Books We'd Love To Be Movies

[Starleigh]

To go along with the LM Montgomery love, I think a mini series version of her Emily series would be awesome. I've lost count of how many Anne of Green Gables versions there are, at this point, most of them sadly disappointing. Why not branch out a bit? 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Not to keep nitpicking about this, but I really think they should have kept Kathleen as a sex phone operator, instead of using a webcam as has been reported for the adaptation of Brazen Virtue. Why? Because it was the voice of the victims that drew in the killer and (spoilering for those that haven't read the book)

the second victim that Jerald killed was an overweight, unattractive woman and he felt cheated because she had such a sexy voice that reminded him of Desiree (Kathleen). So the use of a webcam wouldn't work for her. Unless they'll not have him as a serial killer and leave it as him just killing Kathleen and that's it.

Which would be utterly stupid.

But I know, I'm jumping ahead and assuming. But I'm just going to wait and see if my other friends, real and virtual who are planning to watch, have to say and then watch myself if it's a good adaptation. Sorry, but I've been burned too many times.

[tres bien]

I'm putting this backwards. 

Not too long ago I watched the movie Juliet,  Naked on Epix. It's a sweet and funny story and I didn't know it had been adapted from a Nick Hornby book. Although Hornby didn't write the screenplay. 

I'm now reading the book and true to form for many of Hornby's books it has it's laugh out loud funny moments and has it's share of quirky characters. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by tres bien

[Spartan Girl]

I would love to see an adaptation of Caroline B. Clooney’s Goddess of Yesterday, one of my favorite Trojan War retellings. Helen of Troy is so much more compelling as an evil queen than a whiny little pawn. Lena Headey would be perfect for the part! 

[Robert Lynch]

So many, but I would have liked to see Catcher in The Rye on the big screen. I always thought probably once Jacob Tremblay gets to be 17 like the main character, he would be the perfect choice to play the pessimistic Holden Caulfield. I know Salinger didn't want his work on the screen due to various reasons, but it would been neat to see it happen now that he passed away a few years ago. It'll be interesting to hear 50s music in a 50s setting.

[nokat]

On 11/5/2020 at 8:14 AM, DearEvette said:

Yeah,  adaptations are such a crapshoot.  I think the only time they can really work is if the creative in charge has a real love of the original work and understand its importance to the fandom and has some level of creative control over the output. 

I was super skeptical about the adaptation that Shonda Rhimes is doing for Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series on Netflix.  But from some stuff I read, she actually read the books and loved them.  And then the casting came out and I started to feel better.  And them we got pics and a trailer and now I am very excited.

Same with the Wheel of Time Adaptation.  Long past time, honestly.  But that series is what, 14 books long?  And has a huge cast and covers majors ground and has some major lag in the middle.  But again, the casting news started trickling out and the creators sound like they have read the books and understand what makes for good tv while keeping the core story and characters.  I must say the casting so far has been a revelation and the look of the actors completely fit the characters so I am also cautiously optimistic there.

On the other hand, I was over the moon when I heard there was an adaptation of the Terry Pratchett's City Watch books from his Discworld.  Saw the trailer and I legit wanted to cry.  It is terribad!  Nothing about the characters look right.  Nothing at all.  Not even a little bit. 

I loved Bridgerton for what it was. The Watch on the other hand was a travesty. I donated a lot of books recently, but I couldn't let go of the Terry Pratchett books. I watched a bit of the "Watch" and wondered did they even read one book? I did like that they added humor with Death. 

[kieyra]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

I loved Bridgerton for what it was. The Watch on the other hand was a travesty. I donated a lot of books recently, but I couldn't let go of the Terry Pratchett books. I watched a bit of the "Watch" and wondered did they even read one book? I did like that they added humor with Death. 

I couldn't make myself click play on that mess. I just watched other posters' impressions here. 

[nokat]

1 hour ago, kieyra said:

I couldn't make myself click play on that mess. I just watched other posters' impressions here. 

