|
|
Post by shawninmon on Mar 2, 2014 17:50:10 GMT -5
I am a huge fan of the Academy Awards. I used to host parties and have ballots and food themed around the nominees, but eventually I realized that the only person that really cared was me. So now, I only subject my wife to my rants and Oscar trivia.
Thinking about movies, today, though, has got me wondering why some best selling books never get made into movies. For instance, one of my favorite reads is Robert A. Heinein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It's been out for fifty years now, is one of the most beloved and best-selling sci-fi books of all time, but it's never become a film. I'm often happy about that, like when I see a tepid adaptation like the recent Ender's Game, but it makes me wonder why?
I'll bet we can all think of favorite books that have never been adapted, while a lot of dreck does get made. Why do you think some classics never get filmed?
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 2, 2014 18:33:00 GMT -5
I'm amazed that no one's adapted Paradise Lost. It's a fantastic story and ridiculously cinematic.
My husband is also a big Oscars fan. We'll be heading out to watch the show at a local art house theater in an hour or so. Feels a bit silly since I've seen so few of the nominated films this year.
|
|
|
|
Post by shawninmon on Mar 2, 2014 18:38:12 GMT -5
I didn't get to see as many as I'd like either, Becca, but I've still got my favorites in every category. I posted my predictions on my FB page, so I am open to public humiliation.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 2, 2014 18:50:15 GMT -5
Sigh. I didn't see any of the films you're drawing on except Her, which I thought was terrific. I've seen something like three movies in the theater this year. Twelve Years a Slave was one of them. Was there another? Maybe.
|
|
|
|
Post by shawninmon on Mar 2, 2014 19:56:39 GMT -5
I love Alexander Payne. Nebraska and Her were my two favorite movies this year. I've been an Oscar watcher for too long to think they win anything other than screenplay for Her, though.
Side note: I learned some things about writing in watching Her. Do you know how Joaquin Phoenix walks around with the phone in his pocket so she can "see" what he sees? Because they made quite a few fashion changes/statements, as a writer I would have been tempted to make the shirt pocket another one of those choices, so the phone would have fit. Instead, Spike Jonze, without mentioning it or being showy about it, had his character stick a safety pin through the pocket, closing it off a bit. That reminded me to not just take the first, obvious choice. Sometimes the smaller, more personal angle is much more effective.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 3, 2014 1:26:17 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed the safety-pin in the pocket when I was watching the film. Cool touch -- realistic.
I was surprised that Twelve Years a Slave won! Not disappointed -- it was one of the few films I saw this year, and it made a big impression on me. But the way Gravity was vacuuming up all the smaller awards, I was sure it was headed for the biggie.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 3, 2014 1:26:50 GMT -5
P.S. God, the clip they showed from Nebraska -- the old lady flashing the grave. Priceless.  |
|
|
|
Post by Suzy on Mar 3, 2014 3:07:10 GMT -5
I missed the Oscars (too late for me). But I saw that The Great Gatsby got an award. I liked that adaptation more than the one with Robert Redford. The later one depicted the tragedy of the story much more vividly.
|
|
|
|
Post by vrabinec on Mar 3, 2014 12:20:34 GMT -5
Some books just don't lend themselves to the type of manipulation Hollywood likes to do. Atlas Shrugged should never have been made onto a movie because the relevant parts are all introspection. Heart of Darkness is an abomination as Apocalypse Now. Completely transformed the thing, again, because the relevant parts were introspective and philosophical. Not that I don't like Apocalypse Now, it's just got nothing to do with the book.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 3, 2014 23:34:08 GMT -5
Some books just don't lend themselves to the type of manipulation Hollywood likes to do. Atlas Shrugged should never have been made onto a movie because the relevant parts are all introspection. Heart of Darkness is an abomination as Apocalypse Now. Completely transformed the thing, again, because the relevant parts were introspective and philosophical. Not that I don't like Apocalypse Now, it's just got nothing to do with the book. I tend to think the best movie adaptations really do their own thing with the book. Slavish similarity ... it just doesn't work well in a lot of cases. Maybe because the media are too different? Maybe because you want to feel the film-maker's artistic presence, rather than having her/him sort of transparent. |
|
|
|
Post by cbedwards on Mar 4, 2014 3:41:20 GMT -5
Movies have to comport to a certain format. Ten minute mark is the inciting incident. Act II begins on page 26 or whatever, etc. It's more rigid than novels, which is why a lot gets cut, or there are compilation characters, or scenes are rearranged in translation.
|
|
|
|
Post by Becca Mills on Mar 4, 2014 14:10:23 GMT -5
Movies have to comport to a certain format. Ten minute mark is the inciting incident. Act II begins on page 26 or whatever, etc. It's more rigid than novels, which is why a lot gets cut, or there are compilation characters, or scenes are rearranged in translation. Interesting. Sounds like a good way to enforce discipline on a sprawling book.  |
|
