Lady M's Trailer & Books to Movies

Movies and books! What could be better!

Susan here ... the other day I saw The Hunger Games, after reading the books, and yeah, I loved both forms of the story. I absolutely adore movies, especially in movie theaters -- I love seeing the stories and characters made so convincingly vibrant, I love the clear and magnificent visuals, the surround sound, the tubs of popcorn, the chocolate, the trailers for other movies ... all seen in the darkness that focuses the whole experience and provides a total escape for a couple of hours. Being a highly visual person as well as a writer and reader, I'm a total sucker for a movie translation of a book, especially if I've already read it (I always try to read the book before I see the movie, so the film visuals won't overlay my own imagination in the reading).

I'm very visual in my own writing, in descriptions as well as storytelling. When I'm thinking about what to write next, I can sometimes see scenes in my head as if they’re playing out on a movie screen—characters, setting, action, all of it.  While I'd love for one of my books to become a movie someday (what author wouldn't!), it's fun to have book trailers created - sort of a teeny-screen version of a book!

A few months ago, I blogged about Queen Margaret’s Video and interviewed Jim lefter, my video producer, about the process of creating a book trailer. At the time, we were also working on a video for Lady Macbeth: A Novel. That video one ran into some delays, but it's finally ready!

I’m delighted to debut the Lady Macbeth video here on Word Wenches. This gorgeous book trailer was also created by Jim Lefter. I am so grateful to Jim for his creative vision (for example, he beautifully expressed the difference between Shakespeare’s Macbeth and my Lady M, and he found some stunning images). I’m truly thankful for his patience in the process and his amiability each time I changed my mind or asked for just one more tweak... I'm also thankful to Dougie MacLean for the use of his wonderful music in the background, which helps make the two videos true companion pieces.  Click here and enjoy the video! 

Here on Word Wenches, we've talked about favorite historical movies, but seeing Hunger Games got me thinking again about books translated into movies, whether historical, contemporary, fantasy, and so on. Sometimes the translation works beautifully … sometimes it doesn’t.

A book stands on its own, and the movie version that follows should be able to stand on its own as well as a different medium. Complete faithfulness in detail is not always necessary. The movie is a different expression of the story and characters. It's not required that it be an exact replica of the book, though fans of a book will look for that and make comparisons in their minds. WIth or without intentional faithfulness, the movie should succeed as film, just as we can expect a book to be the best it can be within its own creative form.

Here are some favorite novels that successfully translated (I think!) into some outstanding movies and cable series:

1. Pride and Prejudice (more than one version!)
2. Harry Potter films
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Game of Thrones
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – one of the best, most faithful screen captures of a novel
6. Gone With the Wind

What favorite books of yours have been made into movies? Did it work for you, or did it change your imagination's interpretation of the book?  Has any movie replaced the book as a favorite for you? 

~Susan

 

 

 

Comments

[Kay]

These are a few of mine: The Joy Luck Club, It, The Firm, Once Upon a Time in America, Mystic River, Planet of the Apes, Silence of the Lambs, The Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day Lewis), Godfather, Schindler's List, Shawshank Redemption, The Three Musketeers (the one with Richard Chamberlain), Misery. Stephen King turns up a lot.

[Susan]

Great list! I'd have to echo some of these as personal favorites too. In the case of Last of the Mohicans - though I really enjoyed the original novel, the movie script revised story and characters for a definite improvement on all levels.

[Janga]

Most of the time, even if I like the movie, I find the book a richer narrative. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite adaptation. I think it's a near perfect rendering of the book. Others that come close to that standard for me are The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Brokeback Mountain (short story adaptation), Room with a View, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

In the case of The Last of the Mohicans, I find Cooper tedious reading and think the movie is a vast improvement on the book.

[Mary Jo Putney]

I'm with Janga in feeling that the book is a richer, deeper narrative. I've found that if I read the book, then see the movie, I'm usually disappointed. But if I see the movie and it inspires me to read the book, I'm happy with both.

Lord of the Rings is one of the great adaptation, as is the classic Tom Jones. And who could forget Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensiblity???

I'd love to see a movie of your Lady Macbeth, Susan!

[april]

I agree with Kay on a lot of hers. I was a huge fan of The Joy Luck Club. Part of me liked The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me better as films than short stories. Shutter Island is another that I thought was a good adaptation.

[Susan King]

Books do contain much more detail and depth, yet movies have advantages too, beyond the visual. They are so different as forms of creative expression that they can be artistic interpretations of the same story and characters with different slants and nuances, and that can bring something new. Often I like both forms when I'm really fond of a story or characters. In a way it's like a stage play, where performances and sometimes even the script can vary for whole new colorations. Is that a word? OK it is now. *g*

Susan

[Louis]

Some of the older movies...

