Books made into Movie's/ Series

[AceHBK]

What book would you like to be made into a movie and if u could pick the lead role who would it be?

In my Harry Potter thread people suggested books to better if they are made as a series rather than a movie. I never thought of that and that is a good point.

So pick your book and state moive or series and lead actor'actress.

Should be interesting...

My book would be Nelson Demille's The Lion's Game. As for the lead actor I have no clue, maybe George Clooney.

 

[CoryKS]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson
The Terror by Dan Simmons

No guesses on who would play, but my wife and I frequently revise our lists of actors for RJ

 

[Frostbite]

I'd really like to see a movie remake of Without Remorse by Tom Clancy but I doubt it'd do that well.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a Splinter Cell movie.

 

[MA-Caver]

A fantasy series (nine --huge) volumes written by Stephen R. Donaldson. "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever." IMO a truly amazing fantasy epic... it was starting out to be a film but it's so complicated and so in depth with it's plot and characters that it was deemed too difficult (read: costly)... so probably if broken down to a mini-series or a direct to DVD set maybe.

 

[celtic_crippler]

"Roadmarks: Last Exit to Babylon" by Roger Zelazny

I think Viggo Mortenson would make a good Red Dorakeen.

I've always wanted to see this as a movie since reading it in the early 80's. Still a favorite of mine.

 

[Omar B]

Atlas Shrugged. I would love if it's a full series and takes a whole 12-20 episodes to tell the story or they could go mini-series and do the book in 3 sections much as how the book itself is divided. It's surely too much story for a single movie like they have been trying to do for years.

Song Of Fire And Ice. Well, it's being made, and by HBO no less! I can't wait, quite possibly the harshest series of books ever. http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/

James Bond. Because save for 2 exceptions (Casino Royal and OHMSS) non of the movies have told the stories that are in the books, some even have no resemblance to the source material other than the name (Moonraker, TSWLM, etc.). Also, considering how the movies were done out of order and all the connective tissue that connects the books made them great for non-literary-Bond fans, but for us who like the books I would love to see it done right. CR leading into Bond going after them in the US with LALD, etc. Bond as a harsh, uncompromising killer, not a jolly playboy, his boxing and judo skills later augmented by his learning ninjitsu.

Mack Bolan/The Excecutioner. Great series, can be made into an ongoing series that would slay anything 24 has ever done.

 

[AceHBK]

James Bond. Because save for 2 exceptions (Casino Royal and OHMSS) non of the movies have told the stories that are in the books, some even have no resemblance to the source material other than the name (Moonraker, TSWLM, etc.). Also, considering how the movies were done out of order and all the connective tissue that connects the books made them great for non-literary-Bond fans, but for us who like the books I would love to see it done right. CR leading into Bond going after them in the US with LALD, etc. Bond as a harsh, uncompromising killer, not a jolly playboy, his boxing and judo skills later augmented by his learning ninjitsu.

You know I have never read any of the James Bond books. Have the movies not done them any justice at all? Am I missing a lot by not reading the books? I may have to go find the audibook online if there is a big difference.

I will say as only a movie watcher I like the direction they are going with Bond now and Daniel Craig. He brings a lot more grit and roughness to the role which has lacked in the past. He made me remember that Bond is a killer and not some playboy out there playing a spy.

 

[Big Don]

The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson

I like the way you think
I could play Abe...

 

[CoryKS]

I like the way you think
I could play Abe...

I'll bring the Entenmann's.

 

[celtic_crippler]

You know what I'd really love to see as a mini-series or series of movies?

The "Incarnations of Immortality" series by Piers Anthony...now those were cool.

 

[Omar B]

You know I have never read any of the James Bond books. Have the movies not done them any justice at all? Am I missing a lot by not reading the books? I may have to go find the audibook online if there is a big difference.
I will say as only a movie watcher I like the direction they are going with Bond now and Daniel Craig. He brings a lot more grit and roughness to the role which has lacked in the past. He made me remember that Bond is a killer and not some playboy out there playing a spy.

If you like DC as bond you'll like the books. Though he does not look like the character as described he plays him as the rough, cold blooded killer he is in the books. He's not nice, or jokey or any of that sort of thing. As I said, only 2 of the movies got it right (OHMSS and CR). No the movies do not do them justice, in fact Fleming himself referred to the movies as mere parodies.

In fact, the Bourne movies are the closest thing to the actual literary Bond after CR and there's a reason why. After Fleming died Robert Ludlum wanted to write the series but he was not allowed to. So he created a character exactly as Fleming left Bond in You Only Live Twice and The Man With The Golden Gun. At that point he lost his memory, was brainwashed and was going after his own employers thinking them the enemy. Ludlum just took that same thread and changed the name of the man with the memory loss and the locale. People say Bond stole from Bourne, it's because they never read the books, it's Bourne who's a pastiche of Bond and Ion Productions (who owns the rights to Bond) finally getting the balls to make the character like he should be in the books.