There is something about Terry's books that doesn't translate well to series or movies. There have been many attempts.

[kieyra]

5 minutes ago, nokat said:

There is something about Terry's books that doesn't translate well to series or movies. There have been many attempts.

I always have a reflex to respond to this with "But Hogfather ...", but the fact of the matter is I've never watched one of the 'movie' style adaptations more than once.

I still think it could be done (and I rant about this a little in one of the threads for The Watch), it's just that no one has cracked the code. I think, for example, someone could make a really good limited series for something like Equal Rites. But it would have to be the right person doing the adaptation. And not Neil Gaiman. (Also did not like Good Omens.)

[DearEvette]

6 hours ago, nokat said:

There is something about Terry's books that doesn't translate well to series or movies. There have been many attempts.

The sad part of this is, is that if anything could have been translated well it would have been The City Watch books.  Each book is a self contained mystery/police procedural.  The personalities are very sharply drawn and very specific.  The plots are easy.  And there are some fantastic running gags: the assassination attempts on Vimes, the unspoken but very obvious background of Carrot, the 'racial' integration of The Watch.  It  would all come down to casting and the best way to incorporate the humor.  It is a very clever type of humor that does well on the page but would need to be adapted just so to translate in just the right way.  I see it as a sort of Princess Bride humor but turned down one notch.

I sincerely hope someone who loves the books and understands them comes forth so we can get another crack at a screen adaptation.

Edited March 3, 2021 by DearEvette

[kieyra]

4 hours ago, DearEvette said:

It  would all come down to casting and the best way to incorporate the humor. 

I made a similar comment about casting in The Watch forum. They need to do high-quality casting first! Then adaptation of the dialogue, and worry less about the huge/fantastical stuff or relying on voiceover. It should be “who do we get for Vimes / Granny Weatherwax”, not “how can we best CG render the turtle and elephants flying through space?!”. 

[nokat]

6 hours ago, kieyra said:

I always have a reflex to respond to this with "But Hogfather ...", but the fact of the matter is I've never watched one of the 'movie' style adaptations more than once.

I still think it could be done (and I rant about this a little in one of the threads for The Watch), it's just that no one has cracked the code. I think, for example, someone could make a really good limited series for something like Equal Rites. But it would have to be the right person doing the adaptation. And not Neil Gaiman. (Also did not like Good Omens.)

I did like Good Omens, probably because I didn't read the illustrated novel. There are several Pratchett books that might make a good mini-series, but there is so much world building. My favorites other than Rincewind are the witches. I loved the watch books, but that was more serious in his later years. Terry was known for his *notes, and that made the books much better than what can be shown.

 

[nokat]

5 hours ago, kieyra said:

I made a similar comment about casting in The Watch forum. They need to do high-quality casting first! Then adaptation of the dialogue, and worry less about the huge/fantastical stuff or relying on voiceover. It should be “who do we get for Vimes / Granny Weatherwax”, not “how can we best CG render the turtle and elephants flying through space?!”. 

Not one of us will be happy with whomever gets cast as Granny Weatherwax*

*and often his best stuff is in the addendums.

[Ceindreadh]

21 hours ago, DearEvette said:

The sad part of this is, is that if anything could have been translated well it would have been The City Watch books.  Each book is a self contained mystery/police procedural.  The personalities are very sharply drawn and very specific.  The plots are easy.  And there are some fantastic running gags: the assassination attempts on Vimes, the unspoken but very obvious background of Carrot, the 'racial' integration of The Watch.  It  would all come down to casting and the best way to incorporate the humor.  It is a very clever type of humor that does well on the page but would need to be adapted just so to translate in just the right way.  I see it as a sort of Princess Bride humor but turned down one notch.

I sincerely hope someone who loves the books and understands them comes forth so we can get another crack at a screen adaptation.

 

What's odd is that there's been a lot of stage adaptations of Discworld - frequently by amateur or local groups - which apparently were quite well received, so it seems odd that it couldn't be done for TV/Film.

