The LadyKillers

Books to film: it's not supposed to be exactly the same

So, somebody made a movie out of one of your favorite books, and you're scared. Debt-ceiling scared.

Don't be! Just follow these suggestions and you should have a wonderful experience.

#5: Expect them to drop or merge characters, storylines, and scenes. There just isn't time for everything in the book to happen in the movie. Even Lord of the Rings had to leave stuff out and it's what, a hundred hours long? One of the most famously faithful adaptations, John Huston's film version of Hammett's Maltese Falcon, leaves out Hammett's final scene, and a few other minor details.

Don't get mad. They have to do this to keep the story moving forward, or because there was no way to externalize a largely internal monologue, or two characters just weren't doing enough story work to carry their own dramatic weight. If you let a filmed story slow down for a second, you lose your audience. If you don't believe me, rent Devil in a Blue Dress, then read the book. The experience feels more or less the same, even though there's plenty missing from the book.

The good news is, most crime novels are written in a pretty lean fashion, and so there is less to cut away.

#4 If there are more than two writers attached, you may want to skip it. Many a novel has been purchased and then developed to death--and multiple rounds of development sometimes accrete screenwriters. It's hard to know, since only some of them get screen credit. Even when the multiple writers are, individually, brilliant, like Richard Russo or Robert Benton, something about the development process can wreck the resulting story. For example, Ice Harvest, from Scott Phillips's novel, wasn't awful, but it wasn't as good as it could have been given the novel's quality.

Why do things get developed to death? Maybe the executive who championed the book switched to another production company or studio--so the new guy "puts his stamp" on it by hiring a new writer and envisioning a new direction. Maybe the director they hired should have stayed another two weeks in rehab. Perhaps the A-list actor they hired insisted on changes that broke the spine of the story. You never really know. But it happens a lot. And if you don't read the trades, you can at least count the screenwriters.

Caveat: comedies can bear more writers than crime dramas.

#3: Just ignore how young and pretty everyone is. When I read about Easy Rawlins in Walter Mosley's books, I certainly never pictured Denzel Washington. Now, of course, I can't picture anyone else. Just let go of the fact that everyone looks younger than 35, has straight,  shockingly white teeth and clear skin. Or stick to British films, where they may lay on the grottiness with a trowel.

#2: Ignore the happy ending. Sixty years after the studios were pointlessly tacking on happy endings to some of the best noir stories ever written...they're still tacking on happy endings on some of the best noir stories ever written, though less often now. Jim Thompson can stop rolling over in his grave. Although both film versions of The Getaway had happy endings tacked on, the latest version of The Killer Inside Me (and, I'd argue, The Grifters) don't make nice.

#1: Be prepared for an entirely different story. I call this the Stanley Kubrick rule. Yes, The Shining movie is an entirely different story than the book. And thank goodness! I read Stephen King's The Shining, and liked it, but Stanley Kubrick took me to a whole different world, and the things he had to say about human nature were deeper and more resonant than the book. Not better, but different, and delightfully so. 

It's a perfectly legit choice to use the novel as a jumping off place, as was famously proved by the movie Adaptation, based on a magazine piece called The Orchid Thief. If you prepare yourself for this possibility, you're free to enjoy the movie the filmmakers created. If you insist on on judging a movie only on its faithfulness to the underlying property, you may miss the opportunity to enjoy a perfectly good movie.

If you don't believe me, rent Kiss Me Deadly, revel in its subversive messages, and then try to get through the Mike Hammer novel it is based on. I couldn't do it. The screenwriter, Buzz Bezzerides, could write circles around Mickey Spillane, the book's author. Thank goodness he used the book as a jumping off point, not a bible.

I think any author should take their option money, and promptly forget about the whole deal. Studios or producers buy the film rights to your intellectual property, and nothing more, no matter what they promise or how they describe it. Expecting to be included or even consulted is a bit like the bride's father, having accepted a dowry payment, expecting to be taken along on the honeymoon.

So They Want to Turn Your Book into a Movie -- First Friday with Rita

SPOILER. If you still believe in Tinker Bell, read no further.

You, who have your books optioned for adaptation into screenplays, I salute you. Heavenly fantasies abound. Visions of Major Motion Pictures dance in your head. Or even, OK a mini-series for TV. OK, so not a mini-series, even a MOW would be swell. (Movie of the Week as it used to be called). Ka-chung goes your inner cash register. Bye-bye minuscule novel residuals, here come the big bucks. Finally! It’s your turn. The glamour, the movie stars. The red carpet. The Oscar or even the Emmy. They’ll all want to bow at the feet of the brilliant author.

