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what books would you like to see made into films?

Flowers for Algernon starring Jessie Eisenberg and directed by Darren Aronofsky

The Dice Man starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and directed by David Fincher
 
Reno said:
There are three film versions of I Am Legend. All shit.
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Blimey, so there's another shit version that I haven't even seen? I actually quite enjoyed the Will Smith one as long as I tried to separate it from the novel in my head and take it as a standalone film, pretending to myself that it had nothing to do with the book and it was just another Will Smith movie kind of made it work better (ie it was a shite adaptation, but the film itself wasn't too dreadful if you pretend the book didn't exist, it was shite because it failed to deliver the feeling of the book but kind of worked on a different level as a generic Will Smith vs Monster Zombies in post-apocalyptic setting action movie - if that makes any sense). I absolutely fucking adore the novel. And another one from that author, Somewhere In Time, had a film made in late '70s/early '80s (Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour) that was really sweet and touching, and I thought that was quite a good adaptation that managed to deliver the feeling I got from reading the novel - proving that it's not impossible, it's just that so often the film misses the mark.
 
I'd actually really like to see an adaptation (not a movie, a serial format would work better) of Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars series. I do love my post-apocalyptia, and I think that could actually be improved by a bit of TV magic and good script writing. Which doesn't say a lot for the books. The basic premise and plot could make a superb 'based on' type post-apocalyptic TV serial though.
 
Epona said:
Blimey, so there's another shit version that I haven't even seen? I actually quite enjoyed the Will Smith one as long as I tried to separate it from the novel in my head and take it as a standalone film, pretending to myself that it had nothing to do with the book and it was just another Will Smith movie kind of made it work better (ie it was a shite adaptation, but the film itself wasn't too dreadful if you pretend the book didn't exist, it was shite because it failed to deliver the feeling of the book but kind of worked on a different level as a generic Will Smith vs Monster Zombies in post-apocalyptic setting action movie - if that makes any sense). I absolutely fucking adore the novel.
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I assume the Will Smith and Charlton Heston films are the ones you've seen. There also was one with Vincent Price from the 60s, which sticks most closely to the novel. It's undone by a very low budget, being shot in Italy and Price himself who is totally miscast as an everyman after the vampire apocalypse.

Let the Right One In is my favourite film from the last decade and that was based on a novel. I enjoyed the book, but I think the film is better. Then of course there are classics like The Goodfather and Jaws, which are adaptations of fun but far from great books which work better as films.
 
Reno said:
Let the Right One In is my favourite film from the last decade and that was based on a novel. I enjoyed the book, but I think the film is better. Then of course there are classics like The Goodfather and Jaws, which are adaptations of fun but far from great books which work better as films.
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Have you restricted that to books you have read that became films? Otherwise I thought you might have qualified it with 'favourite horror film'.

Did you like No Country For Old Men? I've not read the book but I assume it's good as it's Mccarthy. Loved the film though.
 
Fez909 said:
Have you restricted that to books you have read that became films? Otherwise I thought you might have qualified it with 'favourite horror film'.

Did you like No Country For Old Men? I've not read the book but I assume it's good as it's Mccarthy. Loved the film though.
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I read all three books and in all cases the films are superior. Let the Right One in is my favourite film of the last decade regardless of genre or maybe one of two (the other one would be Jacques Audiard's thriller Read My Lips, not based on a book). Jaws and The Godfather really aren't great novels, but fantastic films.

Great novels rarely make for satisfying films, latest example it The Great Gatsby. Decent genre fare generally translates better. One exception where an adaptation of a great novel was very successful was Frear's Dangerous Liasons, where I loved the novel. I thought the film was a smart interpretation which didn't stick to slavishly to the source and which compliments the book nicely. It even improved on the overly moralistic ending.

I like the film of No Country For Old Men very much, but haven't read the novel. It doesn't feel like a film that's based on a book, it feels so very cinematic. From the same year I also really liked Into the Wild, where I have read the book and I actually preferred the film.
 
Reno said:
I read all three books and in all cases the films are superior. Let the Right One in is my favourite film of the last decade or maybe one of two (the other one would be Jacques Audiard's thriller Read My Lips, not based on a book). Jaws and The Godfather really aren't great novels, but fantastic films.

