FROM BOOK TO SCREEN -- EVERY AUTHOR'S DREAM?--OR IS IT A NIGHTMARE?

Having an offer for your book to be made into a movie--every author's big dream, right?

I guess not. Plenty of authors hated the movie versions of their books.

Here are a few examples:

1) Cornelia Funke - INKHEART

When her GoodReads fans inquired if she liked the film, she responded:

"Books are flying carpets, movies mostly shrink them into napkins. The shrinking for this one was done with passion and many brilliant artists, but sadly it's still a napkin."

My thoughts:

I adored this movie. My apologies to the author, but I'd never heard of the book before the flick came up as a suggestion on Netflix. Since then, I've purchased both the movie and book. After reading Inkheart, I still love both. I feel sad the author doesn't.

2) Colleen McCullough - THORN BIRDS

In a PEOPLE interview, Colleen blasted the 1983 ABC miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, and Barbara Stanwyck.: "I hated it. It was instant vomit. It was agony. It was awful."

My thoughts:

I love, love, love both. I own both. It floors me that she hated the miniseries so much. If she (as an author) didn't like this wonderful depiction of her story, then how is it possible for anyone to ever like any movie version of their tale?

3) Stephen King - THE SHINING

This movie scared me to pieces. I was shocked to learn that Stephen King called it a "a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it."

He didn't like Jack Nicholson's performance because he didn't want the character crazy from the start. He wanted the Overlook Hotel to change him. Stephen was disappointed in the director as well. “I was deeply disappointed in the end result. … Kubrick just couldn't grasp the sheer inhuman evil of The Overlook Hotel. So he looked, instead, for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones. That was the basic flaw: because he couldn't believe, he couldn't make the film believable to others.” 

My thoughts:

This movie is scary as hell (especially those two little girls). Stephen King is scary as hell. I thought the two were a perfect match for each other. I was wrong.

4) Bret Easton Ellis - AMERICAN PSYCHO

Ellis believes American Psycho never should have happened: “American Psycho was a book I didn’t think needed to be turned into a movie" (due to the unreliable narrator aspect of the novel which he didn't think translated well onto screen).

Who the hell wants to see this? Not me! EEEEEEEEKKKK!

I absolutely agree, for selfish reasons. The mere ten minutes of this movie that I saw years ago has haunted me ever since.

I did not need to see Christian Bale running around naked with a chain saw. It really put a damper on my I-adore-you-and-want-to-believe-that-you-are-always-and-truly-Laurie-from-Little-Women thing I had going on for that actor.  

Aaaaahhh... this is much better. 

Dear Christian Bale/Laurie from Little Women,

Quit scaring me. I don't like it.

Thank you,

Ann

About the Author - Ann M. Noser

Growing up an only child, I learned to entertain myself. During summer vacations, my greatest form of exercise consisted of turning the pages of a book. Now I'm all grown up and full of stories half-written in my head. I have to write them down so I can find out what happens next.



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