From Page to Screen

Have you ever been in that conversation where someone is ranting on about how movie adaptations of books are never as good as the original? These people are all around and make up a general population of people who seem to have some moral hatred of seeing a movie based on a book.\nSome may believe that film is a poor excuse for people not to read, and that those who watch movies before reading the book are taking the easy way out. Others may disagree with this idea, instead believing that there is just a real lack of successful page-to-screen adaptations, arguing that movies often aren't true to the book. In my opinion these people need to open their eyes.\nThe fact is a majority of the films being released today, as well as from the past, are adaptations of pieces of writing. Whether from novels, plays, short stories or even poems, people have been adding sound and vision to written stories since the creation of motion pictures.\nI bring this topic up because as we enter the post-summer, pre-holiday/Oscar season rush of films, I've noticed that many upcoming releases are retellings of books. Some may in fact live up to that age-old argument favoring print to film, however some may go down in history as masterpieces.\nTake for example last month's extremely well-crafted masterpiece, "The Constant Gardner," which was adapted from the John Le Carré bestselling novel of the same name. Here's an amazing story that works perfectly for the big screen, and that, although was a bestseller, was probably fairly unknown by the general public prior to its release. \nOther film adaptations this year are Roman Polanski's retelling of Charles Dickens classic "Oliver Twist" (this will be the 17th adaptation to film or TV of this story, and yes Disney's "Oliver and Company" does count), the first part of C.S. Lewis' successful "Chronicles of Narnia" series of books, the fourth Harry Potter book "The Goblet of Fire" (volumes five and six have 2007/8 release slots), Rob Marshall's take on "Memoirs of a Geisha" and Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," which was taken from a short story written by author Annie Proulx. One I am definitely anticipating is the film based on Hunter S. Thompson's highly underrated, semi-autobiographical novel "The Rum Diary," set for a 2006 release.\nSo with all these titles coming out, and many more to come, the question that comes to mind is: why film adaptations? What do these books have that others don't? The answer, in my opinion, is that they all tell unique stories.\nWhat do you think was running through Francis Ford Coppola's head when he first read Mario Puzo's "Godfather Trilogy" or S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders?" Or when Milos Forman decided to take on Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?" The answer, I think, is they both envisioned telling these wonderful stories using film. \nI find it amazing when a truly good book is brought to life on the big screen, but I'm equally impressed when a film is so good that it inspires me to seek out and read the book (don't believe me, try reading Thomas Harris' "The Silence of the Lambs" or Hubert Selby Jr.'s "Requiem for a Dream," both incredible books that are rewarding, even after viewing the films.)\nSometimes I even find myself reading a book and just envisioning how well it would work on film. A recent example of this for me was Cormack McCarthy's latest novel, "No Country For Old Men," which I indulged in this summer. For those unfamiliar with McCarthy's work, he, in my opinion, is one of the better American writers working today. His stories are rich with detail, fascinating characters and a sumptuous attraction to history. \nWhile I feel all of his works I have read could be adapted, "No Country For Old Men" is one of those books that is just aching to be put on the big screen. I bring up this example not only because I think McCarthy is a brilliant writer, but also because according to www.imdb.com the Coen Brothers ("Fargo," "Blood Simple") announced they are taking the helm of "NCFOM" for a 2007 release date. I must say the movie geek in me came out full force with this tasty tidbit of information.\nNow with this column I'm in no way saying that print is dead and that film is the future of storytelling. The feeling I get after reading a truly remarkable book can sometimes never be replaced by the movie-going experience, but I think film can create a world and emotion that are sometimes so vivid and beautiful that you hate your imagination for not taking you there before.