Zane Grey has several made from his books.

The Quiet Man (John Wayne) by Maurice Walsh

Stagecoach Earnest Haycox...again with John Wayne

Earl Stanley Gardner...The Perry Mason ones

Edgar Rice Burroughs...Tarzen...and recent John Carter

There are so many to read and see.

[Marie]

The Virgin Suicides was one of the best ever (in my opinion) movie adaptations. It was so perfectly faithful to the book, I loved it.

[Liz]

The movie Guns of Navarone was a travesty. A remake should salvage only the music.

[Lisa]

I have yet to have a movie replace the book as my favorite version of a story. I find that no movie can compete the "movie" I create in my mind when I read. I have gone on to read a book after seeing the movie though and been able to enjoy both seperately. My absolute favorite adaptation of a book is the BBC production of Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. There are lines in it that are directly from the book (I know since I've read it at least 6-7 times since I was 11) and the atmosphere is spot on.
Great topic Susan!

[theo]

Your trailer is gorgeous! He did a wonderful job of it.

Okay, sappy time...

Charlotte's Web. Both of them. For the talented casts, the adaptations, I'm a sucker for a good book-to-movie.

Love To Kill a Mockingbird. Stephen King's The Stand was pretty faithful and though it was a made-for-TV movie, the book was so good, the adaptation was as well.

There's a couple others, but I can't think of them at the moment.

[Susan King]

Louis, great picks. I haven't read The Quiet Man and always wanted to - must find it. Lisa, you're so right about Jane Eyre, and the Timothy Dalton version in particular. Like you, I've read it so often that the dialogue is familiar. There's a new Jane Eyre that I haven't seen yet - anyone seen it?

Theo - Charlotte's Web! Yes! And I agree about To Kill a Mockingbird -- as Janga says, it's near perfect. It IS perfect. That's the way to bring a book to life in film.

And thanks, glad you like the video. I think it's stunning.

Susan

[Ann Stephens]

So far, my favorite book-to-movie adaptation for the big screen is Lord of the Rings. Even when I didn't like the departures from the book, I understood why they happened.

Other favorites mentioned already are To Kill a Mockingbird, The Three Musketeers (and don't forget its sequel!) with York, Chamberlain et al, Tom Jones and Last of the Mohicans.

There's also True Grit (both movies), and one of my favorite actresses, Audrey Hepburn, made The Nun's Story and Breakfast at Tiffany's, based on a novel and a short story respectively.

[Melanie Friedman]

Hey Susan!

Loved both trailers :) They sold me on the books.

As for the book-to-movie, can we include mini-series here? I LOVED 'North & South (RA's best ever) and 'Jane Eyre' with TS as best Rochester EVAH!!!

Toby Stephens was so good that by the time movie came out with Michael Fassbender I just couldn't get on board with him as Rochester. That version of the book was a disappointment to me.

Melanie

[Andrea Penrose]

Wonderful trailer, Susan! Jim is an amazing talent!

Hard to add to your list of great movies from great books. You've named my top favorites. The Harry Potter movies were incredibly well-done (as was Lord of the Rings for sheer magical spectacle.)

[Susan King]

True Grit! How could I forget that! Both movies are worth watching, though the more recent one sticks very closely to the book. I loved the novel when I read it years ago, and read it again when this newest one came out.

Great discussion, thanks, all, for the comments. And thanks for the thumbs up on the book trailers!

Susan

[Margot]

I've always thought of myself as a visual person, but I've never liked movies all that much. I much prefer books, where I can go at my own pace, wherever and whenever I want, and visualize the characters how I want to be.

One movie I do adore is Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle. It is by no means a faithful adaptation, which I think I actually prefer, since then I can keep the two as completely separate entities in my mind.

[Chris Bails]

Love the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Great book to movie. I also think the Nicholas Sparks movies, like Message in a Bottle. Also John Grisham are probly my favorite. Love his books, but love the movies just as much. A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Painted House.
I also refuse to watch the movie unless I have read the book. I am always disappointed by them.

[Christina Courtenay]

I loved the movie adaptation of Inkheart because the ending was happier than in the book(and I love a happy ever after)! Also loved the TV versions of the Brother Cadfael books - don't know if that counts?

[LilMissMolly]

I thought Gone with the Wind was better at the movie than the book. The book was hard to get through! Something a little different than historical... The Matrix movies. I really loved the first one, but the short story it was based on was not that good.

[marlon]

A book stands on its own, and the movie version that follows should be able to stand on its own as well as a different medium.