 

IIRC, Terry Pratchett was always very happy to give permission to the local groups.  He told one story at a convention about how he'd attended one performance and they'd given him a glow in the dark scythe as a souvenir and he was most amused at the thought that if he'd died in a car crash on the way home, then the police and/or paramedics would have been totally freaked out when they found it!

 

[nokat]

I want to know how you'd do Pratchett. I'm looking at the books I have. Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms are a better way to introduce the night watch.  I wanted Nobby. He had such a rich environment for discworld. I was pissed off that they didn't describe the Broken Drum (it can't be beat).

[DearEvette]

I mean... I would just love to see the scene of a Carrot's dwarf father trying to gently explain to a six foot six all Carrot that he's not a dwarf:

"We didn't like to say so before son.  We thought you'd grow out of it, see?"

"Grow out of what?'

"Well.. growing.... You're six foot six lad."

"Yeah, but maybe I'm just tall for my height."

Sigh.

Or all the Igors. 

"let me give you a hand"  hands over an actual hand.

[nokat]

49 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I mean... I would just love to see the scene of a Carrot's dwarf father trying to gently explain to a six foot six all Carrot that he's not a dwarf:

"We didn't like to say so before son.  We thought you'd grow out of it, see?"

"Grow out of what?'

"Well.. growing.... You're six foot six lad."

"Yeah, but maybe I'm just tall for my height."

Sigh.

Or all the Igors. 

"let me give you a hand"  hands over an actual hand.

We first see Carrot I think in one of the Witches books?

 

From Wyrd Sisters: "The night was as black as the inside of a cat (a nod to reading inside a dog). "when shall we three meet again?" In more ordinary tones, "well I can do next Tuesday."

Edited March 4, 2021 by nokat

[GHScorpiosRule]

Back when I played the game of I want x actor/actress to play this character in the In Death books, I'd always pictured Yaphet Kotto as Chief Tibble. And actually, his face and voice is who I "see" and "hear" in my mind as I read them. And I just know I'll be tearing up the next time I re-read one that features Tibble, with learning about his passing today.😪

[Danny Franks]

On 3/4/2021 at 1:26 AM, nokat said:

I want to know how you'd do Pratchett. I'm looking at the books I have. Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms are a better way to introduce the night watch.  I wanted Nobby. He had such a rich environment for discworld. I was pissed off that they didn't describe the Broken Drum (it can't be beat).

The Watch books are really the best shot at a faithful and genuinely good adaptation, with all the police and private eye tropes that the books have - The burned out old copper who drinks his sorrows, the idealistic rookie who wants to save the city, the corrupt-but-fundamentally-honest copper, villainous masterminds.

The storylines are well plotted whodunnits that would translate well to screen - particularly Men at Arms, which is about a mystery killer using a brand new sort of weapon (a 'gonne'). And they all had interesting and relevant things to say about society and class.

So it's a shame that the current adaptation is so faithless and insulting to Sir Terrys' work. I was looking forward to it for years, after learning that there was an adaptation in the works, described as "CSI: Ankh-Morpork" but each actual release of official information just made it seem worse and worse.

How bad is it? Well: 

On 3/4/2021 at 1:54 AM, DearEvette said:

I mean... I would just love to see the scene of a Carrot's dwarf father trying to gently explain to a six foot six all Carrot that he's not a dwarf:

"We didn't like to say so before son.  We thought you'd grow out of it, see?"

"Grow out of what?'

"Well.. growing.... You're six foot six lad."

"Yeah, but maybe I'm just tall for my height."

Sigh.

This joke is apparently still in the TV show, but then they have Cheery, a dwarf, played by a normal sized actor who says that dwarfs aren't all short. So... huh?

[DearEvette]

7 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

This joke is apparently still in the TV show, but then they have Cheery, a dwarf, played by a normal sized actor who says that dwarfs aren't all short. So... huh?

