Books that made you say: "This Should be a Movie" (1 Viewer)

Chris · Jun 18, 2003

Just finished reading "The Testament" (Grisham) .. most of his last few books have not been my forte, I didn't find them to be as interesting as his earlier work; Testament has been out for quite a while, but I waited until paperback.. after having read it I thought: "This would be a good film" .. when I first read "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil" I thought the same (the movie was not nearly as good as the book; but not bad).. I thought the same of "Memoirs of a Geisha" (wasn't something supposedly happening on that?) Any other books people are waiting to be films?

Adam_S · Jun 18, 2003

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Enchantment
Star Wars Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command (hey I was eleven at the time

)

Left Behind (thirteen or so when I read that, and liked it at the time *shudder*)

A song of ICe and Fire (actually I thought: this should be a series (not a mini series but a season to season series) on HBO the length and quality of the Sopranos )

American Gods - read this back when all I knew of Vin Diesal was Pitch Black, I still think he could pull Shadow off, but many would disagree because he has been permentently seared as the heir to schwarzenegger/stallone in people's minds. :frowning:

Adam

TheLongshot · Jun 18, 2003

Enchantment

Ugg, no. Bad book. Card has done much better...

Any of the Miles Vorkosigan books.

Discworld (No book in particular. Probably a unique story.)

Hyperion & Fall Of Hyperion

Jason

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MatthewLouwrens · Jun 18, 2003

I would like for movies to be made of ALL the Tom Ripley films, in order, and faithful to the books.

* The Talented Mr Ripley - while an excellent film, and the film that put me onto the Ripley books, the book takes some significant deviation from the book.

* Ripley Under Ground - If you can believe them, Ain't It Cool had an article about a new Ripley film called White On White that is supposedly based on Ripley Under Ground, but the description bears almost no resemblance to the book, other than being set in the art world. In the book, the painter Derwatt walked into the sea to committ suicide and the body was never found. Ripley then comes up with a plan where a young painter friend of Derwatt's, Bernard, should make fake Derwatts to 'continue Derwatt's career' and make money (the apparent suicide caused the painting value to appreciate). The gallery owners selling the paintings claimed he was living in Mexico. Tom disguises himself as Derwatt for a brief public appearance. Murchison, an owner of a fake Derwatt suspects the painting is fake, and when he realises Ripley played Derwatt, Ripley has to kill him.
And the story progresses from there. A film based on that story would be great. The film described as White On White is not that story.

* Ripley's Game - This has recently been filmed with John Malkovich as Ripley - genius casting. Haven't seen it, it's showing at the film festival here in a couple of weeks, plan to see it, hope it will be good.

* The Boy Who Followed Ripley - A different type of book, about a boy who runs away from his American home after his millionaire father commits suicide, and travels to France under an assumed name, where he befriends Ripley. An interesting book, that really focuses on the human Ripley, rather than the amoral killer Ripley.

* Ripley Under Water - And this is the real reason why I want the films to be made, all by one studio was one film series. The final Ripley book is about a couple who know decidedly too much about Ripley's past. The entire book is probably my favourite, just filled with incredible sequences, and is filled with references to past books (especially Ripley Under Ground). You COULD adapt it in such a way that the story would work, but it wouldn't be as good.

So there is my answer. A consistent series by one studio with two Ripley actors (one young for Talented, one older for the other films). Those are the books I want to see adapted.

MatthewLouwrens · Jun 18, 2003

Discworld (No book in particular. Probably a unique story.)

Mort. Has to be Mort. I can see the trailer now.

A white horse rides up. A cowled figure with a scythe steps off. A young boy and his father look on, tense. We see the figures sketetal feet walking forward. And then the figure slips on a patch of ice and falls to the ground - 'BUGGER'.

Coming soon from Dreamworks Pictures -

Death takes a holiday
Meet his replacement
"MORT"

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Adam_S · Jun 18, 2003

quote:

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Enchantment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ugg, no. Bad book. Card has done much better...

Actually I really liked Enchantment, I think it's his most recent great novel (his other stuff has been only average of late), Lost Boys would also make a great film.

I always thought the best discworld film would be Small Gods, though I"d see any especially Mort.

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Scott Weinberg · Jun 18, 2003

Good call on Ender's Game. What's the hold-up with that one??

Other ones I'd like to see done right:

Robert McCammon's Swan Song
Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon
Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show

Dan Rudolph · Jun 18, 2003

Out of Card's stuff, I'd like to see Wyrms. Though ti would probably be quite expensive.

I think most stuff Larry Niven has written is quite movieable. Ringworld would be a good start.

I think Neil Gaiman's American Gods woudl also be a good candidate with the right director. I'm thinking Alex Proyas.

Jason Walstrom · Jun 18, 2003

I've always loved, I am Legend, by Richard Matheson It's been adapted and bastardized before like Omega Man, and The Vincent Price film, I can't think of the name right now. A direct adaptation would be excellent, it would lend itself greatly to film, it is a short book and could easily be expanded on without ruining what is good at the heart of the story.

Christopher_S · Jun 19, 2003

I'd be interested to see what a strong director (e.g., Terry Gilliam), could do with the work of David Foster Wallace, a big fave of mine. (See sig

) Years ago, I heard a rumor that HBO was considering producing a miniseries based upon Infinte Jest. I'd like to have seen that...

Brian Ralph · Jun 19, 2003

Run
Picked it up on a whim while on vacation, and had a great time reading it. Not an intellectual novel, to be sure, but it could be a tremendously fun film.

By the way, simply searching for "Run" in Amazon books without the author's name results in 2800 hits.

