Book to Film adaptations - My love/hate relationship

I like my job, I really do, but sometimes it frustrates me. You see, before I was in this position, I was completely oblivious to some of the sacrilege going on out there. But now that I'm in a position where I have to be up to date on these kinds of things, it has really hit me: A great film adaptation is a rarity.

Now don't get me wrong. I understand the issue of adapting a novel into a film, there is just no way you will be able to fit everything into a two hour movie. Add to that the fact that actors, directors and the other creative people in the have their own interpretations of the material and you can very well end up with a film that does not even remotely resemble your favourite novel.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see that James Rollins' Sigma series has been optioned for film. And this is not the normal we're-going-to-mutilate-your-book-and-call-it-an-adaptation film option. No, Dino de Laurentiis, the producer wants a completely new story, which, it appears James will have a hand in writing.

This excites me to no end, and not because I am a fan. I have never read a James Rollins book, but fans of the series assure me it is brilliant (hence the fact that they're fans). It excites me because the story would be an expansion on the series, not an adaptation. Chances of people walking out of the cinema going: "The book was better." has been severely reduced.

Sure, some people just nit-pick. I recently heard someone walked out of Kick-Ass because the main character's hair colour changed. But there are some valid issues as well. Take My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, for instance. To make the movie "more acceptable" for the Hollywood market, they changed the ending completely, losing most of the punch of the book. That, to me, is completely unacceptable.

Books that get film options are usually picked because some big wig number cruncher spoke to some creative person and realised that creatively the movie is a viable cash cow with enough fans to make it worth making the film in the first place. But they tend to forget that people became fans of a book for a reason: the books characters and storyline(s) appealed to them. Changing that is like taking someone's idea of a perfect partner, changing the personality and looks and telling the person that this is the love of their life. Seriously, did you think we wouldn't notice?

Books also appeal to people for other reasons. When I read a book, the story comes alive in my imagination. I see the characters, experience their world and share their trials and tribulations. These characters become my friends. When they get transported to screen, it loses the magic. I cannot read a Harry Potter novel without seeing Emma Watson. I cannot read Lord of the Rings without Elijah Wood's sitting in Frodo's place. I hate the movies for this.

On the other hand, I love them. I get to see other people's interpretation of ideas, and sometimes they enrich the story for me. Let's take Harry Potter for example (again). When I read the part about Dumbledore dying for the first time, I was in shock for about a page and a half. It never occurred to me the pain and anguish that the characters had to go through. Everytime I read that part, it shocked me again. When I finally saw the film, I realised that my shock as a reader was not half as bad as the pain that the characters had to go through. My subsequent reading changed my perspective of the scene, and it has become one of my favourites in the series.

I wanted to put a nice cartoon here that I saw a couple of years ago, but I was unable to find it. So I'll just describe it to you.

An old woman and her husband is walking out of a cinema complex, the banner showing that they have just watched The Passion of the Christ. The old woman has her Bible clasped firmly under her arm as she loudly proclaims: "The Books was better!"

I thought it would have been appropriate. If anyone can find that cartoon, mail it to me and I'll post it here.

There we go, some random musings to start this Tuesday.

Keep it real...