I would not recommend the audiobook route though. Fleming's writing is very journalistic and at times dry, you have to adjust to his style but once you do it's gorgeous. Hearing it read it's very sparce though. And don't forget it's a series, something the movies failed to remember, the events of one book bleed into the next rather than how the movies removed everything that connected one to the other. Like how Live And Let Die should follow Casion Royal where Bond tracks SMERSH to the US then to the Carribean. They are separate stories but the whole ark of Bond is one large story that the movies butchered.

 

[Darksoul]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camulod_Chronicles

-Some of the best stuff I have ever read, King Aurthur's realm as it could've been! The book starts with Arthur's forefathers as the Romans are preparing to leave Britain. Excellent characters, never a dull moment. Admittedly, with the first book, I had a little trouble getting into it, cause it wasn't what I expected but I came back to it later and couldn't put it down. Just finished reading the very last book a few days ago. It does take the 'magic' out of the story but I think its better this way. The way the story unfolds is magical all on its own. Well written!

-Would love to see it as a series, although the attention to detail in the book makes me think it would be a costly undertaking. Plus, there is so much story, it would have to be more than a mini-series. Have no clue who could play the lead roles.


Andrew

 

[ArmorOfGod]

Song Of Fire And Ice. Well, it's being made, and by HBO no less! I can't wait, quite possibly the harshest series of books ever. http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/

That was my first thought when I saw this thread, but I decided a long time ago it was a bad idea (although the zombie scenes are pretty awesome). Those books have far too much incest and underage sex to make it to the big or small screen. Still, in book form, they are hands down the best thing going around right now.

I am reading "The Warded Man" by Peter V Brett and am being blown away by the perfect flow of the book. It is book 1 of a new series and would be an incredible movie.

AoG

 

[Omar B]

Well it's getting made so your concern about incest, underage sex and whatever else seems to be a non issue with HBO. The network that gave us The Sopranos, Oz , Deadwood and Rome (closest to this series in tone) could do it. I see it coming in somewhere between Rome and The Tudors, but a lot more brutal.

 

[FearlessFreep]

A fantasy series (nine --huge) volumes written by Stephen R. Donaldson. "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever." IMO a truly amazing fantasy epic... it was starting out to be a film but it's so complicated and so in depth with it's plot and characters that it was deemed too difficult (read: costly)... so probably if broken down to a mini-series or a direct to DVD set maybe.

Was going to recommend the same series

Also from Donaldson, the Gap series would be great Si-Fi and his Mirror series could actually be fantasy that could be handled

 

[Big Don]

I'd love to see Simon Green's Deathstalker books as a TV Series. Espers, Wampyrs, and the friggin' Stevie Blues!

 

[arnisador]

"Roadmarks: Last Exit to Babylon" by Roger Zelazny

The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny (the first five books, which could make three good movies)--casting could be a lot of fun with this one--there are a lot of princes and princesses in the series.

Logan's Run--a remake that is true to the original. There are other books in the series but only the second one is of any value at all.

Shibumi by Trevanian--a martial arts thriller that goes deeper than most.

 

[Steve]

John Rain series could be really good and are written in a way that would be relatively easy to adapt.

A fantasy series I've always loved since a kid was the Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Morcock. That or the Corum series. Either would be completely badass, but would have to be done well or it would be just another cheesy fantasy movie.
I like many of your suggestions, but cringe at the expectation some of you seem to have that the movies be true to book. In my opinion, the best adaptations of books are ones that capture the themes and the broad strokes, but aren't bound to address every detail.

For example, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was a fantastic book, and Jack Nicholson's movie was equally fantastic even though many of the details had been changed.

If anything, the Harry Potter books suffered from the burden of being too true to the books. Honestly, every one of the movies was bloated and overly long, but it was clear that the director tried to pack too much in. LOTR trilogy was the same way, and I've read the books several times over the years. I mean, really... at times it went from being a New Zealand tourist movie to gay, softcore, hobbit porn, to just being a very slow, boring homage to classic fantasy novels.

Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever could be really, really good, but they'd have a hard time marketing movies in which the main character is so unlikable an anti-hero that he doesn't truly redeem himself until well into the final chapter. It's been decades since I read those books, and I truly loved them at the time, but I remember him being kind of a jerk throughout the entire series.

Ender's Game would be AWESOME. Finding a group of young kids who could play those geniuses would be a real challenge.

F Paul Wilson wrote some great books. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing The Touch as a movie, either. That would be cool.

Ultimately, if nothing else, you guys are reminding me of novels I read long ago that I loved but haven't really thought about in years. Thanks for that!!!

 

[Blindside]

John Rain series could be really good and are written in a way that would be relatively easy to adapt.

You might want to look at the trailer then....

 

[Blindside]

Christopher Hinz's "Paratwa" books, particularly the first "liege-killer." Good future fiction, martial arts, guns, future tech, it has it all.

S.M. Stirlings "Dies the Fire," modern day folk having to relearn ancient skills like farming and fighting on medieval level technology.

And one of Steve Perry's books, probably Matadora, good martial arts and character developement. While I liked "the Man Who Never Missed" it wouldn't translate to a movie very well. If it was Matadora, I think Jada Pinkett Smith would be good, age is about right, just have to make her look good dong martial arts.