Novels you love so much you are terrified to see the movie upon which they are based.

[Mike 03]

1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (upcoming)
3. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (rumored to be directed by Ridley Scott)
4. Any movie based on a novel by Thomas Pynchon (especially "Gravity's Rainbow")
5. As we speak, I'm terrified to see "The Informers" based on the novel by Bret Ellis, as I won't see "American Psycho"

6. I should never ever have seen the movie adaptations of: "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" the masterpiece by Mario Vargas Llosa, a motion picture disaster called "Tune In Tomorrow" with Keanu Reeve and Peter Falk. They tried their hardest, but this novel was in-adaptable.

Not so bad, but I'm still sad I saw them:

"The World According to Garp," the adaptation by George Roy Hill

Not so bad at all, and maybe helped me appreciate the novel more:

"The Hotel New Hampshire", the movie based on the novel of the same name by John Irving. For some strange reason, I liked this film and thought it was faithful to the novel, although most people despised this movie.

[UndertheOcean]

1. Love in the time of Colera

The movie failed miserably in catching the pathos of the book.

I hope they never attempt "One hundred years of Solitude"

[jobycom]

5. One day I will force myself to make a serious effort at finishing that book.

I've started it, laid it off for months, started again... Can't get anywhere in it. I know I'm missing something--the tone, humor, something. So far all I get are boring people with boring problems and a scattered time frame I can't make myself care about. I feel like I'm looking at one of those 3-D pictures and everyone can see it but me.

[XemaSab]

15. Love in the Time of Cholera

or 100 years of Solitude?

I read 100 years and I felt the same way about it. I didn't get why it was supposed to be a great book.

[jobycom]

16. Cholera, not Solitude. Never attempted Solitude. nt

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. It's a bear to make films from Irving novels

Essentially, he writes two novels and intertwines them. I thought "Garp" was OK, but a lot of what I liked in the book were the sequences in Austria. Similarly, "The Cider House Rules", which is a very good movie, pretty much does away with the entire lesbian story line. I thought that film makers did the smart thing with "The Door in the Floor" (disclaimer: haven't seen the movie, but read the book) by NOT trying to film "A Widow for One Year" which would, as an entire work, would be filmable only as a mini-series.

[RagAss]

3. A Confederacy of Dunces

[jobycom]

11. How many actors has that book killed?

Belushi, Candy, and Farley were all set to play Ignatius when they died. Currently Will Ferrel is supposed to play him, and while he hasn't kicked the bucket, Hurricane Katrina interrupted their plans, and there was even a murder of a Louisiana film laiason who was helping them.

I'd stay away from that set.

And Will Ferrel? Christ, I like Will Ferrel, but I can't see it.

Even the fates seem against that one becoming a film.

[nomorenomore08]

18. Wouldn't he have to gain a massive amount of weight?

:shrug:

[jobycom]

21. I guess he'd wear a heavy suit.

I don't know who should play him. If he were younger, John Goodman could do it. There are similarities between Ignatius and Walter Sobchak. I also thought Randy Quaid, but again he's too old.

Some actor could do it in a heavy suit, but I just don't see Ferrel doing it.

There was a teen actor on Disney's "Drake and Josh" who idolized Belushi, and sometimes plays John Belushi (as the Blues Brothers) on the show. He lost a lot of weight, thankfully for him, but he might be able to give it a good run in a few years. He's in his early twenties now.

Meh, I'm babbling. Not much else to do tonight. :)

[elshiva]

4. Any adaptation of Dan Brown.

They ruined "Da Vinci Code," so I don't want to see "Angels and Demons." I think the books are good for beach reading. Anyway, what ultimately pissed me off about the film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" was that they left out the whole "sex is sacred theme" and the romance between the main characters.

[jobycom]

9. I thought the book and the movie were about equal.

Didn't love either one, couldn't muster any real animosity towards either. The romance in the book was poorly done I almost suspect Dan Brown has never experienced romance--that's true in Angels and Demons, too. He writes about romance like someone who learned it watching Jean Claude Van Damme movies. "I have saved your weak life, you must now gaze longingly at me and have sex."

I liked "Angels and Demons" much, much better. He's still an abysmal writer--poor Robert Langdon was "amazed" at so many things I thought he must have just been born--but the book has a breathless pace and a decent premise and some interesting arguments and insights, and after it got flowing I couldn't put it down, even though at times the writing made me groan.

"A&D" seems better suited for a movie. "DVC" had little action, and was more about concepts and mysterious that had to be explained. "A&D" has some of that, but even the "scholarly" stuff is often revealed through action, or at least suspense. I hope Howard does better with it.

[elshiva]

12. To each his or her own, but I prefered

the porn versions of it. "The Da Vinci Load" and "The Da Vinci Load: Angels & Semen" are great and funny on purpose.

