Is Robert Ludlum turning over in his grave because the Bourne movies have nothing to do with the books?

Question

Other than a couple of names of characters which are the same in the books and the movies, the movie contains nothing resembling the storyline in the book. Carlos the Jackal isn't even mentioned in the movies!

Answer 1

That's the trouble with the art of adaptation. Obviously, for both time and creative reasons, an entire novel can't be translated to screen. But I wondered that myself after reading "The Bourne Identity" and finding out that large chunk of the novel's story wasn't included in the film. In that case, I guess the screenwriters want to pit Bourne against the feds rather than a rogue assassin alone.

Of course, in order to be a suspense/action movie, the screenwriters had to take the novels' paced stories and condense them. However, I think they did so at the risk of rewriting the Bourne trilogy. The same goes for the James Bond stories - both the novels and the movies are basically two, separate works.

But what irks me more is having another author carry on with Ludlum's characters. It's just me, but I don't like someone else writing stories for characters originally created by another author.

Answer 2

Ludlum was an executive producer for the Bourne ID. He actually approved of the rewrites. The original Bourne trilogy was a product of the times, especially the Cold War. The production could have been more faithful to the books, but as it is the movies stand up very well on their own, while keeping the spirit of the novels.