The Impossible Transition: From Novel To Film.

I have watched some films that I immediately took to and after the viewing , I go back to the source material and by this I mean the novel (in cases where the film was based on a novel) and will often read the novel . After watching The Bourne Identity, I attempted to borrow the book from the library, but there was a long waiting list for the next available copy, so I just went out and bought it. For those of you that have not read the book, it is nothing like the film, but still a very good read. It is very difficult for directors and screenwriters to adapt a story from the novel to the big screen, obviously because the film medium is limited because of time constraints and therefore only so much of the depth of the story and character development can end up in the completed film. In the last ten years a lot of adapted stories have been from comic books (X-Men, Spiderman) and more recently from graphic novels (Sin City, V For Vendetta).

Viewing films for all my life, I have noticed that certain authors have had the novels adapted into film very frequent. These authors include John Grisham (The Firm, Runaway Jury), and Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Timeline). Other notable include Thomas Harris, who has had all five of his book adapted into films (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, Black Tuesday) and Elmore Leonard, who most recently had his short story 3:10 To Yuma adapted into a film again and also had his novel Rum Punch adapted in 1997 by Quentin Tarantino as Jackie Brown. Despite, Harris and Leonard having their work adapted very recently (Hannibal Rising and 3:10 To Yuma), there has been a shift towards adapting the stories of other authors, who are not even new authors but authors have have been around for at least 10 years if not longer.

The two "it" boys for having a bunch of their novels adapted into films right now are Dennis Lehane and Cormac McCarthy. Lehane's novel Mystic River earned Clint Eastwood's film version a best picture Academy Award, his novel Gone Baby Gone was adapted by Ben Affleck for his directorial debut and Martin Scorsese is currently underway adapting his novel Shutter Island, to star Scorsese's muse Leonard DiCaprio. Cormac McCarthy who previously had his novel All The Pretty Horses adapted by Billy Bob Thorton, into a film in 2000, has since won a pulitzer prize for his novel The Road and it was also picked by Oprah for her book club, but the story does not end there. No Country For Old Men has been adapted into a film starring Tommy Lee Jones and has been nominated for a best picture Academy Award. The Road is currently being made into a film starring Viggo Mortensen, as is Blood Meridian and possibly The Crossing; I cannot confirm conclusively or not because I am too last to sign up for the free 14 day trial for imdb.pro at imdb.com, so I will just have to wait like everyone else. So things seem to be looking up for both Lehane and McCarthy. As for my personal opinions, both No Country For Old Men and The Road were great reads. I just wanted to get through them so fast; they are really page turners. I have not read any of Lehane's novels, but may do so in the future. Gone Baby Gone, I did see in the theatres when it was out and I really enjoyed it. So, for anyone interested in the film I highly recommend it. Ben Affleck capably directs the film and is aid by great performances from Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, and Michelle Monaghan and Amy Ryan, who is nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award. There are still two more authors whose work is beginning to be increasingly adapted. These authors are Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk; fortunately, I have read all ( I am currently reading Glamorama) of the fictional works of Ellis and Palahniuk, so will be able to aptly compare the upcoming films to their previously published novels.

So far, Bret Easton Ellis, who was a wunderkind novelist in the 80s has had three of his novels adapted into films; Less Than Zero, American Psycho and Rules of Attraction. The Informers, which is a collection of bizarre characters weaved together in 80s L.A. culture was written by Ellis when he was still in college. The film features Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Brandon Routh (the new superman), Billy Bob Thorton and Brad Renfro (this is his last film, as he died of a drug overdose just over a week ago). His most recent novel Lunar Park is in an early stage of being adapted and may be a few years out before the film is made. If you are not familiar with Ellis' work, it frequently deals with social and sexual relationships between teens in an 80s cocaine filled backdrop.

Chuck Palahniuk has had two of his novels adapted into films; Fight Club starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton and Choke, which will be at the Sundance Film Festival, which has begun or will begin very soon. Like Ellis, one of novels is currently in some sort of stage of adaptation. This novel being Invisible Monsters, which is in my opinion is his most bizarre novel. It deals with gender identity and beauty in a very different sort of way. It will be interesting to see how those ideas are adapted, but hey if they can adapt a novel about a guy who has another personality inside his head and make it somehow work on screen then I guess there is a lot then can do with film despite its shortcomings of having only a limited period of time in which to tell its story.

I hope that those of you reading this blog gained some knowledge from it. If you have any questions or comments please leave them and I will get back to you.

Yours Truly,

Fanboy Dave