# What books would you like to see made into movies- and who would you cast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934 "2004-04-25T17:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/41 "2017-07-12T18:47:41Z")
After resurrecting another ancient thread I stumbled on this 2004 thread I participated in. It’s about what books would make great screenplays/movies/tv series, 13 years later I’ve run through the first dozen or so to see what predictions actually made it! Gore Vidal’s \*\*Burr \*\*- nothing planned to date Anne Tyler’s \*\*Searching for Caleb \*\*- nothing planned to date Joseph Heller’s \*\*God Knows \*\*- nothing planned to date \*\*Good Omens \*\*- BBC to adapt in 2017 [Good Omens: BBC and Amazon adapt Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's cult novel for TV](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2017/01/19/good-omens-bbc-amazon-adapt-neil-gaiman-terry-pratchetts-cult/) **The Da Vinci Code** - Released in 2006, with Tom Hanks rather than Harrison Ford in the lead role O Henry’s \*\*The Gift Of The Magi \*\*- nothing, other than this play adaptation [https://www.playscripts.com/play/1873](https://www.playscripts.com/play/1873) **Vampire$** by John Steakley - The novel served as the basis for the 1998 film John Carpenter’s Vampires, nothing new planned to date **Sunset Boulevard (Remake)** - this is apparently in development (as of 2016) [Everything You Need to Know About Sunset Boulevard Movie (Development)](https://www.movieinsider.com/m2861/sunset-boulevard) **Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About** - nothing planned to date \*\*Dark Tower Series \*\*- Movie series starting 2017 "The Dark Tower by Stephen King. “There’s no WAY they can cram those books into a movie or a mini-series. And I could see Timothy Dalton as Roland.” - **ivylass** April 2004 \*\*Outlander \*\*by Diana Gabaldon - Premiered in 2014 **First Man of Rome** by Colleen McCullough - nothing planned to date Donna Tartt’s **The Secret History** - The rights have reverted to Tartt who has so far refused to sell them. Fredric Brown’s \*\*Arena \*\*- nothing planned to date Roger Zelazny’s **Lord of Light** - nothing planned, however [How Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light transformed into the CIA's Argo covert op | Boing Boing](http://boingboing.net/2012/10/16/how-roger-zelaznys-lord-of-l.html) I’ll run through the other suggestions in the thread and update later! Feel free to review/correct any yourselves! Jim ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/42 "2017-07-12T19:14:57Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > …_The Dark Tower_ by Stephen King. There’s no WAY they can cram those books into a movie or a mini-series. And I could see Timothy Dalton as Roland. Looks like it’s gonna be Idris Elba: [The Dark Tower (2017 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(2017_film)) > [@KarlGauss](#): > > [Replay](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068816112X/qid=1083040127/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1819736-3289449?v=glance&s=books) by Ken Grimwood. One of my all time favourites which I can’t believe hasn’t been made into a movie (AFAIK). > > I don’t want to spoil it, but will say it’s about a guy who gets to re-live his life again, and again, … > > How about Edward Norton in the lead? I like the book very much, and could see Norton in the role. Or maybe Hugh Laurie, Ben Affleck or Matt Damon? [QUOTE=jimdigritz;4798921…\*\*The Forever War, Joe Haldeman. The classic sci-fi book essentially commentating on issues that the author faced in the Vietnam war. William Mandella sould be played by… Joaquim Pheonix??..[/QUOTE] Another good book, but I have a mental image of someone a bit sturdier in the role - maybe Clive Owen or Gerard Butler? > [@Mal\_Adroit](#): > > …with Kenneth Branagh in the lead > …_The 39 Steps_ by John Buchan (remake, obviously)… Great idea! You probably knew he was going to direct and play Hercule Poirot in the upcoming remake of _Murder on the Orient Express_: [Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_on_the_Orient_Express_(2017_film)) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/43 "2017-07-12T19:28:32Z")
I read a book about an IQ reducing disease waaaaay back in the mid '80s that was both funny and frightening and I thought about it often-- until Idiocracy filled the “people are \* really\* getting stupider by the second” niche in my brain. [Looks like I’m not the only one who read !Q 83](http://deadline.com/2014/10/steve-carell-charlie-kaufman-i-q-83-viral-outbreaks-dumbs-down-world-857713/). If ever there was an actor who could play slowly getting stupider and stupider, it’s Steve Carell. ---
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/44 "2017-07-12T19:31:02Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I read a book about an IQ reducing disease waaaaay back in the mid '80s that was both funny and frightening and I thought about it often-- until Idiocracy filled the “people are \* really\* getting stupider by the second” niche in my brain. > > [Looks like I’m not the only one who read !Q 83](http://deadline.com/2014/10/steve-carell-charlie-kaufman-i-q-83-viral-outbreaks-dumbs-down-world-857713/). If ever there was an actor who could play slowly getting stupider and stupider, it’s Steve Carell. For some reason when I read Arthur Herzog, it’s in the very precise Teutonic voice of Werner Herzog… ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/45 "2017-07-12T20:13:35Z")
A new version of _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ that is true to the spirit of the book, with a cast of terrific, unknown actors. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/46 "2017-07-12T20:30:48Z")
\*\*What books would you like to see made into movies- and who would you cast? \*\* An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. By Ambrose Bierce. Starring; Matthew McConaughey. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/47 "2017-07-12T21:07:23Z")
