I have read some excellent books that I think would translate well to the big scree. However, for some reason, they haven't been made into movies. Two examples are:
INCIDENT AT 20 MILE - This was written by Trevanian (the author of THE EIGER SANCTION). It's a western about a clever, ruthless killer who escapes from prison and then terrorizes a small, secluded town. It has some great characters and dialogue, and the suspense and violence are relentless. The thing that makes it interesting is that the author used a real town and some historical information about real people who lived there, and then built his fictional story around it. The book is nearly impossible to put down once you start reading it.
DIRTY WHITE BOYS - This was written by Stephen Hunter (actually, I have read 3 or 4 of his books and they would ALL make good movies). It's about 3 guys who escape from prison and go on a rampage of murder and violence. Again, an unbelievably quick read, loaded with vivid characters. A few years ago I read that the author had optioned this book to Hollywood, but it must still be in production hell.
Do you have any favorites that you would like to see on the big screen?
Ah, if somebody could do a good turn on Simon's Soul, THAT would be something.
I' d also like to see a decent rendering of Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever--ooooooooh, waynhims, ur-viles, and the detestable Lord Foul.
And of Donaldson's books...The Mirror books or I'd really like to see the Gap series done well visually
I guess the rest of the Harry Potter series.
Ummm.
I need to expand my reading.
Say, has anyone made a movie about Stephen King's "Roadwork"?
That is the one King book that I actually WANT to see in film.
They Thirst
It's a vampire book that I read a long time ago. My older sister used to be into reading horror books by King and Koontz and I would now and then pick them up and start reading. One day she had this book called They Thirst (not sure by who) and I started reading it...I couldn't stop. I always thought if it was done right, it would make for an excellent movie.
I've only read three books in the last fifteen years; "How to Win Friends & Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, "Lasher" by Anne Rice, and the 12x12.
From what I got out of it, I've always wanted to read the rest os the Dale Carnegie series, but ya can't make that into a movie, & the 12x12 is a little more fun to do it yourself than watch other people doing it, So I guess I'm stuck with Lasher.
I believe Lasher was part of a series by Anne Rice, which I always thought would make a cool late night cable TV series, even though I don't have cable. But it would have to be on one of the premium channels so they could leave in the dirty stuff.
I recently read a book called Dragonkeeper, set in ancient China, about a slave-girl who becomes the keeper of the last imperial dragon. Great story, I read it in one (very late!) night, and all I could think of through it was how much I would love to see Weta do a dragon.
That book sounds like a rip-off of the movie "Dragonheart", only set in China...
Or how about the dictionary?
What I can think of are mostly short stories. A number of them could be turned into interesting movies, but the choice of directors would matter a lot.
The Man Who Walked Home - maybe Luc Besson
Slime - no idea, maybe John Carpenter as he was in the mid 1980s.
Days of Solomon Gursky - Spielberg, oddly enough.
ELECTRIC JESUS CORPSE, by Carlton Mellick III - The story of Jesus and his disciples, set in a post-apocalyptic future overrun by zombies. The book is separated into 12 interweaving stories, one for each disciple, each of whom has some sort of quirk (Judas is an alien zombie-killer, Thaddeus is a hardcore punk, John is a pimp), and most of whom hate Jesus (who himself is a disco stud). It'd obviously attract controversy, and would probably have to be scaled down for an inevitably low budget (the book is something like 500 pages, though its tough to say, as they aren't numbered), but it has the potential to be a true b-classic. I definitely recommend tracking down the book-- it's one of the most hilariously messed-up books I've read in a while.
You know what book would make a cool moveie...how about Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris or maybe that book by MJario Puzo...what's the name of it agin? Oh yes The Godfather. That would be a good movie, but I think they should cut out that stuff about sunny's mistress Lucy and her big box and that affair with the doctor. Then it would be a perfect adaptation!
But in all seriousness, I would actually like to see Brainchild done by John Saul. And I would LOVE to see a really great adaptation on Phillip K. Dick's life.
"Joshua Son on None" I read it in high school about 14 years ago it begins the day JFK was shot and some doctors keep apart of his brain and clone him, and try to raise him EXACTLY the same way as JFK....interesting book really, I should read it again.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Y'know, I don't think I've ever seen a version of The Most Dangerous Game that really followed Richard Connell's short story all that well.
The 1932 version seemed to take to many liberties, and it seems like every version since then is just another rip-off of the 1932 film.
I'd like to see version that depicts Rainsford as the haughty sportswriter who drops his pipe & falls overboard, with that slightly more downbeat ending.
I don't know why, but for some stupid reason, I can just imagine Tim Hines recycling Piana & The PushBroom for one that's, uh, well, a little bit closer to the book than SlaveGirls from Beyond Infinity.
How about a movie version of "The Once and Future King"?
Y'know I wouldn't mind seeing the Godzilla books by Mark Cerasini made.
I havn't read his first book, Godzilla Returns in which Godzilla comes back from dead. I believe it takes place in the later half of the 1990's and this would be his first apperance after dying in Gojira. It shoulds like it's just Godzilla in this one.