Of course they’ll want you to write the screenplay. After all who, but you, understands your subtlety. Your subtext. The depth of your characters. The moment that makes your readers cry. In fact your whole philosophy of life glitters on page after page.

Not!

I came to writing novels, backwards, you might say, after 25 years of writing scripts in Hollywood. (Which, of course, isn’t located in Hollywood.)

I adapted a number of novels into screenplays that were made into films that appeared on TV.  And all my comments below refer to TV.

From the producers and directors, I only asked these two questions once.

Question 1: How come the novelist isn’t doing his or her own adaptation? Their response was the lifting of an eyebrow which translated to: Are you crazy? We need some annoying author hovering over our shoulder, criticizing us if we even changed one word? Never understanding why we cut characters, chapters or altered storylines, or for that matter, dumped the entire book if we wanted to? 

The producers had to tinker to prove their worth. Especially guilty were the directors. It was going to be their film. Their vision. No way would they stand for a novelist’s timid suggestions or even vitriol. Daring to tell them how to do their directorial brilliant thing.

Yes, all this with a lift of the eyebrow.

Question 2: When I asked to at least meet the writer, so as to get the nuances and any information he or she could provide which could enhance my work on their darling. Or even just to see the kind of person the author was. Forget that. Their cliché idea of an author was some snooty, know-it-all who couldn’t possibly understand the rarified atmosphere in which a director creates.

  I did meet an author once, but that was because her husband was the producer. I might say she was very cool to me.

Because I loved books, I did the very best I could.

Do you think the adaptor, me, had it easy? That they would cherish my every sentence?

Not.

Feature films could be a different situation, especially if you wrote Gone With the Wind or Annie Hall or perhaps The Godfather, et al.

Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe having your masterpiece turned into film will be the best experience of your life. If so, let me know, OK? I could use a happy ending.

Rita Lakin

From Book to Film -- by Michael A. Black

Usually when I find out a book I’ve read has been made into a movie, I automatically assume I’ll like the movie version less than the book. This has not always been the case, but generally it’s true. I mean, a book is specific to the author’s vision, while a film is most often the product of a group effort (the screenwriter, the actors, and the director). And sometimes the movie has been an improvement over the book. I always go into the movie with this predisposition: It won’t be the same as the book I envisioned when I read the prose. I also make it a point to give these films a second look after a cooling off period. Usually they are better the second time around.

Let’s take a look at some hits and misses of books-to-film efforts.

The Ones That Got It Right

Deliverance--- When I first read James Dickey’s first novel masterpiece, I heard it was being filmed as a movie starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, and Ned Beatty. Reynolds made an impressive Lewis, and Voight’s performance as the everyman hero, Ed, was deserving of an Oscar. Dickey, who purportedly had a hand in writing the screenplay, had a cameo as a country sheriff in the film. The movie was good, but the book was better.

  Timeline--- I knew going in to this one that there was no way they were going to be able to pack in all the nuances of Michael Crichton’s time-traveling thriller, and I was right. But after a period of time I watched it again and it was better on the second viewing.

Death Wish--- Ah, Charlie Bronson at his peak . . . who could ask for more? I enjoyed Brian Garfield’s novel about an urban vigilante and thought the movie was about on an equal par with it. Bronson’s on-screen charisma carried the movie, which changed a lot of the novel’s plot to suit the star and screen.

Harper--- Based on Ross MacDonald’s Lew Archer novel, The Moving Target, Harper (the movie changed Archer to Harper due to Paul Newman’s affinity for the “lucky” letter H.) was one of those films that was actually superior to the book on which it was based. This doesn’t happen often, but this movie was written by William Goldman, who is one of the top screenwriters of all time.

The Ones That Got It Wrong

Bad Day at Black Rock--- This one was based on the short story “Bad Day at Hondo” by Howard Breslin, which bore very little resemblance to the movie version starring Spencer Tracy. While the movie was rewritten quite a bit, and was directed by John Sturges, it failed chiefly by miscasting Tracy as a disabled World War II veteran trying to fulfill a promise to a dead buddy.

The General’s Daughter--- I loved Nelson DeMille’s novel but wondered right off the bat how in the hell they were going to make the complex plot work in a movie. Casting John Travolta, who affected possibly the worst Southern accent of all time in the opening scene, didn’t help matters any. The bottom line was that the character carried the book, not the complex plot which didn’t hold up to viewing scrutiny. It just didn’t translate well.

The Empty Cooper Sea--- Even though this was a TV movie, I always include it on my “worst of” lists. Based on one of the best John D. MacDonald Travis McGee novels, this is a clear example of how Hollywood took a jewel and crushed it with the finesse of a ten-ton wrecking ball. Not only did they switch the location from MacDonald’s Florida to southern California, they changed the Busted Flush from a houseboat to a sailboat. Sam Elliott with his Prince Valiant hairstyle and home-spun delivery, made Travis look and sound like a hayseed trying for supercool.

