# 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:** 4
**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:** [July 13, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/61 "2017-07-13T13:59:40Z")
Thomas Tryon’s LADY would be a perfect vehicle for Cybil Shepard, Morgan Freeman and Whoopi Goldberg. ---
**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 13, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/62 "2017-07-13T15:03:36Z")
Heinlein’s _Starship Troopers_ with well-done powered body armor. Maybe Zac Efron as the lead? Martin’s _Tuf Voyaging_, a terrific sf envonmental satire. With maybe, as Martin has himself mused, the actor who plays Varys on _Game of Thrones_, as the lead. Jennings’s historical epic _Aztec_ with a cast of Mexican unknowns (although the book is big enough, it might be better as an HBO miniseries or the like). There could be several great movies drawn from Tolkien’s _Silmarillion_, esp. the tragic romance of Beren and Luthien, and the downfall of Numenor. Jude Law would make a great early Sauron, I think. > [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > A new version of _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ that is true to the spirit of the book, with a cast of terrific, unknown actors. Suits me - but if not unknowns, Keira Knightley or Natalie Portman would be naturals for the Audrey Hepburn role. And no Mr. Yunioshi, please! ---
**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 13, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/63 "2017-07-13T15:40:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Suits me - but if not unknowns, Keira Knightley or Natalie Portman would be naturals for the Audrey Hepburn role. And no Mr. Yunioshi, please! As I mentioned in a different thread, Holly Golightly was 18: [QUOTE=Truman Capote] She was still on the stairs, now she reached the landing, and the ragbag colors of her boy’s hair, tawny streaks, strands of albino-blond and yellow, caught the hall light. It was a warm evening, nearly summer, and she wore a slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker. For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap and lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening in the cheeks. Her mouth was large, her nose upturned. A pair of dark glasses blotted out her eyes. It was a face beyond childhood, yet this side of belonging to a woman. I thought her anywhere between sixteen and thirty; as it turned out, she was shy two months of her nineteenth birthday. [/QUOTE] So Keira Knightley or Natalie Portman may be naturals to play Audrey Hepborn in a remake of the _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ movie, but they would _not_ be suitable for an actual accurate portrayal of the novella. For actresses currently somewhere around the right age to play Holly Golightly, a possible good choice would be Hailee Steinfeld, who played the correct-aged Maddie Ross in the 2010 _True Grit_. I could also see Chloe Grace Moretz or Annasophia Robb in the role (with properly died hair.) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/64 "2017-07-13T16:36:31Z")
For years I’ve wanted an adaptation of Richard Bachman(Stephen King)'s **The Running Man** that actually follows the book. The Arnie version from the 80s uses the title and a few character names and that’s it. Some of the technology would need to be updated. No more mailing physical videotapes to the producers; replace it with uploading videos. You can still work in the cheating by tracking bit. And you could even get in some current social commentary, considering Ben Richard’s reason for volunteering to go on the show was to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. The recent reality game show _Hunted_ had a premise fairly similar to the book’s version of the game, minus the kill-or-be-killed angle, so play up The Running Man as an extreme version of today’s reality competitions. I could see the finale being a little too reminiscent of 9/11 so that may need to change. Ben is an average guy getting by on his wits, not a muscle-bound action star. Someone not known for action, but could be convincing that he can rise to the occasion despite being in over his head, sort of like Matt Damon in the first Bourne film. Can’t think of who right now. ---
**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 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/65 "2017-07-13T17:04:46Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > For years I’ve wanted an adaptation of Richard Bachman(Stephen King)'s **The Running Man** that actually follows the book. The Arnie version from the 80s uses the title and a few character names and that’s it. > > Some of the technology would need to be updated. No more mailing physical videotapes to the producers; replace it with uploading videos. You can still work in the cheating by tracking bit. > And you could even get in some current social commentary, considering Ben Richard’s reason for volunteering to go on the show was to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. The recent reality game show _Hunted_ had a premise fairly similar to the book’s version of the game, minus the kill-or-be-killed angle, so play up The Running Man as an extreme version of today’s reality competitions. I could see the finale being a little too reminiscent of 9/11 so that may need to change. > > Ben is an average guy getting by on his wits, not a muscle-bound action star. Someone not known for action, but could be convincing that he can rise to the occasion despite being in over his head, sort of like Matt Damon in the first Bourne film. Can’t think of who right now. You can sometimes see where King lifted his ideas from, and Robert Sheckley was convinced that King got the inspiration for **The Running Man** from his 1958 story _The Prize of Peril_. He never