Ugh,  Just when I think I've heard the worst about this adaptation, I learn even more.   Man, what a waste.

[SnarkySheep]

On 2/8/2021 at 10:47 PM, Starleigh said:

To go along with the LM Montgomery love, I think a mini series version of her Emily series would be awesome. I've lost count of how many Anne of Green Gables versions there are, at this point, most of them sadly disappointing. Why not branch out a bit? 

YES!! I think that many people don't even know the Emily books exist - I didn't myself, til my early twenties - and I also think that the character of Emily is a bit "darker" than that of Anne. It would definitely be relatable to modern viewers.

[GreekGeek]

It's been in development limbo forever, but I wish people would get their act together and bring John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces to the screen. The prospective actors to play Ignatius, from John Belushi to John Candy to Chris Farley to Philip Seymour Hoffman kept dying, but there should be a chubby young-ish character actor out there able to step into the role. It would be a mistake to cast a slob comic, though--Ignatius isn't just a flatulent fat guy but a gentleman and a scholar.

[kieyra]

I’m pretty sure that in an alternate universe I spent years adapting CJ Cherryh’s Hugo-award-winning SciFi novel Cyteen into a television show. 

[Cranberry]

On 2/8/2021 at 11:47 PM, Starleigh said:

To go along with the LM Montgomery love, I think a mini series version of her Emily series would be awesome. I've lost count of how many Anne of Green Gables versions there are, at this point, most of them sadly disappointing. Why not branch out a bit? 

There was a TV show that ran from 1998-2000 (filmed here on PEI), but I didn't feel it did the books justice. I'd love to see a miniseries that covered all of the books. While I have grown to love Anne as an adult (hated her as a kid because she and related merchandise were inescapable around here), the Emily books were always my favorite.

[nokat]

On 3/21/2021 at 12:41 PM, kieyra said:

I’m pretty sure that in an alternate universe I spent years adapting CJ Cherryh’s Hugo-award-winning SciFi novel Cyteen into a television show. 

If you make it happen, let me know. I feel like Cherryh's books would make for a good series.

 

What is it now, three adaptations of The Stand? There is so much material out there and authors who need to be recognized.

Edited March 30, 2021 by nokat

[kieyra]

21 minutes ago, nokat said:

If you make it happen, let me know. I feel like Cherryh's books would make for a good series.

I know, right? Even let's set aside the behemoth that is Cyteen--her smaller space-marine type books would be fantastic limited serieses. (Hellburner, Rimrunners are two my favorite stand-alones.) 

...but much like Pratchett (imo) someone would need to make sure the characters and casting were handled correctly, not just be like "ooh shiny spaceships and guns first, characterization second". 

23 minutes ago, nokat said:

What is it now, three adaptations of The Stand? There is so much material out there and authors who need to be recognized.

From what I've seen of the thread, the most recent Stand was a real dog. 

[DearEvette]

32 minutes ago, nokat said:

What is it now, three adaptations of The Stand? There is so much material out there and authors who need to be recognized.

I mean....?  This is soooo infuriating to me.  The SF Fantasy world is sooo rich in material and yet. Now admittedly my ass will be waiting with my finger on the button for when HBO max drops this new version of Dune (that casting is spectacular, imo), but yeah I have like five series I'd love to see adapted.  Sigh

And even though I've only seen two and a half episodes of CBS' The Stand, it was kind of .... a mess, imo.  Which is why I only watched two and a half episodes of it.

[nokat]

Rosemary Kirstein. A wonderful blend of science fiction and fantasy. It takes a book or two for you to realize it's all science fiction.

[nokat]

3 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I mean....?  This is soooo infuriating to me.  The SF Fantasy world is sooo rich in material and yet. Now admittedly my ass will be waiting with my finger on the button for when HBO max drops this new version of Dune (that casting is spectacular, imo), but yeah I have like five series I'd love to see adapted.  Sigh

And even though I've only seen two and a half episodes of CBS' The Stand, it was kind of .... a mess, imo.  Which is why I only watched two and a half episodes of it.

