Read the Movie discussion

Hi. I'm new to the group and I am writing to ask about favorite films that have been adapted from books. I recently had my young adult novel, Songs for a Teenage Nomad, optioned by a producer and I am currently writing the script version. I used to be critical of many movie adaptations and now I'm finding that it is a truly difficult thing to move a piece from a literary, internal medium like the written word to a visual medium (I will never again say...but the book was so much better!). I just watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and thought it was a sweet adaptation and I was heartened by movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and The English Patient because they were SO different from their book counterparts (and my script is having to move more and more away from my novel) so I was hoping to hear about some other films that people thought were excellent adaptations, especially ones that were really successful even though they were different from the book.

Everything Is Illuminated the movie is different than the book, however, I really enjoyed both

Forrest Gump is very different from the book (I thought the movie was better). I find that if the characters and relationships are true to the novel I am more forgiving of the specific scenes or plot devices. That being said, I would rather see something left out completely than changed so much that a piece of character development is radically changed. I just finished watching and reading Louisa May Alcott's The Inheritance. Many of the scenes are the same in both and although one character was added to the movie and one character completely removed I was not offended. I appreciated that the two main characters, who you are most interested in, were true to the novel in their thoughts and actions.

I loved the book and movie adaptation of The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I do wonder how much is due to my love of the movie which was a favorite of mine long before I read the book. In any case, as I recall, while the movie couldn't keep everything, it kept the plot intact. And the casting was spot on! I think that can be a crucial, yet often overlooked piece of the puzzle.

One of my favourite book to movie adaptations was Bridge to Terabithia simply because the visual storyline did it all. It was so very similar to the book and as far as I can remember, only a few minor details were changed like how Leslie was portrayed.

In saying that, it's a totally different call to other types of adaptations because, in my opinion, it depends on the simplicity or the complexity of the novel and whether or not it will attract viewers.

We all know that movie-goers are a whole different crowd to your average readers.
Now, Bridge to Terabithia was a simple plotted book compared to say, The Hobbit.

All in all however, I can't wait to get involved in the industry. I would love love love to adapt books into screen one day, produce and direct too. =)

I can give you some examples of some great book to film adaptions.
1. The Godfather
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. The Exorcist
4. Charlotte's Web

I posted before I was done. Another food adaptation was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the English version.
Some bad adaptations have been:
1. Jaws (they completely left out the sub plot involving the sheriff's wife having an affair)
2. Hannibal (the ending was much better in the film)
3. Pet Sematary (the book was masterful, the film was devastatingly bad)

And a few that I'm on the fence about:
1. Gone With The Wind (so much of the book was internalized emotion. In the film, Scarlett comes off as petty and catty and an opportunist which is all true, but there's far more to her than that)
2. The Wizard of Oz (my favourite movie of all time, but not true to the original in the least. Part of that is due to special effects available in those days)