Does anyone HATE it when they make your favorite book into a movie?

Question

I sure do. I'm a big reader (chucked TV 10yrs ago) and really can be moved by a great book. So, my main complaint is two-fold ; first, that the plot, characters,whole book has to be simplified for film. Important details the author gave you are gone.Second, you end up talking to someone about the book and they act like they are very familiar with it , but then they describe things that didnt happen and it's because they only saw the movie. I will never see a movie version of a book I've read. Which leads me to my very favorite book-Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I first read it when I was 11, and have re read many times. Now I hear it's coming out on film.Sacrelige! Of all the books! So I'm bitter and venting a little. Oh-it has Angelina Jolie! I love her (looks mostly) but Dagney Taggart she is not! I dread finding out the rest of the cast. Anyone else feel this way about book to film? Or read Atlas Shrugged ?

Answer 1

Yeeeesssss!!!!!!

Answer 2

The Starlost, by Harlan Ellison. This wasn't a movie, but an attempted TV series. The original idea was incredible, and the book was amazing. Take dozens of disparate cultures (Amish, old Chinese, Futuristic, etc.) and isolate them in self-supporting domes 100 miles in diameter. The domes represent the various cultures of Earth, and are intended to be planted onto a new planet because Earth is dying out. Each culture is just one part of a huge spacecraft on a multi-generational sublight trip to another star system. Now comes the problem. During the voyage, something breaks down on the steering mechanism and the ship veers off course. The people in the domes forget they're on a starship. Hundreds of years later, an Amish child is hoeing in the fields and accidentally strikes the door-opening mechanism, and he finds his way into a hallway which connects the domes! He can't explain what he's found to his fellow Amish because they have no A Priori experience with something like this. Added to which, the ship is now on course for a black hole! Somehow, a way must be found to awaken the various cultures, teach them about the nature of reality, and save the ship. Done properly, this could have been an amazing show! Regrettably, the TV executives decided (as TV people often do) that "audiences are basically stupid" so they dumbed it down, gave the computer an artificial personality (that sounded like a telephone operator on quaaludes) and ran the show into the ground. The author was so disgusted that he changed his name in the credits and bailed.

Answer 3

I like going to see movies that I have read. I think that it sometimes helps me to like reading more since I am not very into reading. And a lot of times when i see a movie coming out that is based on a book I want to read it then. I dont think that Ive ever liked a movie more then a book that I have read though. And I do agree with you that a lot of times the dont put important stuff in the movie that was in the book and I really hate when they cast one of the main characters totally wrong! so i guess im saying that i half agree with you and half dont agree with you! Well have a good day! and keep up the reading! i wish i liked to read more! =]

Answer 4

I have been so horribly disappointed by films based on books in recent years I've sworn them off entirely. The biggest problem, I think, is that there is simply not enough time in a two or even three hour film allotment to due genuine justice to the plot of a great novel.

A prime example is Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Brilliant novel, numerous intricately woven plots, fascinating characters. The film included only a few of the subliminal notions that made the book fabulous. Key characters were not only misrepresented, but some were not even present at all.

I'll stick to my books, thanks.

Answer 5

I always feel a bit of trepidation watching a movie based on a book I've read and enjoyed. Most of the time I would agree with you. I don't think I've ever watched a movie based on a book I like that wasn't disappointing. However, I've found that with movies based on books where I've watched the movie before I read the book I have the opposite reaction. I loved The Bourne Identity movie, didn't like the book when I read it afterword and the same with Ella Enchanted.

Answer 6

I usually hate it. Hitckhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was completely ruined by film. Ugh. Lord of the Rings was done well, though, I thought, and the Harry Potter series. I'm waiting for them to ruin Stranger in a Strange Land.....I don't see how they can do that book justice on film. I guess just like everything else, though, it's about individual perspectives.

Answer 7

Whenever I hear a book I've read is going to be a movie, I get excited and hopeful. I know in my heart of hearts that it will be a miracle if Hollywood even sticks to the plot of the book! Hollywood is $$$$, not substance.

Answer 8

Oh yes
But ordinarily I refuse to watch any of those movies as I do not like to have the good impression from reading a good book being ruined

Answer 9

Although I liked the movies as movies alone, I didn't think that 'Interview with the Vampire" or "Queen of the Damned" did Anne Rice novels any justice. You can't and shouldn't make a movie out of a novel sometimes!. I can't think of any others that bothered me, right now! ; )

Answer 10

nope..But I prefer to read the book first..so I can have my own visions of the book and the characters...

I like to watch the movies afterwards..to see how someone else preceived the book..interesting ....But usually the book is better when you read it.

Answer 11

I hate it when they spoil the end when im not done reading the book, but besides that, i dont see whats wrong.