# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/61 "2011-06-26T04:13:25Z")
According to Ian Fleming’s description, James Bond looks like [this](http://www.npr.org/assets/music/news/2009/11/carmichael.jpg?t=1258568515). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/62 "2011-06-26T04:37:50Z")
In Carl Sagan’s _Contact_ the character of Palmer Joss is a 50-ish world weary autodidact whose resume includes everything from being a tattooed man in a carnival to revivalist minister who enjoys an increasingly close platonic friendship with Ellie Arroway. In the movie he’s played by a (then) 20 something Matthew McConaughey as an idealistic and horny theology doctoral student who has a one night stand with Ellie followed by her never calling him back, then comes into contact with her again years later. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/63 "2011-06-26T04:38:50Z")
In the movie version of _LA Confidential_, the 3 main detectives are basically seeking redemption in one way or another. In James Elroy’s book, they and every other cop are corrupt and evil, and never seek redemption let alone find it. I’ve read most of his books, and I don’t think there is a single character in any of them who could be called heroic or even “good”. The closest he comes are with his victims, who are basically helpless sheep for slaughter. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/64 "2011-06-26T04:47:34Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Well in the book the plot bunny is about a magic tea kettle, and the toons in question are doppelgangers that they are able to split off to do the stunt work that involves violence - the dopples have a 24 hour lifespan then they go poof. If memory serves the plot does not involve toon town at all, it is a search for the genii containing kettle that was bought to be a prop and Roger took home. [I have not read the book in about 10 years, though I own it I have no idea where it is, out in the barn in a box I would assume.] The book isn’t even the same story. It’s just that the characters happen to have the same name. Heck, they even changed the title, since the original is _Who Censored Roger Rabbit?_ and Roger is the not the suspect, but the victim. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/65 "2011-06-26T07:41:07Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > According to Ian Fleming’s description, James Bond looks like [this](http://www.npr.org/assets/music/news/2009/11/carmichael.jpg?t=1258568515). Yeah, I think [this](http://hoagy.com/images/pics/early_headshot_sm.jpg) is more the sort of image he had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/66 "2011-06-26T14:44:10Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > **Dutch Schultz** (the main gangster) in **Billy Bathgate**. In Doctorow’s novel he is an overweight, overbearing, uneducated, loudmouth slob. I got a picture of Tom Sizemore in my mind’s eye while reading it. The film cast Dustin Hoffman who played it low key, neatly coiffed, and somewhat pensive. Completely different. Of course Dutch Schultz was a real and well-known person, and the Doctorow version was closer to the mark apparently. [Dutch](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=932&PIpi=3994674) [Schultz](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_e3BsDt7_O88/SYMuS78lnWI/AAAAAAAAfes/uhlBw2W856I/s400/P__Dutch+Schultz.jpg). I suppose I could see Sizemore. Though now days he’d be getting a little long in the tooth ( as is Hoffman ). The Dutchman was apparently only 33 when he was gunned down. He rose fast and died relatively young. Actually IMO [Otto ‘Abbadabba’ Berman](http://0.tqn.com/d/crime/1/0/T/d/otto_berman2.jpg) looked even less like his actor counterpart. Steven Hill was 69 when he made that film and Abbadabba died around age 43-55 ( his birth date seems uncertain ). ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/67 "2011-06-26T15:12:03Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > How about Temperance Brennan of “Bones”? In the books she’s divorced, has a daughter in college and splits her time working in both Canada and the US. The TV character has NOTHING to do with the Tempe in the novels. Yeah, but she’s _Emily Deschanel_. Your argument is invalid. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/68 "2011-06-26T20:10:08Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > According to Ian Fleming’s description, James Bond looks like [this](http://www.npr.org/assets/music/news/2009/11/carmichael.jpg?t=1258568515). True, he mentions Hoagy Carmichael, but maybe not that particular photograph. For the films I believe he preferred David Niven, who is actually mentioned by name in _You Only Live Twice_. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/69 "2011-06-26T20:12:18Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Yeah, I think [this](http://hoagy.com/images/pics/early_headshot_sm.jpg) is more the sort of image he had in mind. Yes! That’s what I meant.Should have read through the thread first. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/70 "2011-06-26T20:50:55Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > In “The Maltese Falcon,” Sam Spade is referred to as a “pleasant blond Satan” with the same frequency that Clark Kent is called “mild mannered” and Doc Savage is imputed to have a " piano wire chest". Bogie fails on at least two counts. Cagney might have made a better Sam Spade. > > In “Jaws,” Richard Dreyfus’s character is kind of cuddly and benign. In sthe book, IIRC, he’s fucking Sheriff Brody’s wife. Dreyfuss’ Hooper is also unmistakeably an urban Jew. In the book, Hooper was supposed to be a preppy WASP. That’s one reason he appealed to Ellen Brody- he was of her socio-economic class, and her cop husband wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/71 "2011-06-26T21:38:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > In Carl Sagan’s _Contact_ the character of Palmer Joss is a 50-ish world weary autodidact whose resume includes everything from being a tattooed man in a carnival to revivalist minister who enjoys an increasingly close platonic friendship with Ellie Arroway. Am I the only person to have noticed that while the name “Ellie Arroway” might look good in print, it’s difficult to say? Unless it’s carefully enunciated, it sounds like a stomach noise. (pause) As much as I adore Jodie Foster, and her performance in Contact, the book was far superior to the movie. . ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/72 "2011-06-26T21:44:08Z")
