For as long as there have been movies, there have been films based on books. The reasons for these adaptations seem simple enough; a great story in print often translates quite well into a great story on screen. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, the aspects of a novel that make it so excellent just don’t work in a movie. Thus, adapting books into movies is a double-edged sword; while there’s nothing better than seeing a world you have imagined extensively in your head brought to life in front of you, it is an utterly terrible experience to see a story you love disparaged in an atrocious movie. With that in mind, the following eight novels have been selected not just because they are great books, but because for one reason or another, they all seem to lend themselves well to big-screen adaptations. Even if these stories never make their way onto film, do yourself a favor and find a copy of each one, as they are all fantastic reads.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
The 2001 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Kavalier and Clay is an amazing epic detailing the lives of two cousins who find themselves integral parts of the birth of the comic book and its meteoric rise in popularity in the 1940s. Sammy Clay is the proverbial man with the plan; it is his extensive imagination that allows him to come up with such fantastic stories, and his New York sensibility that gives him the wherewithal to make it big. His more reserved cousin, Joseph Kavalier, is an immigrant from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia who is both an immensely talented artist and a passionate magician. Within the past year, news has come out that Chabon is adapting his novel into a script (to be directed by Stephen Daldry, a good choice in my opinion) and with the current fervor for anything and everything related to comic books, now is the perfect time for the film.
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
There are not too many authors about whom you can say that you wish they had written more books; however, it is a tragedy that this is the only novel that Norton Juster ever wrote. It is perhaps the most intelligent children’s book ever written, and should be read by everyone, regardless of age. The story is that of a young boy named Milo, who receives a mysterious gift in the mail one day. The present is a toy tollbooth, and when he travels through it, he finds himself in a very different world where everything must be taken at its literal meaning. His adventures in this new land are infinitely enjoyable to read about, and although I first read this book as a child, it has only become more charming as I have gotten older. Despite the fact that a cartoon version of the movie was made in the late 1970s, it did not come close to the book in terms of quality, and I would love to see a live-action version of the story made that did justice to Juster’s work.
Redwall, Brian Jacques
Although its popularity has been diminished somewhat by the Harry Potter craze, Brian Jacques’ Redwall series is quite admired by young readers. There are fifteen stories in all, but as is often the case with series, the earliest entries are the best, particularly the first three: Redwall, Mossflower, and Mattimeo. All the books are set in an expansive world populated by anthropomorphized forest animals, including brave and heroic mice, mythically powerful badgers, and horribly cruel rats and weasels. The first novel, Redwall, follows a young mouse named Matthias as he solves a mystery left by his ancestor, the legendary Martin the Warrior. In the past several years, Jacques’ stories were turned into a short animated public television series. While the cartoons were relatively true to the book, the story would be best seen in its entirety on film, where Jacques’ intricately-created world could truly come to life.
Magician, Raymond Feist
Feist’s Riftwar Saga, of which Magician is the first story, is one of the most under-appreciated series in the fantasy genre. The tale is set in the sprawling world of Midkemia, and Magician tells the story of a young wizard’s apprentice named Pug, his transformation into a great magician, and his place in an epic war. With the enormous success of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, it would seem likely that fantasy books will receive a good deal more interest from Hollywood, and these stories seem a great place to start. Feist’s world is the type where you can examine an imagined map printed inside the front cover of the book, pick out an unfamiliar region, and wonder what is going on there. Fans of the series would surely love to see this immense world brought to life on screen, and even those who are unfamiliar with the stories would be awed by Feist’s expansive saga.
Joe College, Tom Perrotta
Perrotta, author of Election (which of course was already adapted into an excellent movie), tells the story of Danny, a student at Yale University who is trying to figure his life out as he nears the end of his collegiate years. The book is hysterical, but also freakishly true to life; as a current male college student, I can attest to the fact that Perrotta clearly has not forgotten about his own college days, depicting Danny with striking accuracy. Danny is torn between his life back home, where he drives his father’s lunch truck on vacations and stays in touch with his high school girlfriend, and his far more sexy existence as an Ivy Leaguer in love with the ultimate college girl, one who has her feminism and femininity in perfect balance. Just as Election proved to be a far more intelligent version of the high school comedy, Joe College would make a college comedy far more substantive than (and just as funny as) Road Trip.
What Makes Sammy Run?, Budd Schulberg
This classic Hollywood novel, written by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of On the Waterfront, is actually Ben Stiller’s pet project which he has been trying to get made for a good number of years. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, it was first published in 1941 and contains some of the most scathingly effective commentary on Hollywood ever written. The eponymous character, Sammy Glick, is a young kid from Brooklyn who makes it big in Hollywood by means of some of the most despicable and fascinating methods ever concocted. Rather than feeling dated, the book’s themes remain relevant more than 60 years later, and this continued relevancy provides the perfect impetus for making the film. While I am not sure how I feel about Ben Stiller in the title role, I am encouraged by his apparent passion for the project, which hopefully will lead to a movie that does the novel justice. The role of Sammy Glick is not nearly as goofy as many of Stiller’s more popular roles, and the story relies on subtle comedy rather than slapstick.
Tricky Business, Dave Barry
Although Dave Barry is known to most people simply for his hilarious weekly newspaper columns, he is also the author of two wickedly funny books detailing the lunacy that is southern Florida. His first novel, Big Trouble, was adapted to film, although the movie received extremely little exposure due to worries that its subject matter might be seen as distasteful post 9-11, which was unfortunate given how funny the film was. Barry’s latest book, Tricky Business, deals with a tamer subject, specifically crooked cruise ship operators swindling the Sunshine State’s elderly population out of millions through a floating casino. Barry’s zany writing style works just as well in fiction as it does in his columns, not to mention the ability to smoothly translate to screwball comedy on screen. There is no question that Barry has written a completely over-the-top story, but this absurdity is both what makes the book so damn funny and gives the film such great potential to be utterly hysterical.
The BFG, Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl is the author of a number of beloved children’s tales, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. All four of these stories have been made into very good children’s films, but there is one personal favorite of mine that truly deserves a big-screen adaptation: The BFG. Although there is an animated video version of the story from the late eighties, it doesn’t do the wonderful book a bit of justice, and there is no doubt in my mind that a live-action version would be quite well received by moviegoers young and old alike. The BFG is, of course, the Big Friendly Giant, who takes in a young orphaned girl named Sophie. Together, the two share a number of delightfully whimsical adventures. The BFG played the role of a warmhearted and sadly misunderstood giant long before anyone had ever heard of a lovable oaf named Hagrid. Dahl was one of the most imaginative writers of children’s literature in the 20th century, and so to say that The BFG is one of his most creative works is certainly quite an accolade. A film version of this fantastic tale would perhaps help bring Dahl’s work back to a spotlight that has for half a decade now been hogged by a certain young wizard with a trademark scar.
