unsettling. It’s a great story, but I just can’t see anybody getting it right for a film. ---
**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 18, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/106 "2010-06-18T19:39:16Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Ringworld wouldn’t work these days, too many people would think it was ripped off of the Halo video games. Easily fixed with a before the opening credits crawl: (Lots of fancy verbiage written by someone who knows how to write, ending with something like) “Long before Halo, there was…Ringworld!” ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/107 "2010-06-20T10:57:49Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > As soon as I read this post, I had a flash of insight: Stephen Fry as Aziraphale and Hugh Laurie as Crowley, although, y’know, the other way might work just as well. > > It would be perfect. I think you’ve nailed it, Attack. Perfect casting! ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/108 "2010-06-20T11:01:34Z")
**The Talisman** … because it has an upright walking wolf that wears dungarees. What other reason would I need? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/109 "2010-06-20T11:09:58Z")
> [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](#): > > Anything by China Mieville, but especially _The City and the City_. The idea of ‘unseeing’ might be difficult to convey on film, though. I couldn’t even imagine it. It’s the only Mieville book I’ve read and I’m in no hurry to read another if that’s the best he’s got. Fancy recommending one of his better books? ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/110 "2010-10-05T23:39:26Z")
I don’t think an RAH novel has been done well yet - Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers were both very disappointing to me. Still, I’d like someone to take good shot at _Glory Road_… ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/111 "2010-10-06T17:00:39Z")
I have often fantasized about Earth Abides as a movie. It is very dated now, having been written IIRC about 50 years ago, but it’s a great epic tale. It could not be done properly except as a mini-series since it happens over a man’s lifetime between young adulthood and senility. It would probably be ruined in the update and adaptation, though. ---
**Author:** ![rosella\_alm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/0ea827/32.png) [@rosella\_alm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rosella_alm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/112 "2010-12-18T03:42:17Z")
The first that comes to mind is one that has been proposed by fellow sci-fi fans for many years, “Stranger In a Strange Land”. a book that has the sexual spiritual mix that would fascinate today’s moviegoers as the book did the youth of yesterday. A bit dated in its rather arch language for today though. An Action-Adventure saga that could be made into a series is “Tros of Samothrace” by Talbot Mundy. There is just enough wisdom to elevate the hunky hero to a level well above the ordinary. Another really splendid one is “Avatar” by Poul Anderson. The ultimate avatar is so earth-full and so sublime she makes you believe again in yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/113 "2010-12-18T03:57:08Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > One of the biggest fears I have is someone finally trying to make “A Confederacy Of Dunces” into a movie. > > It would be an abortion, revealing a shocking lack of taste and decency in all who were involved in the Technicolor horror… Just wanted to say, I saw what you did there, even if nobody else noticed. Good work. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/114 "2010-12-18T04:02:43Z")
Once again, Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World would make a great movie. But only if done by the right person. Kiyoshi Kurosawa or maybe David Fincher directing… ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/115 "2010-12-18T04:10:36Z")
I always thought that Dennis Lehane’s _The Given Day_ would make a smashing film. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/116 "2010-12-18T04:18:15Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Wyoming Knott, line wives? I think the ‘Hot Naked Chicks’ would be covered (heh heh) quite nicely. > > One of my favorites, > > **Armor** by John Steakley, would be done horribly. I’m sure the power-armor/bug war aspects and the wild west frontier town effects would be done well. But, all of the cerebral aspects of Felix, Crow and Hollis would be either gone or done horribly. Without narration/voice-over I can’t think of any way a persons mental dichotomies effectively. > > I would love to see someone try, but I cringe at seeing it end up as Starship Troopers 2 or some crap. Is armor the one from the viewpoint of the AI in the armor? Or am I thinking of a different book of a similar name? I always thought Little Fuzzy would make a fun book, alternately HoHo Hokas! I would love to see a good version of Moon is a Harsh Mistress, it is my absolute favorite novel ever [Sorry Lois, I love the hyperactive little git Miles, and I adore Cazarel but Manny and Mike are my first SF love] There was once a script written of The Warrior Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold, she refuses to let her stuff be turned into a script after that debacle. It actually has the Barrayaran personnel trying to build cooking fires in the passages on a spacecraft…I know they were described as barbarians … but they _did_ have their own spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/117 "2010-12-18T04:25:20Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Forgot to mention Alan Dean Foster’s “Icerigger”. Half medieval action movie, half pirate flick. With ice-skating felinoids. The heroes are an out of shape saleman, a nerdy professor, a woman who is more like Roseanne than Megan Fox and a weatherbeaten old giant who reads like a cross between Hulk Hogan and Rutger Hauer. And the love interest is the wrong species. I have the trilogy, engaging world development. I also have the Brian Daley trilogy The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh ``` * Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds (1985) * Jinx on a Terran Inheritance (1985) * Fall of the White Ship Avatar (1986) ``` which would be a fun sort of long series - you could probably stretch it out to 3 or 4 good years. Sort of like a Babylon 5 combined with Red Dwarf ish rather than a Stargate ish. It has definite comedy with a backbone of serious. Not quite broad comedy, but it has a lot of amusement value in it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/118 "2010-12-18T04:36:14Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The Vorkosigan novels would make great movies except… Miles. What do you do about Miles? [Peter Dinklage](http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dinklagethreshold1-174x300.jpg). Look at the description of Miles, a just under 4 foot tall guy, black hair, grey eyes, head a bit large for his body, out of proportion because they played with adjusting his bone growth, then they spent time replacing various bones with synthetics. Reasonably phyically fit - he does strap into space armor and go into combat and is a line officer back at home on Barrayar after all. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/119 "2010-12-18T06:47:25Z")
> [@Keith\_Berry](#): > > I always thought that Dennis Lehane’s _The Given Day_ would make a smashing film. It’s in development, supposedly, with Sam Raimi directing. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-your-favorite-novel-would-make-a-great-or-terrible-or-mediocre-movie/542437/120 "2010-12-18T10:17:39Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > I have often fantasized about Earth Abides as a movie. . . . It seems I saw a movie of it about thirty years ago (possibly some sort of knock-off, as I can’t find it listed anywhere under that title). All I’m remembering is the protagonist going so insane that he places dozens of cardboard stand-ups of people in a yard, and gives a speech from a balcony as if he’s the President, until the power goes out on him. Later, the woman shows up, but isn’t, as was subtly alluded (it had to be in 1949), black, but an Irish redhead. All the rest is now a blank. Anybody…? [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=5) [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=7)