# Totally Different Character In Book Versus Movie/TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589 "2011-06-23T18:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/21 "2011-06-24T02:03:33Z")
Forrest Gump was much nastier, less dumb in the book. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/22 "2011-06-24T02:46:31Z")
Not totally different, but the iconic image is off – the literary **Dr. Fu Manchu** had no moustache. I think every single filmed version, though, gives him those little spaghetti strings. **Dracula** is pretty different in the movies than in the book. _Nosferatu_ is an interesting film, but it’s not Stoker’s vision. Nor is Dracula a romantic figure (as David J. Skal points out, at length, in several of his books), Frank Langella, Gary Oldman, and others to the contrary notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/23 "2011-06-24T03:01:22Z")
The character of Paulie from novel **The Pope of Greenwich Village** would have beat the holy shit out of the same character from the movie. In the book, Paulie is a little guy but genuinely tough and doesn’t take crap from any of the other characters. In the movie, Eric Roberts plays him as a wussified doofus. Sheesh, they altered so many other plot points it’s hard to believe that the guy who wrote the book, Vincent Patrick, also did the movie’s screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/24 "2011-06-24T12:08:20Z")
The hero of Lawrence Block’s \*\*Burglar In The Closet \*\*is an intelligent, suave man. In the movie the part was played by a woman (Whoopi Goldberg at her most outrageous). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/25 "2011-06-24T12:28:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Dracula** is pretty different in the movies than in the book. _Nosferatu_ is an interesting film, but it’s not Stoker’s vision. Nor is Dracula a romantic figure (as David J. Skal points out, at length, in several of his books), Frank Langella, Gary Oldman, and others to the contrary notwithstanding. Physically & behaviorally, the closest movie Dracula to the novel is Christopher Lee, not in the Hammer Dracula series, but in the Spanish-made “Count Dracula” directed by Jess Franco. That’s about the only thing the movie has going for it. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/26 "2011-06-24T13:31:22Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > In Stephen King’s book “The Stand” Harold is a fat, pimply kid. In the movie he’s a skinny, babyfaced Corin Nemic. In the book, Carrie is a fat ugly teenager. In the movie, she is played by thin, gorgeous Sissy Spacek. In the novella, Red is a middle-aged, red-haired Irishman. In the movie, he’s Morgan Freeman! ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/27 "2011-06-24T13:58:50Z")
There was a bad TV adaption in 1980 of Ray Bradbury’s “Martian Chrocnicles” where the character of a fat, unattractive Genevieve Selsor got played by Bernadette Peters who was neither. In the movie “Valley of the Dolls” Anne (Barbara Parkins) does not marry Lyon, they do not have a daughter and rather use “dolls” to stay in drug stupor life, she returns home to New England to be with her grandmother and wholesome small town living. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/28 "2011-06-24T14:03:34Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > Forrest Gump was much nastier, less dumb in the book. Same with Roger Rabbit. And that was the least of the changes that both movies made. ---
**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 24, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/29 "2011-06-24T14:08:40Z")
In translating Roger Zelazny’s _Damnation Alley_ to the screen, the screenwriters changed protagonist Hell Tanner, a Hell’s Angel, to Lieutenant Jack Tanner, an Air Force officer. (I have not actually seen the movie, nor do I plan to. Ever.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/30 "2011-06-24T15:05:55Z")
The character that James Garner played in the adaption of James Michener “Space” was changed from a Republican to a Democrat at Garner’s request. He has been a lifelong supporter of the Democratic party and said his wife would leave him if he played a Republican (the two met at an Adlai Stevenson for President rally and were married 14 days later).[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James\_garner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_garner) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/31 "2011-06-24T17:28:25Z")
I recently saw the original play _A Shot in the Dark,_ and Clouseau bore very little resemblance to the Peter Sellers character – he was quite competent (and less funny and interesting). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/32 "2011-06-24T19:12:31Z")