Oh Dune. It needs more than a movie. I obviously have my opinions on adaptations. So many wonderful books, and we get yet another version of a super hero.

[WinnieWinkle]

On 2/8/2021 at 10:47 PM, Starleigh said:

To go along with the LM Montgomery love, I think a mini series version of her Emily series would be awesome. I've lost count of how many Anne of Green Gables versions there are, at this point, most of them sadly disappointing. Why not branch out a bit? 

Adding my name to the list for wanting a movie made of Montgomery's The Blue Castle! I think it would make a wonderful movie if they stick to the story as it was written!  If you haven't already seen it they did make a movie of Jane of Lantern Hill which was quite good.   Definitely took a few liberties with the plot but with a cast that included Sarah Polley, Colleen Dewhurst and Sam Waterston it was eminently watchable 🙂 . 

Edited March 30, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[Starleigh]

I haven't seen the Jane of Lantern Hill adaptation, but would love to. I think I tried tracking it down once but no luck, other than a few clips on YouTube.

Agree, The Blue Castle would be great as long as they stick to the story as well as the setting. I always think of it as taking place in the 1920s, if only based on the description of Valancy's clothes. Anything earlier or later would just seem off.

[isalicat]

There is a great recent sci fi/mystery called "Six Wakes" that would be brilliant as an 8 or 10 part TV series.

[nokat]

5 hours ago, isalicat said:

There is a great recent sci fi/mystery called "Six Wakes" that would be brilliant as an 8 or 10 part TV series.

I'll have to look for that.

[Haleth]

17 hours ago, nokat said:

Oh Dune. It needs more than a movie. I obviously have my opinions on adaptations. So many wonderful books, and we get yet another version of a super hero.

Dune is a tough one to get all the nuances right.  So much of the book is the internalized thoughts of the characters.

[nokat]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Dune is a tough one to get all the nuances right.  So much of the book is the internalized thoughts of the characters.

David Lynch did the voice overs in his version. That doesn't always work in a movie. Book readers will always be the most critical with a movie like Dune.

[GHScorpiosRule]

HOLEEEEEEE CRAP.

Nora had a 30 minute chat on FaceBook last week and confirmed filming for Brazen Virtue was done.

I looked on IMDb to see who else was cast, and…there is NO ED JACKSON! No Ben or Tess. Just the killer and his parents and Alysa’s Grace. And the adaptation changed the name to…Deadly Desires.🙄🙄🙄🙄

So no more ambivalence-Hard PASS.

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

HOLEEEEEEE CRAP.

Nora had a 30 minute chat on FaceBook last week and confirmed filming for Brazen Virtue was done.

I looked on IMDb to see who else was cast, and…there is NO ED JACKSON! No Ben or Tess. Just the killer and his parents and Alysa’s Grace. And the adaptation changed the name to…Deadly Desires.🙄🙄🙄🙄

So no more ambivalence-Hard PASS.

So the Nora bad adaptation string continues.  it is so weird.  She does quality work and yet can't get a quality adaptation to save her life.  This is why  my first reaction would be to cringe if I ever heard the In Death books were being adapted.  Unless it was some heavy hitter who could do for her what Shonda did for Julia Quinn.

[Luckylyn]

5 hours ago, DearEvette said:

So the Nora bad adaptation string continues.  it is so weird.  She does quality work and yet can't get a quality adaptation to save her life.  This is why  my first reaction would be to cringe if I ever heard the In Death books were being adapted.  Unless it was some heavy hitter who could do for her what Shonda did for Julia Quinn.

I remember hearing years ago that Mel Gibson tried to buy the rights to In Death and cast himself as Rourke.  I am very happy that failed.

[GHScorpiosRule]

19 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

I remember hearing years ago that Mel Gibson tried to buy the rights to In Death and cast himself as Rourke.  I am very happy that failed.