Great novels rarely make for satisfying films, latest example it The Great Gatsby. Decent genre fare generally translates better. One exception where an adaptation of a great novel think was very successful was Frear's Dangerous Liasons, where I loved the novel. I thought the film was a smart interpretation which doesn't stick to slavishly to the source and which compliments the book nicely. It even improved on the overly moralistic ending.

I like the film of No Country For Old Men very much, but haven't read the novel. It doesn't feel like a film that's based on a book, it feels so very cinematic. From the same year I also really liked Into the Wild, where I have read the book and I actually preferred the film.
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I think the problem is that literature and film work in entirely different ways.
 
some of the greatest book-to-film adapts are well fast and loose with the source material. Take actual 2001 compared to kubriks. 90%of PK Dicks adapts.

I'd like today to see an adapt of tricia sullivans Maul. Its quite hyper-knowing-future-brittle so the visual style of something like fifth element, with the writing quality of Tricia
 
Reno said:
I read all three books and in all cases the films are superior. Let the Right One in is my favourite film of the last decade or maybe one of two (the other one would be Jacques Audiard's thriller Read My Lips, not based on a book). Jaws and The Godfather really aren't great novels, but fantastic films.

Great novels rarely make for satisfying films, latest example it The Great Gatsby. Decent genre fare generally translates better. One exception where an adaptation of a great novel was very successful was Frear's Dangerous Liasons, where I loved the novel. I thought the film was a smart interpretation which didn't stick to slavishly to the source and which compliments the book nicely. It even improved on the overly moralistic ending.

I like the film of No Country For Old Men very much, but haven't read the novel. It doesn't feel like a film that's based on a book, it feels so very cinematic. From the same year I also really liked Into the Wild, where I have read the book and I actually preferred the film.
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My favourite film adaptation is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Sticks very close to the source material and is one of the few instances where I believe you're better off seeing the film first. The chief's reveal comes very earlier on the in the book (first few pages, I think?) and it really changes the assumptions you had about him based on the film. It felt to me like the book is a companion piece to the film, rather than the other way around. Loved 'em both!
 
I'd still like to see a good animated film based on the Moomin Troll books that do Tove Jansson's illustrations justice. The stop frame animation TV series was cute but too crude and the Japanese one was a pastel coloured horror. I would actually love to do it myself.
 
Reno said:
I'd still like to see a good animated film based on the Moomin Troll books that do Tove Jansson's illustrations justice. The stop frame animation TV series was cute but too crude and the Japanese one was a pastel coloured horror. I would actually love to do it myself.
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Do a teaser trailer and get a Kickstarter up ;)

I bet you've got enough contacts to put it together if you had the money?
 
Genesis - by W.A. Harbinson - Secret nazi UFO base in Antarctica, what's not to like. Loved it at 16, flashbacks to the concentration camps could be in black and white, perfect. A nihilistic ending with a zooming out shot from snow and ice and a lone figure doomed to die. If I won the lottery I'd pay for this to be made.
 
Hate when they turn books I love into films as normally they're nowhere near as good as the book. I await Sunset Song with *Agyness Deyn* as Chris Guthrie (who the *fuck* thought that was a good idea?) with particular horror. (And I say that as quite a fan of Terence Davies -- I thought The House of Mirth was excellent.)
 
Weaveworld - would probably have to be a tv series to do it justice.

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart - a great, entertaining fantasy story set in ancient china. A fun read - and would def could make a great film.

A remake of The Grapes of Wrath - the original was made in the 1930s so its about time.

The forever war - Joe Haldeman. Ridley Scott was supposed to be making this but there has been no news on this for three years now.
 
gosub said:
Flan obrian - 3rd policeman
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Agree with all your choices, and I believe this one is on its way.

I would also like to see a film of the life of James Connolly based on this book - 'James Connolly - A Full Life by Donal Nevin, not directed by Ken Loach though ffs.

I would however really like to see 'The Last Watch' by Sergei Lukyanesko (follow up to Nightwatch and Daywatch)

Also another Edinburgh based novel 'The Night Sessions' by Ken MacLeod, and while on the Edinburgh tip why not 'Halting State' by Charles Stross as a BBC/Pixar co-production?
 
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