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Downtown 
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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 Posted - 03/20/2007 : 15:26:42
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The fact that another story I was eagerly waiting to see put on the big screen (A Sound of Thunder) turned out to be awful hasn't deterred me from hoping that these books will someday find their way on film:
A Canticle for Leibovitz, Walter Miller (quite a challenge for any director with enough guts to take on this story)
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (animated, of course)
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco (this will never happen as long as Eco is still alive because he wasn't happy with the film version of The Name of the Rose, and Hollywood would probably demand the ending be changed)
Bound for Glory, Woody Guthrie
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein (also animated)
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis (my favorite by far of the Chronicles of Narnia)
The Dark Tower, Stephen King (with all due respect to Mr. King, I think the elements of this seven volume story can be nicely condensed into a 2.5 hour film)
Now I command the rest of you to add to this list! |
Edited by - Downtown on 03/20/2007 16:08:11 |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 15:37:57
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| Bound for Glory WAS a film. It was nominated for an Oscar in '76. When people complain about Rocky winning Best Picture over better films like Network, All the President's Men and Taxi Driver, Bound for Glory is the one they don't mention. |
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MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 15:43:48
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The Giving Tree was a book that disturbed me quite a bit as a kid. Many have seen it as a story about a codependent relationship between this very giving tree and this horribly selfish kid who takes and takes and gives nothing in return.
The Lorax, too, is supposedly a simple environmentalist tale. I think it's notable that The Lorax is entirely a completely ineffective character, making him in effect the ultimate in impotent environmentalist whiners. It's also a story of short-sighted business plans. How's that guy going to make any money now? He destroyed all the trees! His crops are gone! |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 15:58:00
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I don't know who'd ever do it, but if it were handled properly - with compassion and lotsa humor - John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces would make a wonderful film. imho.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 03/20/2007 16:02:23 |
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 16:03:42
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
Bound for Glory WAS a film. It was nominated for an Oscar in '76. When people complain about Rocky winning Best Picture over better films like Network, All the President's Men and Taxi Driver, Bound for Glory is the one they don't mention.
Hey and it's even available on DVD, and of course already on this website. Well, never mind. Cut me some slack, though...I haven't been into Woody Guthrie for very long. |
Edited by - Downtown on 03/20/2007 16:05:03 |
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GHcool 
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 16:32:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (animated, of course)
The Lorax was a film as well made in the 1970s as a half hour animated television special. It was very faithful to the book and a technically accomplished piece of work produced by Seuss himself and Friz Freling, the master animator that brought Bugs Bunny and the Pink Panther to life. |
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 17:18:15
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| I meant a real movie, not just a "half hour TV special." |
Edited by - Downtown on 03/22/2007 15:03:06 |
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Sal[Au]pian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 03/20/2007 : 17:29:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis (my favorite by far of the Chronicles of Narnia)
I wonder whether they will do this one or not, given that it does not include the set of characters from our world. I liked it too, although I enjoyed Voyage of the Dawn Treader the most. |
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Stalean
"Back...OMG"
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 02:17:40
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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (being directed by Peter Jackson)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen
The Stand by Stephen King (done well this time with King's ending redone--the man can't seem to end a story well, except for his short stories)
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 03:09:25
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quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (being directed by Peter Jackson)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen
The Stand by Stephen King (done well this time with King's ending redone--the man can't seem to end a story well, except for his short stories)
Good list. |
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Tori
"I don't get it...."
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 03:30:09
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Do not ever listen to The Lovely Bones on CD. Creeepy! :)
I've been waiting since they came out for Phillippa (?) Gregory's series about the Tudor court to be made into quality not-for-TV movies but now that the first is being made "The Other Boleyn Girl", I dislike their casting at first glance. Oh well. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 04:39:25
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Edited by - Sean on 03/21/2007 04:39:54 |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 04:40:04
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Snow Wolf - Glen Meade.
Nothing extraordinary, but a damn good thriller in the Clancy/Ludlum/Forsythe style.
The Forge of God - Greg Bear.
This would be absolutely awesome. It's the best Sci-Fi book I've ever read. It would need a large budget to do it justice. But, I don't think any movie house would dare do it without Hollywoodising it, therefore completely destroying it and rendering it just-another-alien-attack movie.*  Any studio who had the balls to do it without massive plot changes would leave the audiences gobsmacked and stunned like Hitch did with Psycho. The sequel Anvil of Stars would also make a damn good movie, if done properly, and would also require a large budget.
* Anyone who likes sci-fi who hasn't read it should stop what they're doing, find it and read it. And DON'T read my inviso spoilers below on the reasons for this being unpalatable to Hollywood.
- From about a third of the way into this book (perhaps halfway) it becomes clear that there is no hope for the earth, it's going to be wiped out and there's nothing that anyone can do about it.
- The US President becomes a snivelling wreck, a weak excuse for a human being and is totally unable to cope.
- It deals with those of a religious persuasion struggling to cope with the new-found reality; that their scriptures are wrong and humans and the earth are destined for destruction (hence the title).
- Humans never even get to see the benevolent aliens, or the malevolent aliens that are destroying the earth. We don't even know what they look like or sound like or where they've come from.
- The book totally lacks the "good guys fight and defeat the bad guys" theme that the masses like being fed. The humans don't even know who's doing it to them. And the book ends with the triumph of a faceless evil over humanity. |
Edited by - Sean on 03/21/2007 05:12:06 |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 06:22:42
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Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys - trust me on this one. It would be a BLAST, I tell you! Read the book and you'll understand why.
Also, they can make movies out of any and all of the Alexander McCall Smith No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series books - as long as I don't have to read any more of them. They'd be much better movies than they are books, I'm sure.
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Edited by - ChocolateLady on 03/21/2007 06:33:11 |
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 07:47:36
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quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
The Stand by Stephen King (done well this time with King's ending redone--the man can't seem to end a story well, except for his short stories)
The thing about The Stand is that I started reading that book the year it was published and re-read it every year for the next 20 years. I had some really definite people envisioned in the roles. I liked the film when it was made, although it was done much too late to star Dennis Quaid as Larry, Kurt Russell as Stu and Robert Carradine as Randall Flagg (! Think about it).  Nevertheless, I thought there was some inspired casting when it was done in 1994. Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, Bill Fagerbakke, Laura San Giacomo and Jamey Sheridan was quite good. I did think Molly Ringwald was weak as Frannie, I'd always pictured someone much stronger, taller, more forceful and inspiring. For an interesting view of people's visions of these characters, check out the message boards on IMDB regarding recasting this.
Since King wrote the teleplay, I'm fairly sure he was satisfied with what was done with the book that took forever to film. I had always entertained the thought that it would be best done as a mini-series since the story was so complex. This was actually one of King's books that I thought had a decent ending, and probably still is my favorite of his books.
I've said in fourum before that I think his short stories tend to make much better films than the longer novels, and the results have mostly proven true: Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, even the original Children of the Corn. In any event, I liked The Stand. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 03/21/2007 : 07:59:13
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quote:
Originally posted by wildhartlivie
I've said in fourum before that I think his short stories tend to make much better films than the longer novels...
I think this is often true, irrespective of writer. Usually so much needs to be cut from a novel that it destroys it. Hence short stories make good movies.
A rule of thumb I use is that 100 pages = at least 1 hour. So a 400 page novel needs a 4 hour movie to do it justice, which is too long for the masses. I came up with this rule before LOTR was made into a movie, and that confirmed it very nicely. 1100 pages = 11.5 hours, whereas the cut 9.5 hour cinematic version was clearly inferior. |
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Books that must be filmed