Batman--- I waited a long time to see my favorite childhood superhero brought to life on the big screen in serious fashion. Unfortunately, the studio picked the wrong director for the project. Tim Burton obviously didn’t understand the comics, and Michael Keaton just didn’t live up to my ideal of Batman or Bruce Wayne.

Eight Million Ways to Die--- Based on the first Matt Scudder books by the inimitable Lawrence Block, arguably our greatest living mystery writer, this movie was so bad it made my skin crawl.

Satan Met a Lady--- I save this one for my all-time worst adaptation of a great novel, The Maltese Falcon, into a turkey of a film. They turned the falcon into a horn filled with jewels, Wilmer the gunsel into Arthur Treacher, and the “Fat Man,” Casper Gutman, into the “Fat Lady,” Madame Bovary. This one was over way before she sang, too.

The Top Ten All-Time Best Books Into Film

10.       Batman Begins--- Okay, I admit I went from one comic book movie to another, but the difference between this one and the Burton film is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. (Apologies to Mark Twain.)

9.         The Thing From Another World--- This one was based on a short story called “Who Goes There” and was essentially rewritten into one of the best scary sci-fi movies of the 1950s. It scared the bejesus out of every kid in the neighborhood when they showed it on the Late Show one Friday night. Casting James Arness as the Thing was a stroke of genius. (And you thought Marshal Dillon was a bad-ass.)

8.         Iron Man--- Another comic book hero brought magnificently to the big screen. It was an example of taking an average comic hero who never had much of a following or appeal, and building  a movie around him. Robert Downey Jr. made the movie when he said, “Yeah, I’m Iron Man.”

 7.         Darker Than Amber--- Yeah, I know the great John D. didn’t like the movie, but Rod Taylor made such a great McGee that I’m willing to overlook all the little imperfections. His fight with William Smith, one of the best movie tough guys of all time, rivaled MacDonald’s own rumble between McGee and Terry on the cruise ship.

6.         Watchman--- This one was another comic book to screen movie, but it took everything that was good in Alan Moore’s graphic novel and improved it with a superior screenplay.

5.         Kiss Me Deadly--- Quite a few of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer books were turned into films. More often than not, they translated pretty well, but this one quickly turned into a noir classic. Putting in the radioactive “Maguffan” was a stroke of genius by the screenwriter (A.I. Bezzerides). And that attractive young gal wearing nothing under the overcoat . . . that’s Cloris Leachman.

4.         Fuzz--- This one captured everything that the great Ed McBain tried to do in what is undoubtedly the best police procedural series ever written. The movie is worth watching for the interrogation scene with Burt Reynolds dressed as a nun with a mustache and smoking a cigar.

3.         The Maltese Falcon--- Naturally, I’m talking about the 1941 version directed by John Huston. It’s rumored that in writing the screenplay he dropped a copy of the novel on his secretary’s desk and told her to type out all the dialogue. It faithfully follows the book almost scene-for-scene, and had a fabulous cast.

2.  The Adventures of Robin Hood--- Although the book has been around forever, and has been filmed more times than a chameleon changes color, the Errol Flynn version is favorite. Let’s face it, any movie that can make you suspend your disbelief of the men of Sherwood running around in tights deserves to be first runner up.

And the Number One book-into-film is: The Rocketeer--- All right, all right, I know this one was based on a comic book, too, but most of the big movies are today. The Rocketeer is perhaps the best superhero movie ever made. The thing that made the comic so special was the fantastic art of Dave Stevens. The movie took the vision of Stevens’ concept, rebooted the plot, and came up with a superior version of the story.

While none of my books have yet been made the jump, Richard Belzer informed me that the novels I co-wrote with him will possibly be made into movies. I’m remaining hopeful. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

News and "Books to Film"

NEWS FLASHES!

• The LadyKillers welcomes a new writer to the fold: Hannah Schwartz (aka Hannah Jayne) will be sharing an every-other-Thursday slot with Diana Orgain. Look for Hannah's first post this coming Thursday!
• Camille Minichino will be at M is for Mystery, San Mateo, California, on Sunday July 31, 2 PM with Susan Cummins Miller.
• Camille will also be guest on the CreaturesandCrooks (http://www.cncbooks.com/blog/)  blog, Monday August 1, talking about "Save the Cat."

COMING UP: THE PAGE AND THE SILVER SCREEN

Next week's topic at The LadyKillers: "Books to Film."