ANYBODY COULD ARGUE, quite confidently, that the greatest films of all time are adaptations of a novel, short story, fairytale, or other pre-written story. When you think of timeless movies, you think of Psycho, you think of Jaws, The Lord of the Rings, Shawshank Redemption, 2001: A Space Odyssee, The Godfather, The Shining… just to name a few. Well, all of these films were adapted from books! Shawshank Redemption (1994), and The Godfather (1972) are even #1 and #2 on the IMDb Top 250 films list… Number 3 in the list is The Godfather: Part II.
Frank Darabont was the director for Shawshank Redemption, which was initially entitled: “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” by its author Stephen King. And yes, that is the Stephen King! Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is actually a novella compiled within a small collection of short stories called Different Seasons. This was Mr. King’s attempt at proving that he isn’t a one trick pony, and that he can write more than horrors and thrillers… And with 7 Oscar nominations for one of those short stories, I think he proved his point. Darabont went on to direct another of King’s books in 1999 – it was The Green Mile, which is one of the few films that tugs at my usually untuggable heartstrings. It’s a wonderfully casted film, with Tom Hanks and the late Michael Clarke Duncan in the lead roles. Duncan gives a fantastic, and emotional, portrayal of a wrongly accused murderer on death row, who has the ability to cure diseases, and even resurrect small creatures!
The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile are two of the dozens of films which have been adapted from a Stephen King book. Another, which I listed above, is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. King publically denounced the film, as he felt it strayed too far from the original story. I, on the other hand, think Kubrick’s version is better than the original – and trust me when I say that I don’t often prefer a film to its written sibling… Just look at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as proof.
DID YOU KNOW, for instance, that in the novel version of The Shining (SPOILER ALERT) Dick Hallorann, the chef character, who’s played by Scatman Crothers in the film, doesn’t die? And remember that famous scene in which Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) smashes through the bathroom door with the axe? Well if you’re reading the book, prepare for that axe to transform into a croquet mallet. To be fair, that infamous scene doesn’t even transpire in King’s version. In the novel, Hallorann has his face smashed in with that mallet, and there is a hefty explosion to cap it all off… Sounds okay, but believe it or not, the book seems to be more Hollywood than the film. Besides, who, but Stephen King, can denounce this scene:
So, maybe I’ve been a bit Stephen King heavy in this post, but to me, he is the Don of book to film adaptations. I’ve mentioned The Shining, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile, but then there’s IT, Misery, Carrie (whose remake only came out at the end of last year), ‘Salem’s Lot, Stand by Me, Pet Semetary, 1408, Cujo, Secret Window… yada, yada, yada, I could go on! But the point I’m making is that these books have all achieved a big, or small screen status, and for one writer, especially in the modern era, to achieve this, is quite exceptional. Of course, fantastic filmmakers, crews, and casts have helped publicsize King’s works, like Cathy Bates’ flawlessly crazy portrayal of Annie Wilkes in Misery, and Kubrick’s meticulous and… well, Kubrickian version of The Shining, but to be as consistently prominent as King has been for the last 4 decades, it really is quite special.
The most popular books nowadays, especially fictional bestsellers, are primed to be adapted to the silver screen. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise was the first book-to-film series I became engrossed in, (until I saw The Fellowship of the Ring at the cinema.) Now Harry and his creator are known across the globe! But books such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and El James’ Fifty Shades of Grey have also taken the world by storm – both of which have been, or are being adapted into movies; with the first part of the third installment of Hunger Games to be released later this year, and the movie adaptation of Fifty Shades rumoured to be out in 2015. With such a huge opportunity for fiction writers to hit the big screen with their story, is the novel another route into the film industry?
George R. R. Martin, author, and executive producer of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, commonly known as GAME OF THRONES dabbled in T.V. for many years, writing, most prominently, for the Twilight Zone, back in the ’80s. But it wasn’t until HBO managed to acquire his trust to develop Game of Thrones into a series that he became truly internationally recognized. It’s a credit to George R.R. Martin, David Benioff, and Daniel Weiss, to have created such a magnificent television show, from such an exceptional, yet intricate and complex plot; while also remaining somewhat loyal to the original story. The fourth season is to hit the screen this April. It will be interesting to see how long the non-reader fans remain interested when even more of their favourite characters are mercilessly murdered before their eyes! Below is the trailer.
DID YOU KNOW that George R. R. Martin refused numerous film producers permission to create a Game of Thrones movie. He believed that the story was too long for a movie, or even numerous movies, to cover. Some producers even pitched ideas of following one of the many main characters, completely cutting other main characters out of the story!
Books are a great source of ideas for filmmakers, and have been for decades. Numerous works of Shakespeare have been adapted into film. Another DID YOU KNOW is: did you know that The Lion King is heavily influenced by Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has had dozens of movie interpretations, from the comedy film Young Frankenstein (1974), Frankenstein (1994), and 2014s adaptation: I, Frankenstein. Fairy tales have made it into feature length films, 2013s Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters is a contemporary example (though quite a poor one.) Biblical stories have reached the silver screen, the most obvious, and controversial being Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) which was adapted from Nikos Kazantzakis’ 1953 novel.
As I said in my “The Coolest Job In The World” post, writing is the rawest form of creativity. And the way creative minds have recycled stories over the past century has been a huge part in the growth of both literature, and cinema. What better way to enjoy your favourite book, than being able to watch it? Obviously, this isn’t always the case, as some films haven’t lived to up their original written potential (enter Hansel and Gretel.) But a lot of them have, and will continue to do so. It isn’t easy, and it’s sometimes impossible, to take a 600 page novel, and fit it all into 2 hours. And like my last post where I praise the writer/ director, I am now going to praise the book-to-film director. They are always under the most pressure to please an existing fanbase, and an author. They, no matter what, never please everyone. If the author likes it, then there’s going to be the hardcore pedantic fan who does not. If a scene is missing, it’s not as good as the original. If someone dies when they survive in the book, it’s unfaithful… So on, and so on…
So the next time you watch a film which has been adapted from a book, think about this little blog, and remember to give the film the benefit of the doubt. Because adapting a book into a motion picture is a delicate job!
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