went to court over it, but he did call up other SF writers like Harlan Ellison to get their opinions about it, and was in a moral quandary about whether he’d been consciously or unconsciously ripped off. > **[The Prize of Peril](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prize_of_Peril)** > > "The Prize of Peril" is a science fiction short story by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in May 1958 and first collected in Store of Infinity in 1960 by Bantam Books. The short story is noted for its plot's anticipation of reality television shows such as Survivor and Fear Factor by several decades. > The protagonist of the story is Jim Raeder, a man notable only for his normality, who has been a participant in many reality television shows (giv... In any case, Sheckley’s story has twice been filmed, only not in the US. It was adaped as \*Der Millionenspiel \* for German TV in 1970 and as _Le Prix du Danger_ in France in 1983 > **[Das Millionenspiel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Millionenspiel)** > > Das Millionenspiel ("The Game of Millions" or "Chance for a Million") is a 1970 German action/sci-fi television film, directed by Tom Toelle and starring Jörg Pleva, Suzanne Roquette and Dieter Thomas Heck. It was aired by ARD (broadcaster) on 18 October 1970. Wolfgang Menge wrote the screenplay, adapting the short story "The Prize of Peril" by the American writer Robert Sheckley. Wolfgang Menge and Tom Toelle received the 1971 Prix Italia for best television movie. > Das Millionenspiel ("The Game... > **[Le prix du danger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_prix_du_danger)** > > Le Prix du Danger (The Prize of Peril) is a 1983 French-Yugoslav science fiction movie, directed by Yves Boisset. It is based on Robert Sheckley's short story "The Prize of Peril", published in 1958. > In the most popular television game show of the near future, regular people volunteer to be hunted by a team of five pursuers who are also volunteers. If they survive, they get an enormous cash prize, but no one has managed to survive the game show. A new volunteer needs the money to support his fa... Both of these feature more of an Everyman trying to survive on a sadistic high-stakes TV “reality” game with his life on the line, just as you request. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/66 "2017-07-13T22:21:00Z")
Robert Heinlein’s _The Rolling Stones_. I think you could do this on a relatively modest budget. I have no idea who to cast for the big roles, but I want Maggie Smith to play Grandma Hazel. Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories. 30 years ago, David Bowie would have been perfect for the role. Today, . . . Benedict Cumberbatch, perhaps? _The Lost World_ (Arthur Conan Doyle’s, not Michael Crichton’s) I liked the recent John Carter movie, and I wish Disney would do more. How about some of Burrough’s other works, like Venus or Pellucidar? Doc Savage. Poul Anderson’s _Fire Time_. ---
**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 14, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/67 "2017-07-14T11:58:26Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Robert Heinlein’s _The Rolling Stones_. I think you could do this on a relatively modest budget. I have no idea who to cast for the big roles, but I want Maggie Smith to play Grandma Hazel. > _The Lost World_ (Arthur Conan Doyle’s, not Michael Crichton’s) > Doc Savage. There actually have been several adaptations of **The Lost World** made for TV in the past two decades. None of them are completely accurate, but they get parts of it very well. Incidentally, the original 1925 silent version of _The Lost World_ is actually pretty good, and had Doyle’s approval. The problem is that the original film was badly butchered so that only about half of it survived. Since 2000,however, there have been TWO restorations of the film to better than 95% of its original content, using material taken from film archives all over the world. One is by Eastman House (and, for no good reason that I can see, is an extra on the DVD of the awful 1960 version). The other is made by disgruntled fans when Eastman House wouldn’t release its restored version. Critics seem to prefer the Eastman House version. I much prefer the other. The movie is best appreciated while reading **The Annotated Lost World** (written before either restored version was released), with annotations by Roy Pilot and Alvin Rodin > **[The Annotated Lost World: Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir: 9780938501237: Amazon.com:...](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-World-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/0938501232)** > > The Annotated Lost World \[Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Annotated Lost World A new Doc Savage film has been in the works for years. Here’s a 2013 piece on it: [http://screenrant.com/doc-savage-character-plot-details-shade-black/](http://screenrant.com/doc-savage-character-plot-details-shade-black/) ---
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/68 "2017-07-14T19:29:34Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson with Steven Yuen as Hiro, and Makenzie Davis as Y T. Yes! Makenzie Davis was so awesome in Halt and Catch Fire ---
**Author:** ![jimdigritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jimdigritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimdigritz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/69 "2017-07-14T19:33:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 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. You know, most books I read as screenplays however I was never able to visualize the Hyperion on the screen, this is probably more to do with my lack of vision than the adapt-worthiness of the text. Good call! ---
**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 14, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/70 "2017-07-14T20:06:00Z")
> [@jimdigritz](#): > > You know, most books I read as screenplays however I was never able to visualize the Hyperion on the screen, this is probably more to do with my lack of vision than the adapt-worthiness of the text. There is of course a plot element in the first two books where two characters in two tales turn out to be the same person that works because you don’t actually see them in the book and I have no idea how they would manage to preserve that plot twist on a series. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/71 "2017-07-14T20:25:43Z")
My own. Because then I’d be rich. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/72 "2017-07-14T20:37:05Z")
I’d love to see Daniel O’Malley’s **The Rook** with Emily Blunt as Myfanwy Thomas. ---
**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 15, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/73 "2017-07-15T14:49:44Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > . . . Blue eyed 5’10" white boy Craig as brown-eyed, multiracial, 6’2" Wu? :dubious: > Why _him_? I couldn’t think of an actor who _looked_ like Louis Wu, but Daniel Craig can certainly _act_ like him. The role needs someone who can do adventurous, wry, shrewd, and smart, and he can’t be too young. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/74 "2017-07-15T15:19:23Z")
Would love to see “Repairman Jack” made into a movie. (“The Tomb” was the opening title in the series.) Over the years I’ve pictured John Cusak or Ed Norton in the lead, but they’re both too old now. Hard to cast a character who has as a big part of his schtick the cultivation of “anti-presence”. He _wants_ to be the guy you can’t describe five minutes after he’s left. ---
**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 17, 2017, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/75 "2017-07-17T07:56:56Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > The role needs someone who can do adventurous, wry, shrewd, With you here… > [@](#): > > and smart …aaand you lost me. Maybe it’s the permanent pout, but Craig never projects “smart” to me (one reason I found him miscast as Lord Asriel in _The Golden Compass_ and Mikael Blomkvist in _The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo_) ---
**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 17, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/76 "2017-07-17T09:21:08Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Martin’s _Tuf Voyaging_, a terrific sf envonmental satire. With maybe, as Martin has himself mused, the actor who plays Varys on _Game of Thrones_, as the lead. Perfect! I’ve always imagined him played by a “that guy!” character actor. M Emmit Walsh is probably too old and John Polito a bit too Italian. Oooh, oooh-- how 'bout Stephen Tobolowski? Nah, Conleth Hill does seem perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/77 "2017-07-17T15:00:23Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > . > > Andy Serkis can do both Nessus and Speaker to Animals. As long as they ignore the “Puppeteers talk like Marylin Monroe” thing. That may work in a book, where you can forget it, but having them talk like that for a whole movie would be way too distracting. Heck, make the Kzinti talk like that. Would be quite the contrast. Eight foot orange cats that sound like femme fatales. Kathleen Turner IS Speaker to Animals! ---
**Author:** ![anij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@anij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anij)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/78 "2017-07-18T14:28:46Z")
I’d love to see Nalini Singhs Guild Hunter series on the screen, but I doubt that it could be done properly with real people. So I would think an anime would be best way doing it… ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/79 "2017-07-18T17:30:43Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’d love to see Daniel O’Malley’s **The Rook** with Emily Blunt as Myfanwy Thomas. Isn’t Myfanwy of Indian heritage (though her name is Welsh)? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-see-made-into-movies-and-who-would-you-cast/241934/80 "2017-07-18T19:26:05Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Isn’t Myfanwy of Indian heritage (though her name is Welsh)? I’ve scanned through and searched my copy, and I can’t find any reference to her being either Indian or Pakistani. Her physical description goes like this: > [@](#): > > _I am nondescript,_ she thought. _Nondescript features with shoulder length dark hair. Hmm._ She opened the robe and looked critically at her body. > > _Lots of adjectives beginning with the letter S are appropriate here,_ she thought grimly. _Short. Scrawny. Small breasts. Skinned knees_ (although presumably those were only temporary). She remembered something from the letter and felt along the inside of her left thigh. A small hard scar. _From falling out of a tree and impaling this leg at the age of nine,_ she thought. Her body was not particularly fit-looking but seemed blessedly free of cellulite. Shaved legs. a conservative and recent bikini wax. More bruises had risen to the surface, but they didn’t conceal the fact that she was not possessed of an especially sexy body. _I think I could do better,_ she thought. _I won’t be able to hit the level of Hot, but I might be able to manage Cute. If I have a big enough budget._ And there’s a bit in Chapter 18, from a letter to herself, that says, “You’re part Welsh, did you know that? I mean, our family moved out of Wales a few generations ago, and though we probably have relatives scattered around somewhere, I don’t recall ever meeting them.” [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=3) [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=5)