Hawkeye Pierce in the book, and especially in the real sequels, was a Republican from Maine, not the sensitive new age guy in the TV series. The movie was a lot truer to the original book. Heywood Floyd in Clarke’s 2001 book was a good scientist and a lot different from the bureaucratic nonentity in Kubrick’s movie. The 2010 movie was a lot closer to the real character. In “Murdoch Mysteries” the one hour TV series, Detective Murdoch is a wonderful proto-geek in 1895 Toronto. My wife has read some of the books the show is based on, and there he seems a standard issue Victorian detective. I have the first of the TV movies which predated the series in my Netflix queue, so I’ll see if that is truer to the books. The TV series, btw, is far superior. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/33 "2011-06-24T19:19:15Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Simon Templar, _The Saint_. In the original books he’s a criminal who uses highly illegal methods against the bad guys. He is quite likely to murder them, but only after he has stolen their ill-gotten gains and added it to his own bank balance. That Roger Moore tv show totally missed the whole point of the character, making him a wishy-washy detective. Even the awful Val Kilmer movie was closer, and that’s saying something. True he was definitely a criminal, but he did have a lot of “Robin Hood” tendencies. He mostly robbed/killed people who were themselves particularly nasty criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/34 "2011-06-24T19:30:53Z")
Jason Bourne in the part of the one book I managed to read was this legendary feared-across-asia larger-than-life legend, in the movies, he was just an athletic James Bond. I was REALLY confused reading the book, expecting the movie character. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/35 "2011-06-24T19:45:35Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Physically & behaviorally, the closest movie Dracula to the novel is Christopher Lee, not in the Hammer Dracula series, but in the Spanish-made “Count Dracula” directed by Jess Franco. That’s about the only thing the movie has going for it. I disagree. I stumbled onto this film shortly after it had begun on TV a long time ago, so I hadn’t seen the opening credits and didn’t know what I was watching. I was utterly fascinated. Not only did Lee look right (with the moustache and all), but it castle looked perfect, and they were playing it totally by the book. The first third or half of the film is _excellent_. Then, of course, comes the rest of the film, which more than demolishes the advantages of the beginning. Especially the scene where everyone is scared to death of what are obviously stuffed animals. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/36 "2011-06-24T21:39:45Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > You could say Nigel Bruce’s Dr Watson in the Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes movies was different than what Doyle portrayed him. Although most movie adaptions are more faithful to a a reasonably competent Watson as Doyle described him. See [Without a Clue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Without_a_Clue) in which Watson (Ben Kingsley) employs an unemployed alcoholic actor (Michael Caine) as Sherlock Holmes to solve the crimes in public and act as front man. Very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/37 "2011-06-24T21:44:10Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I used to love the Alistair MacLean thrillers. In the books, his sidekick characters were usually flippant and lovable, but turned into grim, humorless, steely-eyed killers in the movies. I’m thinking primarily of Schaffer in “Where Eagles Dare”. In the book, a source of much needed comic relief. In the movie, nope, not so much. > > The same was true for Ice Station Zebra – the book had some funny lines (including a somewhat amusing twist at the end), while the movie was utterly, completely humorless. I would guess that one of the lines was something like : “He sounded like he believed it. I was glad. I almost believed it myself.”😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/38 "2011-06-24T21:50:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Chevy Chase as Fletch. The books have a hard-boiled sardonic newspaper reporter; the movies have Fletch as a clown. The original “Fletch” movie at least kept the same basic mystery plot as Gregory McDonald’s first book. “Fletch 2” bore no resemblance to ANY of the books. Irwin Fletcher was also supposed to be an ex-Marine who’d served in Viet Nam. Can anyone picture Chevy doing that? ---
**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 24, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/39 "2011-06-24T21:51:14Z")
Deckard is (more or less happily) married in _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/40 "2011-06-24T21:53:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In the book, Carrie is a fat ugly teenager. In the movie, she is played by thin, gorgeous Sissy Spacek. > > In the novella, Red is a middle-aged, red-haired Irishman. In the movie, he’s Morgan Freeman! True… though Sissy was still very plausible as a shy, slightly weird, ostracized misfit. And Morgan Freeman gave one of his best performances as Red. Sometimes great performances are given by actors who don’t quite match what the author intended. To use an example Ive used before, Brian Dennehy and Lee J.Cobb were brilliant as Willy Loman in _ **Death of a Salesman** _ even though they’re both big guys, not the little shrimp Arthur Miller intended Willy to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589.md?page=3)