[jobycom]

14. I never watch porn

with the sound on.

[elshiva]

19. LMAO!

Actually, I like the sound and the noises they make... :evilgrin:

[jobycom]

22. Good for a laugh, maybe

but not for, you know, teh mood... Guess it matters why you're watching.

[elshiva]

25. For me, the sound adds to the mood.

Also, Evan Stone, who is one of my favorite male porn stars, is actually intentionally hilarious.

[fishwax]

24. haha

--poor Robert Langdon was "amazed" at so many things I thought he must have just been born--

I haven't even read much of the book--just a few excerpts from various reviews and a few pages here and there while flipping through it in the bookstore, etc., but that comment struck me as spot on :)

[nickgutierrez]

6. Blindness, by Jose Saramago

They made a movie of it a year or two ago, and I cannot motivate myself to watch it.

[RadicalTexan]

7. Gone with the Wind

Now that would be impossible.

[EastTennesseeDem]

8. The Road and A Confederacy of Dunces

The writing styles of both are so integral to the stories.

[MrSlayer]

10. LOTR, Harry Potter, American Psycho, etc.

Shawshank Redemption is one of the few movies that is close enough to the book to not annoy me.

[XemaSab]

17. You are wise to stay away from Harry Potter

:(

[Withywindle]

30. Agreed on Harry Potter.

The movies are 'meh' at best, and the first two are truly tedious. (IMO - I do have a friend who loved them, but then, he hadn't read the books. Maybe they're better if you haven't)

I think the LOTR movies are OK - did as good a job as could possibly have been done. It's obvious Jackson & co loved the story like a passionate lover. (I love the little side stories about things like how they called in a Tolkien-language expert to make sure the Dwarven runes in Moria were correct, even though they're on-screen for 30 seconds in the dark). But only the Extended Editions - the theater edits of the 2nd and 3rd parts are shite.

The one novel I love too much to ever tolerate a movie version of is 'Little, Big' by John Crowley. Fortunately, I don't think he sells well enough to make it a worry. I do know someone owns the rights, though. :scared:

Worst book-to-movie adaptation of the last 20 years, hands down, 'Possession.' WTF was Neil LaBute thinking, that he could possibly make it appeal to Americans with short attention spans who don't like English Victorian lit -- or that it would be a good idea to even attempt to do so? I'm not even a huge A.S. Byatt fan, but I do like that book, and the movie was a complete waste of popcorn money.

[jobycom]

13. I love seeing movies based on good books. They too often fail, but I love

seeing someone make the attempt, to see how others interpret it. I just look for what the director was trying to do rather than at how the film compares to the book.

The biggest one I hated was "The Sun Also Rises." They twisted a few lines at the end and completely changed not just the meaning, but the whole point of the book. It went from an existential statement to a religious sermon with just a minor shift of words. The death penalty was created for crimes like that.

Other than that, I can't think of a book I like that I wouldn't love to see a good film effort of.

[Forkboy]

20. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Anything short of a miniseries couldn't even begin to do the book justice. The project has started and stopped a bunch of times, which makes me even more nervous.

I haven't seen Watchmen yet, and that has me nervous as well.

Oh, and World War Z by Max Brooks. If done right it'll be the Gone With The Wind of zombie movies. :)

[fishwax]

23. as a fan of both forms, I generally look forward to seeing movies based on books I like

Sometimes they're good, sometimes not so much, but I can't think offhand of a novel that I wouldn't ever want to see turned into a film. I'm usually interested to see the filmmaker's interpretation of the novel and how (and why) they adjust it for the different medium.

[petronius]

26. The Forever War (it would be Starship Troopers II)

[nomorenomore08]

27. 'Iodine' by Haven Kimmel, because they'd have to ruin its best aspects

for the movie to make *any damn sense*. Classic example of an unfilmable book, IMHO.

[ornotna]

28. To kill a Mockingbird

Loved the book.
The movie scares me.
;-)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/harper-lee.html

[Duer 157099]

29. They're making a movie of The Road???

Wow, that should be disturbing. I recently listened to the audiobook - I think listening to books might even result in more visualization than reading, because the visual field is completely not being used so is totally free -- and I have the book completely visualized already.

Shit. They're gonna screw it up!

[BlueIris]

31. I'm afraid to re-watch "Pet Sematary." Technically, I have seen it, but not since

I realized what a masterwork of horror fiction that novel is. I don't think I could ever subject myself to the movie again; I wouldn't want to see great art made into '80s pulp.

[Dammit Ann]

32. More of a story... Franny and Zooey.

The only Salinger I love and laugh with, except for raise high the roof beams...

[XemaSab]

33. There have been rumors of films from some of my favorites for years

including Pelican Blood and The Secret History.

I refuse to watch the films of The Golden Compass and The History of Luminous Motion. x(

[donheld]

34. I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb

I'd never stop :cry: