Making movies from books

[dukeloath]

What are your views on making movies into books? Is this generally a good thing or do you think it is always a failure and should never be attempted? What movies do you think have successfully represented the books they are based on?

Here's mine for starters:

Clockwork Orange
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (what a performance by Depp)
The Shining
The Lord of the Rings
American Psycho (even though the film is more black comedy than the book it is still a great movie)

[dukeloath]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - anyone spot the typo?! Of course I meant making books into movies. Does anyone know of a movie that has been made into a book??!!

[knightss]

generally the book is much better than the movie.. but it has it's reasons. scenes generally get cut due to exspenses and movie length. i enjoy watching movies of books i have read because it's nice to see what someone else thought the scene should looked like in there mind. I'm interested to see how ender's game is portrayed on the big screen... it comes out in 2008.

[sleepydumpling]

I would say the book is usually much better than the movie not only because of portions that have to be cut for time and budget constraints, but also because your imagination is so much stronger, much more vivid than a movie could ever be. So when you read a book, you fill in the details with your own imagination, memories and sensations.

I do think it can be done well, and also think it's a useful way to get people reading who otherwise may not. My own brother would never have read a book if it wasn't for picking up The Fugitive after seeing the movie, and he was hooked from that point on.

Some of my favourites include Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sense and Sensibility (adapated by Emma Thompson), The Commitments (Roddy Doyle), Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (though it was a broad adaptation!)...

[DuchessAngel37]

The thing that bothers me most about some books being made into movies is not when they cut things due to time or whatever, but when they change something completely.

For instance, The Devil Wears Prada. I loved the book, loved the comedic aspect of it, and everyone can related to the boss from hell.

The movie wasn't bad, but really, why did they have to change the boyfriend from a teacher to a chef? It made NO difference to the storyline.

It seems lame, but it really really bugs me.

[Tmritz]

The books are always better. The human mind is more vivid and creative than film can ever show.

Do I think that books to movies is always a failure? No. Sometimes the movies are really good and for non-readers if the story is GREAT then at lest they get to see a GREAT story in a good Film.

Books are time consuming. I am a slow reader and don?t have a great deal of me time. So for non-readers that want a good story I say give them film.

[bplayfuli]

The books usually are better, but occasionally they get it right. There are a few that come to mind. . .

Forrest Gump - I actually prefer the movie, although they left out the part where he goes into space with the female cosmonaut and the ape. That would have been hard to film and a bit too over the top, though.

Apocalypse Now - A brilliant adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The version I saw recently had extra scenes of Brando reading TS Elliot's The Hollow Men. It gave me chills.

The Lord of the Rings. As a fan of the trilogy since before puberty, I believe Jackson would have been lynched had he screwed up Middle Earth. I really appreciate his great care & attention to detail.

Girl, Interrupted. Loved the movie, so/so on the book. But then again, I love anything with Angelina in it!

I also like The Hours, A Clockwork Orange, and The Virgin Suicides.

[bplayfuli]

PS I also agree on Fear and Loathing. Did you know Johnny Depp is also starring in "The Rum Diaries" as an earlier version of Hunter Thompson? I can't wait to see it. I may love Johnny even more than Angelina. I really like Thompson's writing, as well, although Rum Diaries is not my favorite.

I also thought The Hours was a great movie & very true to the spirit of the book.

[DuchessAngel37]

LOTR was just AMAZING! I didn't think I would like it, as it was one of those books where you could easily jack it up when making it into a movie, but ten minutes in and I was hooked. I was so enveloped in the world that is Middle Earth that I didn't even feel like I was watching a movie. I loved the Lothlorien set, and Rivendall, they were just beautiful.

[dukeloath]

[quote="bplayfuli"]
Apocalypse Now - A brilliant adaptation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The version I saw recently had extra scenes of Brando reading TS Elliot's The Hollow Men. It gave me chills.
quote]

I have not read the book but i look forward to it, does the TS Elliot reading appear in the original book?

Also, thanks for the info re. The Rum Diaries. I had no idea this was being filmed and I have a child-like (waiting for christmas) excitement about this...

[bplayfuli]

No, The Elliot isn't in Conrad's story, which stemmed from a trip he took to the Congo in 1890. It was T.S. Elliot who quoted Heart of Darkness in The Hollow Men, which is probably why it was used in the movie. I think the connection is this image of the soulless man, who sees life in terms of what can be gained materially without regard for the harm done to others. When Brando (as Kurtz) reads the Hollow Men he is referring to the military, which sent him out to be a killer. They now want him dead not b/c of the moral wrong his is doing, but because they can no longer control him. In Conrad's novel, the "hollow men" are those who only see the Congo in terms of financial gain. They had no objection to atrocity so long as it didn't affect their profits.

Hope that wasn't too long! One of my interests in literature is the intertext, when one work references another. This includes the movies that are made about the works as well. Plus, Conrad is a must read. His work is reference quit often in film & literature.

PS. I'm excited about Rum Diaries too, although it is a younger and not quite so eccentic version of Hunter S rather than "Raoul Duke." I think Depp will do it well. He knew him pretty well, after all.

[Linda]

Fear and Loathing made me laugh so hard. but i think making books into movies can ruin or make things better. If i have a really clear picture in my head of what everything looks like or how the characters are movies can ruin that. Sometimes though movies only inhance the stories with the music and visiuals its easier to get lost in a story.

[Rebeca Darklight]

I normally hate the movies made out of books, I always find something wrong and even the smaller details bother me, hahaha. I love LOTR though, Peter Jackson was amazing and some of the scenes leave me with my mouth wide open in awe. A true work of love.

I have only liked one movie more than the book, "A very long engagement" (Un long dimanche de fian?ailles) by S?bastien Japrisot, made into a movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I really liked the movie so when I saw the book in a bookstore I decided to buy it. The book is not bad, no, but the movie is so much better in my opinion, beautifully done.

[Linda]

i loved A Very Long Engagement. i always enjoy like indie flims and Independent flims and ones that win awards at like sundance but everyone in my family only watch movies that have been in movie theaters. i made my sister watch A Very Long Engagement with me and she couldn't get over the fact that it had subtitles... but i loved it.

[Rebeca Darklight]

I'm alone in that department too, although for us is normal that every movie has subtitles, but since everyone speaks English here, people prefer movies in that language so they can understand them better and movies in French or other languages are not that popular. Although, A very long engagement and Am?lie had a huge audience when they came out.

Another book I liked how it was traslated to the screen was The Godfather. The book was ok in my opinion, but the movie is very powerful.