In the original book “Mute Witness”, Frank Bullitt is a middle-age Boston cop who likes ice cream. They sexed him up a little for the movie “Bullitt.” That’s what I read somewhere- haven’t actually read the book. . ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/73 "2011-06-26T23:34:52Z")
practically all the 9 walkers in the lord of the rings trilogy were incorrectly portrayed in the movie, except maybe for the two hobbits merry and pippin. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/74 "2011-06-27T01:03:07Z")
In the books, Tarzan could fly airplanes and drove fast cars. At one point he’s kicking back in his mansion in England smoking a pipe before he returns to the jungle. Frankenstein’s monster of the book was fast, agile, and well spoken, unlike the lumbering idiot of the films. IIRC, Shelley said he was 8 feet tall and carried firearms. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/75 "2011-06-27T01:13:51Z")
at least in one movie version, i remember the monster attempt to speak french and play the fiddle. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/76 "2011-06-27T04:21:44Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Frankenstein’s monster of the book was fast, agile, and well spoken, unlike the lumbering idiot of the films. IIRC, Shelley said he was 8 feet tall and carried firearms. Oh, yeah, I remember that great line in the original novel: > [@Notmary Shelley](#): > > Frankenstein stared at the handful of peasants who ringed him, brandishing pitchforks and torches. “Die, Monster!” and similar unpleasant imprecations were heard as they approached him. > > Frankenstein calmly reached inside his jacket and pulled out his favorite pistol, a pearl-handled Colt six-shooter and aimed it calmly at the nearest peasant, then at another. > > BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! echoed through the dark Transylvanian woods, silencing even the howling of the werewolves for a few seconds. > > “Fire good!” laughed the monster as he holstered the gun, surrounded now by a crowd of dead peasants. It’s a Hollywood six shooter. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/77 "2011-06-27T04:26:09Z")
Peter Fallow in _Bonfire of the Vanities._ Wolfe wrote this character as a pretentious British journalist hell-bent on slandering Sherman McCoy and American society in general. In the movie, he’s played by Bruce Willis as a wisecracking, friendly New York reporter who winds up extending a hand of sympathy to McCoy (who was, himself, played all too sympathetically by Tom Hanks.) In all fairness, it’s damn hard to adapt a Tom Wolfe novel into a movie; his characters are far too unlikable to ever carry a mainstream film. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/78 "2011-06-27T07:10:29Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Oh, yeah, I remember that great line in the original novel: > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Notmary Shelley > Frankenstein stared at the handful of peasants who ringed him, brandishing pitchforks and torches. “Die, Monster!” and similar unpleasant imprecations were heard as they approached him. > > Frankenstein calmly reached inside his jacket and pulled out his favorite pistol, a pearl-handled Colt six-shooter and aimed it calmly at the nearest peasant, then at another. > > BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! echoed through the dark Transylvanian woods, silencing even the howling of the werewolves for a few seconds. > > “Fire good!” laughed the monster as he holstered the gun, surrounded now by a crowd of dead peasants. > > It’s a Hollywood six shooter. Um… This novel mainly took place in Geneva and Ingoldstadt. There were other locales, none of them in Transylvania. Also, you forgot the part where he took his revolver up to his lips and coolly blew the smoke out of the end of the barrel. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2011, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/79 "2011-06-27T08:07:16Z")
IIRC, they basically switched the boy and girl characters in bringing “Jurassic Park” to the screen - something about wanting the girl to be the computer whiz, contrary to early '90s stereotypes about boy computer geeks. BTW, I’m amazed to learn that “Mr. Belvedere” was inspired by a book! ---
**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 27, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589/80 "2011-06-27T19:47:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > In the books, Tarzan could fly airplanes and drove fast cars. At one point he’s kicking back in his mansion in England smoking a pipe before he returns to the jungle. In one of the books the real Tarzan is considered for the role of Tarzan in a movie and is rejected. And let’s not forget Susan Calvin - a repressed robopsychologist in the stories, a beautiful pistol-packing momma in that travesty of a movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-different-character-in-book-versus-movie-tv/586589.md?page=5)