A Civil World. Off-topic discussions on a variety of topics. > Time For a Coffee Break!
Why Bother "Making Films of the Books"? Why not write a whole new movie?
Yarnspinner:
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Until a few weeks ago, I was very excited to learn that two of my very favorite novels were being made into movies. That was...until I learned that the plots have been changed "to make them more accessible." They have to be made more accessible because, you know, everyone who found the books so very accessible will need a new plot to interest them and those who don't read would be bored by the "heavier themes" of the books....
Yeah, right. (SPOILERS TO FOLLOW)
Elinor Lipman's And Then She Found Me ... about a high school English teacher whose brash, glamorous celebrity birth mother comes back into her life. The heroine has never been married, is in her late twenties and eventually finds love with the school's geeky male librarian. It's adorable and funny....and now it's an indie film
adapted by Helen Hunt.
Helen Hunt playes April the high school teacher. But April's character is now teaching kindergarten and is divorced. The geeky male librarian is gone. Now she's fallen for a hunky male veterinarian (I think) who has two young daughters. Part of the point of the story was how people we wouldn't even look at twice become beautiful in our eyes when they offer help. But hey, your average audience of movie goers is too stupid to understand that so we have to make the hero and heroine gorgeous, they have to have had major sex lives before they met (because we all know people who don't have sex on a daily basis are pathetic losers with no life at all) and there need to be ready made children for the heroine to dote on.
One of the things I loved about the book was how the teens in April's class come together as a group to help her and how they become mature and helpful as the story progresses and April seeks out her birth father. I loved how April realizes that Dwight's ability to help her and his willingness to drop everything to do so makes him more and more attractive as a potential life partner. I loved how these very average people really didn't relish having their lives turned upside down by fame and fortune.
Oh well.....
SPOILERS IN NEXT SUMMARY:
Second up: Blood and Chocolate by Annette Kurtis Klaus. A super interpretation of teenage angst, of fitting in, of being stuck between your parents and your friends....Vivian is a werewolf whose "pack" has to fit in so they buy or rent homes in a middle american neighborhood, send the kids to school and caution the kids to keep to themselves as much as possible. Vivian falls for Aidan, a "meat boy" whose poetry speaks to her soul. But she is "claimed" by Gabrial, who will be pack leader one day as Vivian's father was. When Aidan discovers what Vivian is, he is horrified and eventually tries to shoot her with a silver bullet to "save" her. (Can't get his head around the idea that werewolves are born, not "made")...
And the movie? Done by the same crew responsible for "Underworld." Apparently, from reports and pre-screenings, it IS Underworld without the vampires and Kate Beckinsale.
Gabrial is all about the evil and killing humans, exterminating them from the earth.
Aidan is a hunk, no longer frail, delicate and "pretty". Some suggestions exist that he is now a closet werewolf himself. Vivian works in a chocolate shop in Budapest (apparently to explain the title which has nothing to do with "chocolate" in the way it was discussed in the book). The characters are now in their twenties, so ex out the high school plot. Forget the angst, the fitting in.
No parents, no (from reports) "pack" but Vivian who was an only child now has a younger brother and sister to care for.
And a new plot of mystery killings and maulings in the city has been added.
No, not spending my money on that.
Yes, I will wait for real reviews that give the "real" plot...but so far a large number of fans of the book have seen the trailers or have pre screened it...and have been horribly disappointed to see "the same junk" on screen. I'm kind of prepared to be saving my money on both of these if they really are such atrocities as has been hinted.
I wonder how the authors feel about this or if they are just laughing all the way to the bank....And, if the producers/directors/writers are buying the book rights but not producing anything close to the story, why not just pay for the rights to the title and give the movie rights back to the author?
And finally--I keep hearing audiences complain that there is nothing new under the sun, I hear people say that there are, indeed, so many excellent books that could be adapted...and when the adaptations are done...it's been turned into the same old junk....all originality, freshness and fun stripped away.
No wonder that I haven't bought many new movies and stick with the old stuff.
Anyone else been disappointed by a book to film translation?
Cupcake Fiend:
--- Quote from: LilySuch on January 18, 2007, 03:58:58 PM ---
Anyone else been disappointed by a book to film translation?
--- End quote ---
Almost every one I've ever seen :(
The most recent Narnia movie was great. The Harry Potters are okay - they leave a lot out but I can understand why they left some of it out, and I much prefer the books. Can't speak to Lord of the Rings as I never read the books but I adore the movies. Eragon was good, but again, they changed some big things and left a lot out.
I can't think of a single other book-to-movie translation that I would call well-done.
Chartreuse:
--- Quote from: LilySuch on January 18, 2007, 03:58:58 PM ---Anyone else been disappointed by a book to film translation?
--- End quote ---
I've yet to encounter a film that lived up to it's book. The two mediums are different enough that something that is wonderful in print isn't necessarily going to make a good film, and vice versa.
So, why do they keep doing it? $$$ and a lack of creativity. If something was a hit book, it'll be a hit film, right?! More often than not, those who love a book will have high hopes for the film and will see the movie, just to give it a chance. It's a guaranteed way to make a buck, with little to no effort. Sort of like remaking old classic films. I'd say it's about churning out as many movies as one can, just to make as much money as one can. To hell with making something of quality. :P
As you can guess, I'm not a fan of the movie industry at the moment.
HogwartsAlum:
The most recent Narnia movie was great. The Harry Potters are okay - they leave a lot out but I can understand why they left some of it out, and I much prefer the books. Can't speak to Lord of the Rings as I never read the books but I adore the movies.
These are all good. The Lord of the Rings stayed pretty true to the books, as Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh kept the books right there with them the whole time they wrote the screenplay adaptations.
Don't, I repeat, DO NOT waste your time on Red Dragon. I almost left the theater on more than one moment in that film. Manhunter, a 1986 adaptation, is shallow but a better film (and has William "CSI" Peterson). The only thing that kept me in the theater was Ralph Fiennes as Francis Dolarhyde (the killer). He was excellent. The rest of it made me mad, because they took Thomas Harris's exquisite dialogue and Hollywoodized it. Example:
In the book:
Graham - "...he won't stop."
Crawford - "Why not?"
Graham - "Because he's got a genuine taste for it." (Good, used in Manhunter)
In Red Dragon:
Graham - "...he won't stop."
Stupid female character who is made up and doesn't count - "How cooooome?" (or some similar idiocy)
Graham - "Because he THINKS HE'S GAAAAAAWWWWDDD." (Spoken exactly like that by Ed Burns, who stunk in this role)
I HATE HATE HATE HATED that movie. They took scenes that played out between Graham and Crawford, and put them with Graham and Lecter just to give Lecter more screen time, conversations that made no sense for those two characters to be having. The whole thing clunked along like a small car on a road full of potholes. I wanted to sue on Thomas Harris's behalf!
If they had put in Dolarhyde's background stuff in Manhunter, it would have been perfect.
Cupcake Fiend:
--- Quote from: Aquigoth on January 18, 2007, 04:55:59 PM ---(we actually walked out of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)
--- End quote ---
Why? I'm just curious what you disliked, as I thought they did a good job with it.
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