In another thread someone mentioned that Disney was planning on doing live action versions of all their animated movies including Black Cauldron. For those that don’t know Black Cauldron was basically the Disney animated version of the first book of the Prydain series. I’m hoping that if they do remake BC they’ll do as good a job as they did on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/48 "2017-07-12T21:32:12Z")
_Neuromancer_ with Rami Malek as Case _Johannes Cabal the Necromancer_ with Matt Smith as Johannes Cabal ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/49 "2017-07-12T21:49:30Z")
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson with Steven Yuen as Hiro, and Makenzie Davis as Y T. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/50 "2017-07-12T22:17:06Z")
No surprise here - **Ringworld**. With Daniel Craig as Louis Wu and Lara Pulver as Teela Brown. Andy Serkis can do both Nessus and Speaker to Animals. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/51 "2017-07-12T22:28:49Z")
Ubik. I know Gondry was going to try it recently, but that fell through. I don’t have any specific ideas for casting, but for some reason Tom Hanks springs to mind as Joe Chip, maybe Zoe Saldana as Pat, some Alfred E. Newman-appearing type of young actor as Jory. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/52 "2017-07-12T22:44:09Z")
I mostly hate books that I like being made into movies because the script monkey hacks do such a terrible job on it. But if it could be well done, I’d like to see Dan Simmon’s Hyperion Cantos turned into a cable series. Probably need at least one season per book to do it justice. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/53 "2017-07-12T23:49:08Z")
Interesting Zombie thread, and a lot still relevant. Here are a few others: **Rendezvous with Rama** – I think you could make a great flick out of this. Morgan Freeman has been trying to get one off the ground for years, and , if he ever gets it going, he can star in it. I have no strong feelings about the casting. **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** – I’d still like to see this filmed as written. We’ve had two films that were just star vehicles (Will Rogers and Bing Crosby) and didn’t come close to correctly interpreting Twain. There have been a few TV adaptations that reworked the script so much that it was a completely different story (and one was on PBS!) And there have been a lot of movies that took the basic idea of a modern-day person dropped into Camelot without even trying to do Twain ( _A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Unidentified Flying Oddball, A Knight in Camelot_, etc. etc.) I think the moviemakers are freaked out about offending the Catholic Church, but you can do this, nonetheless, without rancor. I want to see Merlin’s Tower blown up by Hank Morgan! I want to see the Magic of Restoring the Holy Fountain, fireworks and all! I want to see KIng Arthur’s knights riding to the rescue on bicycles! **The Stars my Destination** – it has a _killer_ opening, and I think it can be done. **This Island Earth** – it’s not the greatest SF novel, but it’s better than the 1950s film of the same name. For the film, they basically jettisoned everything after the first couple of chapters and wrote their own script based, I suspect, from simply looking at SF magazine covers. I’d like to see an adaptation that does justice to Raymond F. Jones while still using some of the iconic imagery of the film. Tricky, but I think it can be managed. And I still want to see a decent film made out of Fredric Brown’s **Arena** , dammit! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/54 "2017-07-13T00:00:23Z")
metrophage by Richard khardey …itd have to be cgi/computer animated because no one could afford the effects that it would require … ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/55 "2017-07-13T00:21:30Z")
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s _The Valley of Fear._ Cannot think of casting; I had thought of Saiorse Ronan and some other people but don’t think they would be suitable. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/56 "2017-07-13T02:58:58Z")
This might deserve its own thread, but I’d LOVE to see PIXAR do PTerry’s _Discworld Series_ using the Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby drawings as models for the characters. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/57 "2017-07-13T03:52:26Z")
Stephen Hawking as Miles Vorkosigan. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/58 "2017-07-13T07:31:29Z")
I’d like movie versions of Le Guin’s _Left Hand of Darkness_ and the framing story (Stone Telling’s biography) of _Always Coming Home_, and Cherryh’s _Chanur’s Pride_. > [@teela\_brown](#): > > Daniel Craig as Louis Wu . Blue eyed 5’10" white boy Craig as brown-eyed, multiracial, 6’2" Wu? :dubious: Why _him_? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/59 "2017-07-13T07:35:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > This might deserve its own thread, but I’d LOVE to see PIXAR do PTerry’s _Discworld Series_ using the Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby drawings as models for the characters. I’d prefer [Aardman](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKCOQ81ZC4U/VBtRo8MCGZI/AAAAAAAAF-A/ClV06NNcEYw/s1600/Pirates-7.jpg) or [Laika](http://www.rotoscopers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/boxtrolls-still-teaser-trailer-family.png) did it. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/60 "2017-07-13T08:44:58Z")
I never would’ve said House of Leaves before… but now I think it might have a shot if Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) directed it. No strong casting opinions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934.md?page=4)