Not quite. It was his production company that was in the works to try and buy the rights. They hadn’t even gotten to casting. And I know this because back then Nora posted such updates on a message board, along with other things. Board has been defunct for a few years now.

Another company has also indicated interest for a series on HBO. But it’s been a couple of years since that was released, so I don’t know where it stands. I hope it tanks. Not a SINGLE adaptation has done any of the books justice, and casting was just as abysmal.

[GreekGeek]

On 3/17/2019 at 10:33 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Kindred by Octavia Butler. Why the hell isn't this a movie already?!

Agreed! I had never read Butler until a couple of months ago, when I heard about this book. There's always room for a good time travel story, as well as one with a fresh take on slavery.

 

[scarynikki12]

I get that there will be more attention to a movie when you tell people it's an adaptation of a well known author's work but it's better to tell people the truth instead. If they'd just started out telling us that the movie was inspired by Nora's work* then it wouldn't be upsetting when the bait and switch happened. No one benefits from the way this was handled.

*Nora herself has taken inspiration from real life events/people and previously published stories but has never claimed to be presenting a direct adaptation so it doesn't cause tons of anger.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Way, way, wasaaaay back, we played a casting game for the In Deaths. The only two known actors that I could see playing Roarke and Tibble, were Pierce Brosnan and Yaphet Kotto. But that was before that horrid adaptation of Sanctuary came out and I learned the production companies Nora sold the rights to, didn’t give any blue dilly fucks about giving the fans the books come to life.

So yeah, I hope the latest attempt to try and get this to series FAILS.

[DearEvette]

I've always felt that Pierce Brosnan circa Goldeneye was the quintessential Roarke avatar.  I always headcast Larry Fishburne as Whitney.   And Lance Reddick as Tibble.

[GHScorpiosRule]

25 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I've always felt that Pierce Brosnan circa Goldeneye was the quintessential Roarke avatar.

Oh yeah. And his Thomas Crown --that was SOOOOOOO ROARKE!

Riddick looks too....skinny to be Tibble! He's described as this massive event--Big GUY, and my brain automatically went to Yaphet Kotto!

[TrininisaScorp]

I just reread The Henna Artist (and realized that the next book in her world will be released this year), and I think this would be ripe for adaptation.  I could see Mira Nair (who will always love for Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, and The Namesake) directing. I believe I have seen some rumor of a production happening with Freida Pinto, but until I see more details on cast and director, I am skeptical.  

Kind of out there, but I would love to see A Thousand Ships somehow adapted into a movie.  I love mythology and the female POV take on classical stories would be pretty cool if done well.  

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, TrininisaScorp said:

Kind of out there, but I would love to see A Thousand Ships somehow adapted into a movie.  I love mythology and the female POV take on classical stories would be pretty cool if done well.  

Ooh me too! Except Hollywood always seem to mess up Greek mythology adaptations one way or another.

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Ooh me too! Except Hollywood always seem to mess up Greek mythology adaptations one way or another.

They really do. I'd love a good Greek myth adaptation. There's so many great stories. But they always mess them up. 

[krankydoodle]

I don't know if it's just because I'm paying more attention now, but it seems like every third movie or tv project is a book or comic adaptation. Anyway, I'd love to see adaptations of Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown, Martha Wells's Murderbot series, any of T Kingfisher's recent horror or fantasy books (especially Minor Mage), To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, Abbott by Saladin Ahmed, and too many more to name. I was going to add The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, but it looks like that's getting adapted for HBO Max 🙌

[Starleigh]

I'd love to see McKinley's  books onscreen, too.

I've always thought it was strangely coincidental that Disney's Beauty and the Beast's characterization of the servants in the castle being animated inanimate objects was so so similar to the way she had invisible servants and inanimate objects acting alive in her book, Beauty....or maybe not so coincidental, lol. Though if that's the case, she was never given any credit for it (as far as I know).

[DearEvette]

The servants being animate magical pieces of furniture is in the original version of Beauty and the Beast from the 1700s.