What film adaptations are you looking forward to?
Why is it we book fans are so obsessed with film adaptations of our favourite stories?
No matter how brilliant or popular a book, it’s not considered to have ‘made it’ until it’s been turned into a film or TV series.
That’s certainly true from a financial perspective for most writers (blockbuster authors aside), but a film or TV adaptation isn’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of the source material.
And yet, we get so excited when a story we love is going to be filmed. Maybe it’s because we want to experience it in as many ways as possible. Maybe it’s because we want to see if a filmmaker sees the story the same way we do. Maybe we just like re-living the story in 120 minutes.
One of the upcoming film adaptations I’m most interested in is Meg Rosoff’s ‘How I Live Now’ (yes, Inky, I forgot to add that one to my ‘favourites’ list earlier in the week). I loved the story, and want to see if filmmakers can capture the beauty and power of Daisy’s story. This one is a bit tougher than say, 'Twilight', because it sits more on the literary side of the fence.
Paranormal, fantasy and romance stories tend to lend themselves more to film/TV than literary fiction because they are generally quite visual to start with. (The arguments about what is and isn't literary fiction applies in this context as well.)
I’m curious to see the upcoming adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s ‘The Host’ (which, like ‘How I Live Now’, stars Saoirse Ronan and is out next year). I thought Meyer put an original twist on the old body-snatchers theme and I suspect the story will work even better on the big screen.
Here's the current trailer.
Lots of books are optioned by filmmakers (which means a production company has bought the rights to make a film or TV series), but not all get ‘green lit’ (going into actual production).
A couple of my favourite books have been optioned but not yet progressed, including Maggie Stiefvater’s ‘Shiver’ and ‘The Scorpio Races’ (and, if rumour is to be believed, ‘The Raven Boys’). (Laini Taylor’s ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ has also been optioned as has Lauren Kate’s ‘Fallen’.)
There’s definitely a rush on the big YA titles at the moment: Veronica Roth’s ‘Divergent’ (2014) has been green lit (casting is under way), as is Cassandra Clare’s ‘Mortal Instrument’s: City of Bones’, due out in 2013.
Next up, though, is the wonderfully gothic ‘Beautiful Creatures’ (by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl), out early next year, and of course there’s ‘Breaking Dawn: Part 2’ in the meantime in November.
So, what film/TV adaptation are you excited about? What have been your favourites in recent years?
(PS: Congrats to the Inky winners!)
