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How to adapt a book

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    How to adapt a book

    I started watching "The Comfort of Strangers" last night, an adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel directed by Paul Schrader.

    It's been ages since I read the book, but the way the character played by Christopher Walken is introduced in the film is very different to the book.

    This has got me wondering about the secret of a good film version of a book.

    How do you do it well?

    Is it about selecting the most important parts of the book? Should you remain faithful to the book or change it? Is it possible to make a crap film out of a great book and vice versa?

    And is there a good book which deals with this topic?

    #2
    There are lots of examples of bad adaptations of good books. And vice versa. Often good books get too-respectable adaptations. whilst unliterary books like say James M Cain make great films The Postman Always Rings Twice was the basis for Visconti's Ossessione

    There are lots of books on the subject from how to's to theoretical works . There's a conference and an academic journal too.

    Most work is adapted from other work. Shakespeare, for example is just one example

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      #3
      The film Adaptation is actually a film about Charlie Kaufman's struggles trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. It's worth a watch, but I can't recall if it's in any way insightful about the challenges. (Which is less a reflection on the film than my memory. I can't abide little Nicky Coppola, but I liked him in this.)

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        #4
        My feeling is that unless you're dealing with a classic (or a contemporary work with a very devoted fanbase who are expected to come and see the film), it's up to you (or whoever's telling you what to do) to decide what the story is within the story.

        William Goldman has an excellent chapter on this in Which Lie Did I Tell - it's the one about writing Absolute Power, which was a doorstop novel full of characters that he turned into a tight two hours, eliminating the original lead and making a new lead out of a character who died in the book.

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          #5
          Thank you for the interesting responses!

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            #6
            Watched "Gone Girl" recently. Was fairly impressed by it - specially as I couldn't care less about either of the leading characters at the start - but then the end was unsatisfying. It was like they had to hurry up to tie up all the loose ends - this at the end of a 2 and half hour film. I was literally "What the fuck?" as the final credits rolled. Turned around to Mrs Bored, who has read the book, and she said that they had missed out an entire plot twist at the end. So, yeah, you can make crap films out of what are apparently good books. Indeed, in the case of Steven King books, a whole load.

            Indeed, I would say that I can count the good book/good film combos on the fingers of two hands -

            Life Of Pi
            To Kill A Mockingbird
            Papillon
            We need to talk about Kevin
            Jaws
            The Godfather

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              #7
              And the last two are pure pap novels that transcends its sources when put on film. Best I say nowt about Life of Pi book or film.

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                #8
                Heres a few off the top of my head that I think are particularly interesting adaptations, having read the book and seen the film. Not all great books or great films, but I think worth looking at for the way they tackle the problems of adaptation.

                Apocalypse Now
                A Cock And Bull Story
                American Psycho
                Dr No
                Blade Runner
                Rosemary's Baby
                Day Of The Jackal
                Forrest Gump
                The Big Short
                Moneyball
                LA Confidential
                Misery

                Not an exhaustive list, but all full of comment-worthy stuff.

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                  #9
                  I always thought that "Trainspotting" was a good adaptation, the film had a lot of differences from the book whilst ultimately being in keeping with the spirit of it.

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                    #10
                    Unbroken by Laura Hillendbrand was an epic (true) tale that takes time to unfold and resonate. There are two distinct 'stretches' that each could have been there own film. Instead, it was wildly condensed into 2 and a quarter hours and wasn't very good at all.

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