# The Why isn't this Book a Movie Already Thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686 "2017-03-21T14:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/101 "2017-03-24T05:24:59Z")
I thought of one, and being uncertain, I looked up Joyce on the imdb, to see if it had been done. They listed a 2000 Danish effort called _The Wake_. Seven hours and forty two minutes long. Silent. That must be pretty breathtaking. Or maybe just unendurable. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/102 "2017-03-24T13:07:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \ > I’d like to see a decent movie made out of Mark Twain’s _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_. Every adaptation I’ve seen is either a vehicle for the Star At The Time (Will Rogers, Bing Crosby) or changes the novel so completely that you don’t recognize it (PBS, of all groups, various kid’s adaptations, lots of popular movies ostensibly based on it). Dammit, Twain’s highly comic and dramatic scenes – the Destruction of Merlin’s Tower, the Restoration of the Holy Fountain, the Charge of the Knights on Bicycles – deserve to be put on screen. > > \ Actually, I thought Wishbone pulled it off pretty well… The ones I’d like to see are best delt with as SciFy Channel miniseries StarRigger/Red Limit Freeway/Paradox Alley by John DeChancie Terms of Enlistment series by Marko Kloos ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/103 "2017-03-24T14:16:52Z")
I read this and immediately thought that Morgan Freeman or David Attenborough would be the perfect narrator for the Centuries. > **[Slightly Less Beloved Classics: A Canticle For Leibowitz -The Toast](https://the-toast.net/2013/08/08/slightly-less-beloved-classics-a-canticle-for-leibowitz/)** > > A willing foe, and sea room. This is the quote referenced, tell me who you hear reading it in voice-over. “We are the centuries… We have your eoliths and your mesoliths and your neoliths. We have your Babylons and your Pompeiis, your Caesars and your chromium-plated (vital-ingredient impregnated) artifacts. We have your bloody hatchets and your Hiroshimas. We march in spite of Hell, we do – Atrophy, Entropy, and Proteus vulgaris, telling bawdy jokes about a farm girl name of Eve and a traveling salesman called Lucifer. We bury your dead and their reputations. We bury you. We are the centuries. Be born then, gasp wind, screech at the surgeon’s slap, seek manhood, taste a little godhood, feel pain, give birth, struggle a little while, succumb: (Dying, leave quietly by the rear exit, please.) Generation, regeneration, again, again, as in a ritual, with blood-stained vestments and nail-torn hands, children of Merlin, chasing a gleam. Children, too, of Eve, forever building Edens – and kicking them apart in berserk fury because somehow it isn’t the same. (AGH! AGH! AGH! – an idiot screams his mindless anguish amid the rubble. But quickly! let it be inundated by the choir, chanting Alleluias at ninety decibels.)” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/104 "2017-03-24T14:24:50Z")
> [@4d3fect](#): > > Also, has anyone attempted A Canticle for Liebowitz? And if not, why not? [Twice for radio, and once for television.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz#Adaptations) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/105 "2017-03-24T15:19:29Z")
> [@txjim](#): > > Actually, I thought Wishbone pulled it off pretty well… Ah, yes. When I want to see a really good adaptation of my favorite literature, I like to see it performed with a Jack Russell terrier in the lead role. I still fondly recall Wishbone in A Man for All Seasons. His rendition of Dysart in Equus was technically good, but I kept being afraid that the horses would step on him. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/106 "2017-03-24T15:33:43Z")
Rumor has it that, if they had gone on to do one more season, Wishbone would have done _Caligula_. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/107 "2017-03-24T15:40:29Z")
Nonsense. It was to be I, Claudius ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/108 "2017-03-24T15:40:47Z")
Kem Nunns “surf noir”…Tapping the Source, Dogs of Winter…they tried before and it ended up as Point Break :smack: although he wasn’t directly involved. (he ended up writing John from Cincinnati, which i guess was horrible. He also wrote screenplays for Sons of Anarchy, which I wasn’t interested in, but seemed to do well.) another vote for William S. Gibsons first 3 books, quite visual. And Stevensons Snow Crash etc…although IMHO his later stuff after Crytononimicon was so wordy and weird I had a hard time reading it and abandoned him… ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/109 "2017-03-24T21:13:15Z")
> [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](#): > > Kem Nunns “surf noir”…Tapping the Source, Dogs of Winter…they tried before and it ended up as Point Break :smack: although he wasn’t directly involved. > (he ended up writing John from Cincinnati, which i guess was horrible. He also wrote screenplays for Sons of Anarchy, which I wasn’t interested in, but seemed to do well.) > > another vote for William S. Gibsons first 3 books, quite visual. I’m going to be semi-onboard and counter-propose his [Bridge trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_trilogy). That’s a universe that’s closer to what we may recognize, and a bit more externalized (less cyberspace stuff, so overdone). And IMHO, the stories are a little more compelling. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/110 "2017-03-24T21:43:55Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I read this and immediately thought that Morgan Freeman or David Attenborough would be the perfect narrator for the Centuries. > [http://the-toast.net/2013/08/08/slightly-less-beloved-classics-a-canticle-for-leibowitz/](http://the-toast.net/2013/08/08/slightly-less-beloved-classics-a-canticle-for-leibowitz/) > This is the quote referenced, tell me who you hear reading it in voice-over. > > …snip… Someone British. Bill Nighy? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/111 "2017-03-25T03:15:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think he’s mistakenly recalling the 2014 film **Predestination** , which is based on Heinlein’s _All you Zombies…"_, his other famous time-loop story. Ah yes always mix those two up. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/112 "2017-03-25T05:26:33Z")
**Geek Love** by Katherine Dunn would make a great movie or TV series. Same with **The Elementals** by Michael McDowell. I’d love to see a big-screen/small-screen adaptation of **Johannes Cabal the Necromancer**. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/113 "2017-03-25T05:27:01Z")
The Paper Grail by James Blaylock Has Good Omens been mentioned? Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/114 "2017-03-25T05:35:24Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Someone British. Bill Nighy? Damn. I just found audio of Robert Carlyle reading from some part of _Canticle_. Very unsettling. He needs to stick to his native accent. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/115 "2017-03-25T14:13:27Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Twice for radio, and once for television.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz#Adaptations) Thanks, I saw that, but forgot to mention I was thinking rather about a modern film adaptation. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/116 "2017-03-25T14:16:51Z")
Try reading [Baking Cakes in Kigali](https://www.amazon.com/Baking-Cakes-Kigali-Gaile-Parkin/dp/0385343442/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490451352&sr=1-1&keywords=baking+cakes+in+kigali) and not picture a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/117 "2017-03-25T15:42:42Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Lucifer’s Hammer. That reminds me - time to read it again. I want this so bad just for the scene where the surfer smacks into a skyscraper. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/118 "2017-03-25T19:08:54Z")
> [@eulalia](#): > > The Paper Grail by James Blaylock > > Has Good Omens been mentioned? Good choice. Production Hell: > **[Good Omens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens)** > > Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, who in turn were dubbed "Double Trouble" by the British press. > The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. There are attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to sabotage the coming of the end times, having grown accustomed to their comfortable surroundings in Engla... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/119 "2017-03-25T20:27:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **swampspruce** : > > This is the quote referenced, tell me who you hear reading it in voice-over. Freeman and Attenborough are both great narrators, of course… but to me, that monologue is totally Cate Blanchett. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/120 "2017-03-26T00:05:29Z")
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