Burden Lane is living the American Dream. He's an arms dealer. On the Level. Legit. But he's figured out a way to subsidize his paycheck - running guns to the wrong people for the right price. Which is illegal. And dangerous. His girlfriend thinks he's a salesman. His best friend thinks he's a role model. His boss thinks he's a good soldier. Whatever. Lane thinks he's got it made. Until a so-called milk run from Dirty City to Manhattan goes bad. Really bad. As in: everyone's gunning for him. Cops. Criminals. Coworkers. Everyone. And there's no way out. Except to lock, load and RUN like hell.

"Makes Pulp Fiction look like a mere primer on violence."
Washington Post

Werner_R · Jun 19, 2003

Peter F. Hamilton's SF trilogy: Night's Dawn

Fast paced space opera, could be made into great films !

Andy Sheets · Jun 19, 2003

I would like for movies to be made of ALL the Tom Ripley films, in order, and faithful to the books.

I would definitely like to see a faithful version of the first book. I wasn't pleased with Minghella's adaptation.

I remember reading Relic and thinking that would make a cool movie (probably because the book is very Michael Crichton-ish in how it's written). Unfortunately, when they made the movie they cut out the best character and threw in all sorts of silliness that made the movie really hard to put up with

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Hugh Jackes · Jun 19, 2003

Replay by Ken Grimwood

An unhappy middle-aged man has a heart attack, dies, and wakes up to find himself in his college dorm room. He realizes that somehow, his whole life is a do-over (City Slickers quote).

He gets rich through investments, meets and marries a different girl, has different children, then dies on the exact same date.

And wakes up to find himself in his college dorm room.

He has a series of do-overs, and lives his life differently each time.

Sounds hokie, but it is a moving series of examinations on the human experience.

Keith Yatsuhashi · Jun 19, 2003

YES! I am SO with you on Relic. As a matter of fact I was just about to mention Relic. After seeing the movie, all I could think was that there were some books I'd NEVER want to see as movies simply because I don't think they'd be done well. All you need to do is watch the first 15 minutes of Battlefield Earth to cure you of ever wanting books to be turned into movies.

Books that would make good movies

Sanford's Prey books. Good thrillers, pretty hard to screw them up.

The Cabinet of Curiorisities - The best book I've read in the last two years. I couldn't put it down. Maybe the second time is the charm for Preston and Child. Less a monster story than a murder mystery. That makes it tougher for Hollywood to turn it into a monster FX extravaganza

Ice Station: More of a movie than a book anyway.

The Grid: 2001 A Space Odyssey in a 'smart' building. The building's computer starts killing people. Creepy and timely. Would make a good movie.

f2f: Truly scary murder mystery. Could be a really good movie.

Star Wars - Wow, what a good book. I think it would make a decent movie.....Gotcha!

Books Hollywood should keep its greedy hands off of:

Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt books - Ain't no way I can see anyone pulling this off, not for me anyway. They would turn into all FX movies and the characters would be lost. I think these stories are better experienced on page than screen.

Wheel of Time: Peter Jackson is a GOD. I never thought LOTR could be done, and done well. I'm just to cynical to believe lightning would strike twice. Besides, this story is just too long to be done right.

The Bible - Can't be done without pissing someone off!

Movies that Out-lasted the Books

James Bond - well done! More people see James Bond movies nowthan will ever read them. I can't imagine many people reading Ian Flemmings originals anymore.

Jaws - Wanna bet alot of Gen X'ers don't even know that Jaws was a book.

2001 A Space Odyssey - When you hear someone talk about 2001, chances are they're talking about the movie, not the book.

The Wizard of Oz - Tough one, classic book, classic movie. The movie is so imbedded in our pop culture though that you have to give the edge to the movie.

Mary Poppins - obviously

Aaron Reynolds · Jun 19, 2003

I'm currently reading Sabatini's Captain Blood, and I keep thinking to myself that it could be a fantastically compelling four to six hour miniseries. There's just way too much in it to make into a single film -- the Errol Flynn/Michael Curtiz version from 1935 is a great movie, and quite faithful to the first quarter of the book...and that's about what it covers: a quarter.

Jason Seaver · Jun 19, 2003

The Niven & Pournelle collaborations. A huge part of my disappointment with Independence Day was that it wasn't Footfall, which could just be epic if done right. MGM/UA had The Legacy Of Heorot optioned a few years ago, but nothing came of it. That's probably a lucky break (as bad as MGM is now, it was worse then), but there's a kick-ass action film in there that could potentially make people forget Aliens.

Malcolm R · Jun 19, 2003

Yes! Any of the Preston/Child novels would make rip-roaring movies if they don't screw with them as much as they did The Relic. And don't forget their new novel, Still Life With Crows is in stores now.

I still hope to see Brian Lumley's Necroscope series on screen one day. But they're so dense and involved I think it would take someone with a fan's appreciation of the material, like Peter Jackson to LOTR, to do it right. Not to mention a sizeable budget.

Keith Yatsuhashi · Jun 19, 2003

I didn't think Still Life with Crows was due until July

Tony Whalen · Jun 19, 2003

Star Wars Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command

I'll drink to that. I'd love to see Admiral Thrawn in action. (Uh oh.. my geek is showing...)

I agree that the Dirk Pitt books would loose something in the translation. (Look at the awful "Raise The Titanic" movie. Great book. Bad flick.)

I always wanted to see a couple of Larry Niven books made into flicks, but I doubt they would work. They are just old favorites of mine. The "Gil Hamilton" short-stories, and Ringworld.

I'd also love to see Asimov's "The Caves of Steel"... again... doubt it would work. But I'd love to see Lije and R. Daneel in the "flesh".

One book I thought would make an awesome movie? "Memoirs of an Invisible Man". Boy, did they screw up the movie though. The book was so much deeper and darker, and didn't have that silly Hollywood ending...

Geez... I have a weird variety of reading habits... No romance novels though...

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