The books I'd most love to see filmed...

[shadowkat]

I swiped this from someone else on the correspondence list, which books would I most like to see filmed?

There's all these book series that are filmed that I've no interest in or have film rights, that I've even less interest in. Or one's that have been done over and over again, *cough*Austen*cough* and sigh Turn of the Screw and Haunting of Hill House, although those may be due to either public domain or the apparently easy acquisition of secondary film rights.


Here's mine:

1. The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett - this would make an excellent series. Following the exploits of a classical but deeply flawed hero, and his various family members during the 16th Century in Scotland.

2. The Sparrow and Children of God by Maria Doria Russell - another interesting mini-series could be done from these science fiction novels, with their layered characters and political themes.

3. The Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters - about an art historian and museum co-director in Germany, who solves mysteries with a Gentleman Art Thief, who she pursues as a thief but also falls for.

4. Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Rider's of Pern Series or her Crystal Singer Series

5. Agatha Christie's Curtain

Comments

[iddewes]

I definitely agree there are some books that have been filmed way too many times! Wuthering Heights is another one.

[shadowkat]

Yup, they've done the Brontes one too many times. I think there are five versions of Jane Eyre (including a stage musical) and five versions of Wuthering Heights. Other's that are overdone? Dickens (how many times do we need to do Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol?) Hardy (they've done Far from the Madding Crowd twice), Bram Stoker's Dracula (sigh, I think we have over fifty now?), Frankenstein (ditto). Also, don't get me started on Shakespeare.

I get that a lot of these are in public domain, but really?

There's so many others to do out there. (Although I really don't want to see Franz Kafka's stories adapted. There are some novels that can stay novels.)

[iddewes]

Yes Brontes although The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has maybe been done once, and it’s actually more deserving, because it’s actually an early feminist novel and very forward thinking for its time. But no they have to redo Wuthering Heights with its romanticized abusive relationships.

[shadowkat]

That's the one I haven't read. Both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights - tend to romanticize abusive or difficult romantic relationships. And are gothic tragedies.

[iddewes]

It’s about a woman who has left her abusive husband. Not something you would often find in a Victorian novel! It’s worth reading. Apparently the abusive husband was based on their brother.

[yourlibrarian]

I've got good news for you, Curtain was done with David Suchet as Poirot back in 2014! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119589/

[shadowkat]

I'd heard it was done. I need to find it on streaming. It's my favorite Agatha Christie novel next to Sleeping Murder.

[wendelah1]

I downloaded volume one of The Vicky Bliss mysteries.

[shadowkat]

Hope you enjoy it. The last book in the series - isn't very good. Stop with Night Train to Memphis, which I love. The best ones are the second novel, Trojan Gold, and Night Train to Memphis.

[colls]

The Sparrow and Children of God could be SUPER interesting. It could also lean into some horror tropes as well, but agree some of the political themes would probably be more nuanced.
At least, I remember some of the scenes being horrific and traumatizing (for the character(s), not for me). It's been a while since I read it.

And the Crystal Singer Series! Oh! I would totally watch that, too. I'd probably check out all of these series, to be honest.

[shadowkat]

It could also lean into some horror tropes as well, but agree some of the political themes would probably be more nuanced.
At least, I remember some of the scenes being horrific and traumatizing (for the character(s), not for me). It's been a while since I read it.

Very much so. The Sparrow is a fascinating novel, with a body horror trope. And it's so complex - because what happens to one of the lead characters is a miscommunication. The Priest who is a linguist and prides himself on understanding the language, misunderstands and well...as a result, ends up ...tragic consequences.

I don't know if they can film it? But they managed to the Expanse, and I think with CGI, it's possible. It delves into so many complicated ideas. Daria Russell is a biological anthropologist, and through her story - she explores the problematic nature of visiting a culture you know nothing about, and interfering with it. And the assumptions people make regarding language and culture of a society different from their own. I read it at least twenty years ago, and it still haunts me to this day.
It's among the few books that I can remember almost vividly.

Also, the Crystal Singer series - I think would probably be far better than the Dragon Rider series, it holds up better, and has some interesting world-building.

[spiffikins]

Oh I loved the Crystal Singer series - that would work so well in a visual medium, too!

[shadowkat]

It really would. I honestly think that would work best of her novels.

[cjlasky7]

My five:

1. Either L'Etranger by Albert Camus or No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre. The Coen Brothers have done their own versions of the French existentialist classics, but I'd like to see somebody take a crack at the originals.

2. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Directed by David Cronenberg. (Come on, he's been warming up for this one his entire life!)

3. Another Country by James Baldwin. Or, really, anything by Baldwin starring Jeffrey Wright as Baldwin.

4. City of Glass by Paul Auster. For the film noir fanatic and New Yorker in everyone.

5. To Marry Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon. The integration of mankind into a cosmic hive mind.

[shadowkat]

I don't know - there are some novels that I really don't want to see a film version of - and you have managed to pick three of them. I don't think Camus, Sartre or Kafka work in a film medium. I saw someone try a comic book version of Metamorphosis once - and just no. That works because you are inside the character's head, so it becomes less about gross-out and more about the horror of losing control over one's body. The problem with a lot of Croenberg's films is I can't watch them. The Fly is unwatchable for me - so I lose all of the great metaphors. I'm too caught up in being grossed out.
That's not brilliant film-making - so much as just shock for shock's sake?

My niece wisely stated at the age of 9 that certain things work better in books, because you are engaged with the ideas not the shocking and painful visuals.

I know Jorges Borges, and the writer of the Unbearable Lightness of Being, often went out of their way to write unfilmable books. They wanted to remain forever in the theater of the mind, not the senses?

[cjlasky7]

I think No Exit is especially ripe for cinematic interpretation. (Isn't Season 1 of The Good Place basically No Exit as a sitcom?) You get three great actors in one room and it could be spectacular.

I love Cronenberg. The Fly works as straight body horror or as a metaphor for AIDS. I don't see why a film version of Metamorphosis can't be effective on literal and metaphorical levels as well. (Although I do admit-- you need a strong stomach for Cronenberg.)

[shadowkat]

I'm guessing you don't have a visual memory? In that you can vividly recall in complete detail what you've seen? I mean can draw someone from memory and often a whole scene, recreate all of it. I rarely re-watch movies because I can just replay it in my head. As a result, gross horror movies - I can't watch. The visuals stay with me. And body horror? Forget about it. I can read it, but I cannot watch it.

Also the appeal of Cronenberg has always been lost on me.

And it's probably worth noting that I kind of fast-forwarded through 90% of S1 of the Good Place? It bored me. The only good episode was the first and last ones. I'm also not a fan of Beckett plays - which I'm guessing you are?

So you can go watch those if they ever get made, I'm going off to watch Crystal Singer. ;-)

[kerk_hiraeth]

Have vague memories of having heard of Elizabeth Peters; possibly because I nearly bought a book that some wag had deposited amongst the Elizabth Moon's & I believe a radio production has been done of at least one Dorothy Dunnett story, but one of the first books I bought from an old secondhand market stall in Newton Abbot, Devon was what turned out to be the second in the Pern series, though it was truthfully the Menolly Dragonsinger books that made me a fan.

I think I'd like to have seen an animated version of the Pern books; most especially those Dragonsinger books ~ not a fan of Menolly & Sebell as a couple though. Possibly a mix of animation & live action made in Northern Ireland; New Zealand & North Africa.

Not that I've put a lot of thought into it of course...

kerk