Godzilla 2000. Hmm the name is rather similar to an actual movie. This one I've read and I think it could work well as a film. Something in common with Cerasini's books is that the main characters are pretty much teenagers in their older teen years. That might annoy some people but hey I was in middle school when I read these books so it was cool then. Anyway most of the action in this books takes place in the U.S. and that's fine by me since all of the monsters are well handled. This would make a much better Godzilla movie than the 1998 film. Godzilla is in it, so is Rodan, a whole army of Kamakaras, Varan who takes on this stories Super X/ XY3 super Jet, the Raptor., King Ghidorah shows up at the end and so does Mothra. Then we have a two on one monster battle. It pretty much had everything to make an entertaining Godzilla movie.
Godzilla at World End. Now this book has a LOT of monsters, however it's sort of a Destroy All Monsters setting so it works this time. Monster's appear all over the world. Godzilla, Rodan, Anigirus battle Gigan, Manda and Hedorah fight Godzilla, Battra shows up briefly, Megalon appears in Russia and is said to have been driven off (off screen) and Biollante shows up at the end for the final battle. A good read.
Godzilla vs the Robot Monsters. Okay this one over does the monsters just a tad. Godzilla appears at the end. Mecha-Godzilla II is built by the U.S., Moggura by Russia. They tackle different monsters, such as Baragon (no heat beam AGAIN!), Angiruis, Fire Rodan appears briefly, Mecha-Ghidorah and a few others. It's got good action but Godzilla only shows up at the end.
Sadly the fifth book wasn't realeased for some reason but on the cover Manda was on it.
Mark is certainly a bigger Godzilla fan than Roland Emm could ever be.
How about "Catcher in the Rye"?
Hey, I read JOSHUA, SON OF NONE! My mother used to belong to one of those book clubs where you get like 6 hardcover books for $1.00 and then you need to buy 3 or 4 more at regular price. JOSHUA, SON OF NONE was one of them.
CATCHER IN THE RYE is one of my all-time favorite books. I'm surprised they never adapted it for the big screen.
"I' d also like to see a decent rendering of Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever--ooooooooh, waynhims, ur-viles, and the detestable Lord Foul."
Oh man, I haven't thought about that series in a long time. I had my highschool class ring made out of white gold after those books. Too bad the 2nd series sucked....
I'd love to see John De Chancie's Starrigger as a movie. Driving through the galaxy in a huge semi(a huge semi that has as its computer the ghost of your dead father)....or more importantly, in an indestructable '57 chevy(an indestructable '57 chevy with a super exotic weapons control built into the glove compartment) :)
I remember reading Catcher in the Rye on a train ride to NYC. I was suppose to read it in jr. high but I never did, so I thought I would make up for it 9 years later. It is a great book but it would take a talented director and crew and cast to pull it off.
I remember I read To Kill a Mockingbird before I watched the movie...and although it wasn't to the letter of the book, I reaally liked the performances.
Can you think of any director, actresses/actors that would be great for Catcher in the Rye?
Also, wish they would make a movie of Bret Easton Elli`s American Psycho..
( yeah, i know they did....kinda - but i mean 100% true to the book...nothing left out, every little gory detail included )
Hey, what's wrong with Christian "god of acting" Bale?
CB a great actor.. The movie didnt live up though..
How, exactly? It was horrific, gripping, and morbidly funny, just like the book.
I concur on the Thomas Covenant series.
Also, Hiero's Journey & The Unforsaken Hiero by Sterling Lanier. Basically they are about a guy living in a post apocalyptic US.
"The Tripod" trilogy by British writer John Christopher. Except for the "Lord of the Rings," the first trilogy I ever remember reading in school.
The BBC, a number of years ago, did do a television series based on the books, but only on the first two books: "The White Mountains" and "The City of Gold and Lead." Apparently, the series was canceled before they got around to doing the third book in the trilogy: "The Pool of Fire." Which to my thinking was the best of the three.
I don't know how faithfully the series followed the books, because the series was seen here only on a few PBS stations, and none of them were in my local area.
There is some talk of the Disney subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures, doing a theatrical version of the trilogy, but, I think it would go better as a television miniseries. Even at two hours, you'd have to cut out alot. Unless you wanted to do each book as a separate film, like Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings."
95% of the violence was left out / left to the viewers imagination.. No real slashing to talk about.
I`m not saying its a bad movie, - i aint. But it is nothing like the book.
But i suppose it would have got a totally different rating if all blood and gore was included.
The book was extremely violent, whilst the movie was mostly innuendo.
Get it?
How about Terry Patrchet's "Discworld" books?
For me, I felt it was done well for that reason. It still had a very morbid, twisted creepy feel. And I can say that movies with the most gore or violence which is shown doesn't really creep me out much anymore. Maybe cuz the exposure to the slasher films and how "ridiculous" they became/were.. Sometimes I like when they leave it to our imagination, I wish they did that with the ending of Stephen King's it. I giant spider...lol.
American Psycho creeped me out WAY more than Hostel ever could and that was chock full o gore and violence! :)