MetaChat - What are some books, in your opinion, should be turned into movies?

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12 February 2008

What are some books, in your opinion, should be turned into movies? What are some books that you think you would go see in the theaters? I think some of Meg Cabot's book, like All American Girl would do good.→[More:]

Romantic comedies are my favorites,and Meg Cabot brings that to each and every of her books,

I also think
So B. It would be a good movie, a sad one but a good one,

So what do you think?

post by: madiave at: 15:48 | 22 comments

I think we've hit the point where a movie based on William Burroughs' The Place of Dead Roads could be made. It's a very cinematic book, and I'd be interested to see what the right director could do with it, though I have no idea who that might be.

In general, I prefer my favorite books don't get made into films. I've been disappointed too many times. Of course there are a number of contemporary novels that feel like novelizations of screenplays that never got filmed. Carter Beats the Devil and Among Other Things I've Taken Up Smoking are two that jump to mind. Either could be made into films without dropping a scene or changing a line of dialogue. That's not necessarily a condemnation, though I'm usually a little disappointed by books that have that feel.

posted by Lentrohamsanin 12 February | 16:14

My thinking on this has changed recently. I was in the minority of people who really did not like the Peter Jackson-ized Lord of the Rings movies and that was something I had wanted to see filmed, so careful what you wish for. I am now much more hesitant to say, "Well, that would make a GREAT movie!" So I approach this from the "in a perfect world" I would like to see these made point of view.

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart (though Mako is now dead,he would have been the perfect Master Li)
Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook

posted by King of Prontopia 12 February | 16:16

Well, (obviously) Ladies Man by Richard Price. (I believe it was optioned, but nothing ever came of it. I was surprised to find out that two volumes of Tim Sandlin's GroVont Trilogy had been made into movies. I loved the books, but haven't seen either of the films. Jim Dodge's Not Fade Away might make for a nice movie, too.

posted by jonmc 12 February | 16:16

I want to see The Yiddish Policeman's Union, written as a screenplay. However, I'm really really disappointed with what I've heard about the Mysteries of Pittsburgh, so now I'm afraid there's No Good Way to make a Chabon book into a movie. I don't mind when screenwriters or authors screw with the plot of a book, or even the characters, but I think the themes should be preserved.

posted by muddgirl 12 February | 16:19

Gang Leader For A Day.

posted by box 12 February | 16:21

What did you think about Wonder Boys, muddgirl?

posted by box 12 February | 16:22

I'm with Lentrohamsanin- every time they film a great book I can only watch it if I accept ahead of time that most of what's good about it will be botched.

I liked the Lord of the Rings films (though I like them better now that I have a fast forward button available to me) but I could only bear to watch them by going in KNOWING they'd only have the most superficial resemblance to what I'd read. And so it was.

That said, the Gabaldon romance novels are begging to be made into a BBC mini-series, a la Pride and Prejudice or even the Richard Sharpe series. Also- no American actors allowed. That was a huge flaw in the Lord of the Rings movies that the Harry Potter movies avoided. Though I'll give a pass to Aragon because I thought he was fairly hot.

posted by small_ruminant 12 February | 16:39

I'd love to see a movie based on David Sedaris' writings.

posted by Hellbient 12 February | 16:39

And the minute I type that, I read that the Coen brother's are going to tackle The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Yippee!

Re: The Wonder boys. I haven't read the book, but I did like the movie a lot. It's been awhile since I saw it - at the time, I didn't realize it was based on a Chabon novel.

Re: hellbient's idea. YES!

posted by muddgirl 12 February | 17:09

Snow Crash might be fun!

posted by dabitch 12 February | 17:12

"The Legion of Time" by Jack Williamson.

Classic pulp sci-fi: a motley crew of soldiers from various eras are picked up by a time-ship, to fight a desperate battle to avoid a nightmare future.

It's short, easily adaptable, action-packed and would just make a great movie. Can't believe it hasn't been filmed.

Also, while the plot might be a stretch, "The Dancers at the End of Time" by Michael Moorcock could be filmed now we've got good CGI. A decadent society at the end of time use technology barely distinguishable from magic in order to have fun; instantly building and destroying palaces, cities, air-cars, life-size dinosaurs made of edible jello or anything else that might be new at a party.

posted by TheophileEscargot 12 February | 17:15

I'm with small_ruminant and Lentrohamsanin. I want them to make movies of books I didn't like... It took me years to watch, say, High Fidelity. I had been appalled that a book that is so very English had been shifted to the US. But it turned out well, so what do I know?

So with this in mind, and presuming it gets done well, I'll offer up: Neuromancer, which seems to get a bunch of interest every couple of years - before being thrust firmly back into the too-hard basket.

(heh)

Also, seconding Snow Crash.

posted by pompomtom 12 February | 17:41

Once in a while they make a movie that's better than the book- maybe they should aim for those. Look that the Bourne Identity movies- those books are unreadable!

posted by small_ruminant 12 February | 17:45

I've long thought that Scottish crime writer Christopher Brookmyre has written some that would make really smart, Bourne-ish movies. Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, for example, and prolly All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye.

Lamentably, despite my constant suggesting, I know almost no one who's read any of his books.

posted by richat 12 February | 19:09

My library doesn't have any of 'em, richat. Since I'll be doing interlibrary loan anyway, which one should I read first?

(I'd love to see a documentary based on The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss.)

posted by box 12 February | 20:20

Wow! Interest! Well...the first one I read of his was Big Boy. It was pretty cool. Fun and Games is a little more, I dunno, far fetched, but I don't really mind that so long as it's not, you know, dumb. Plus I think I might be a wee bit of an anglophile, so I love the dialect-y stuff.

I'd go with Big Boy I think.

posted by richat 12 February | 20:24

Martin Amis' London Fields. Darts.

posted by kirkaracha 12 February | 21:01

Also, Bill Buford's Among the Thugs.

posted by kirkaracha 12 February | 21:02

I was an English major, and I used to be really dogmatic about movies not living up to the books they were based on. Now I accept that film and books are different ways of telling stories, with different strengths and weaknesses, and I feel I have to look at them differently.

Once in a while they make a movie that's better than the book

The Godfather is a classic example. Crap book, excellent movie (and 1/2).

posted by kirkaracha 12 February | 21:06

Thirding Snow Crash.

Also the Sonja Blue Trilogy, though that might be too dark for some.

posted by black8 12 February | 21:40

kirkaracha- it's interesting you say that because I disliked the book enough that I never saw the movie. Godfather the book was macho and gory and annoying. People keep telling me it's a classic, but then they say that about Pulp Fiction, too.

posted by small_ruminant 13 February | 01:07

Well, I think Pulp Fiction's a classic, too, but we might disagree about that and agree about the Godfather movies.

The first two Godfather movies* are classics; they're excellent, and a metaphor for the American Dream. Macho? James Caan is in the first one, so yes. Gory? Not by today's standards. Annoying? That's subjective.

They're miles better than the book. The first movie makes some critical changes from the book that dramatically improve the story (including the embarrassing chauvinistic subplot about Lucy Mancini's hoo-hah, but more importantly, the final depiction of Michael and Kate's marriage).

* Just pretend the third one doesn't exist, trust me.

posted by kirkaracha 13 February | 20:13

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