Name a book you think would make a great movie.

[Jara sang]

A large budget production of Brave New World would be pretty cool. But as with all book to film projects it would have to be done right.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I think msb's darkover series would make a great tv show

[commander bunnypants]

2. SWord of Shannara

A great epic

CB

[4_Legs_Good]

21. They could just use all the LotR footage and then just

overdub different names!!!

Sorry but SoS was nothing but a rewrite of LotR, IMO.

:(

david

[4_Legs_Good]

23. Doh - miplaced post. Sorry!

[tk2kewl]

3. My Pet Goat

[SeanQuinn]

10. That's what I was thinking. nt

[El Fuego]

18. It's already a movie, in a way!

[oneighty]

4. Hiroshima Joe

Martin Booth

180

[Dinger]

5. "Mean On Sunday"

About the great middle linebacker, Ray Nitschke.
Another one would be the "Ice Bowl." I don't know if that's a book yet, but ESPN was going to make a movie on it, which I understand has been put on hold.

[SuperWonk]

7. The Bible...

The New Testament... just imagine Revelations... awesome.

[XemaSab]

11. Wasn't the New Testament

already done????

[shugah]

81. indeed it was!

jesus of nazareth - mini-series, i think. often shown around easter. a great movie! i watch it every time i get the chance.

[On the Road]

6. Jitterbug Perfume §

[El Fuego]

16. I LOVE that book n/t

[bicentennial_baby]

8. Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison (graphic novel series)

[SaveElmer]

9. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey...

"The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights" by Robert Mann

Reads like a novel...really interesting book with interesting persopnalities. I thought while I was reading it that it would make a good movie

[ghostsofgiants]

12. Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor"

Mark Z. Danielewski's "House Of Leaves" Might be interesting as a film too.

Another good question: who would you like to see direct them?

For Survivor, David Fincher, because if Fight Club is any indication, he works well with Palahniuk's stuff.

For House Of Leaves, I think Darren Aronofsky would handle it well. Not sure why, just seems like something that would suit his style.

[Taverner]

29. second for "Survivor" - and also "Choke"

"choke" is laugh out loud funny

[ghostsofgiants]

30. I haven't read Choke yet

Been meaning to for some time though.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

47. If you search then internet enough

you can find a script for Survivor by Gwyneth Paltrow's brother. The movie was put on the backburners after 9/11, if you read Survivor you can probably figure out why. It is apparently going now along with everything else Palahniuk has written.

[ghostsofgiants]

51. Yeah, I heard mention of the possibility a while back

And it being nixed because of 9/11, but I haven't heard much about it since.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

59. While on book tours

Palahniuk eventually gets asked about the status of his books in film development. The last I heard they were all optioned and for the most part in the script writing stage.

[ghostsofgiants]

61. Cool!

[Kraklen]

13. "Monkey" or "Journy Into the West" by Ch'Eng-En Wu.

The 16th century Chinese folk novel and original kung fu epic.

It's about a mystical stone monkey that teaches his real monkey brothers and sisters how to defend themselves, and ends up on a quest of high adventure.

[BOSSHOG]

14. Last Car to Elysian Fields by James Lee Burke

The seamy underbelly of New Orleans Politics, good cops, bad cops, Priests, Prostitutes, toxic landfill, bayous, an alcoholic detective who served in Vietnam and a sidekick who likes to kick ass and then ask questions. 17 year old Drunk driver kills three girls and he is well connected. And the beat goes on.

Any James Lee Burke book would make an exceptional movie but none could be as good as the book. Outstanding author.

[davidinalameda]

15. the Whitewater Report

it has sex, suicide, decent heroes and nasty villians

[El Fuego]

17. The Chronciles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

I thought it was the greatest thing in the world when I was a teenager, and I always wished they would do a movie (or movies).

[Debbi801]

22. Oh I agree! (m)

I love that series. I actually just repurchased the whole series. My husband has never read it and I wanted my son to be able to read them, too.

:hi:

[FuzzySlippers]

19. "Ulysses"

:silly:

[BikeWriter]

20. Lonesome Dove! Oh, it's been done...

[4_Legs_Good]

24. His Excellency

The recent George Washington book by whatshisname.

I don't know why nobody is making US history epics right now. They would really do well in theaters. I would (and probably should) write the screenplay which would take place for on GW's triumphant parade through the states, and then fill it with flashbacks about his history.

Also, after last week's "This American Life", I can invision a great movie about Lafayette.

Infuse these things with reality and true history and they'll appeal to both the mindless nationalists and the true historians.

david

[Jara sang]

60. you just gave me another one.

How about a movie based on "American Brutus" the John Wilkes Booth assassination conspiracy. Nobody has touched that.

[gmoney]

25. Martin Amis' "Money" or "London Fields"

There was a word long ago that someone in the UK did "Money" as a British TV movie, but I never heard any more word about it, let alone saw it.

Wow, just checked IMDB and it says that the film version of "London Fields" has been announced! The role of Nikola Six could be a real breakout barn burner for the right actress... cool!

"Mood Swingers" which was based on his book "Dead Babies" was OK, but somehow the book is a lot better and more dangerous.

The film version of "The Rachel Papers" has a lot of charm to it, with the one annoyance being the "update" to a cheesy computer interface for the main character's elaborate "little black book" that constitutes the title. Great cast... check it out on DVD.

[HughBeaumont]

26. House of Leaves

but it'll never happen . . .

[ghostsofgiants]

27. I'd love to see that too

If it was made, it'd most likely be an indie production (which would be a very good thing; Hollywood has a tendency to fuck things like that up). And like I said above, I'd love to see Darren Aronofsky direct it.

[HughBeaumont]

32. or Jeunet and Caro

This book couldn't have someone like Michael Bay assigned to this.

[Jara sang]

34. that looks interesting, what's it about?

Looked it up on Amazon. can you tell me more about it?

[HughBeaumont]

43. Post-modernist horror taken to it's self-indulgent apex

It's not unapproachable. To give a shoe-box description of the book - it's about a tattoo artist who discovers a book about a fake documentary written by a blind man named Zampano. The documentary (The Navidson Record) chronicles the travels into a home that remains normal-sized on the outside, but expands exponentially with each step explored. We're also stepping into the drugged-out mind of the tattoo artist and his own demons and discoveries via his speed-fueled notes. The prosaic and paragraphic structure takes on the estate's dimensions, shifting the print backwards, along margins, spiraled . .. admittedly, they're parlor tricks, but the novel itself is incredibly intriguing and addictive. I revisit it every so often, as you tend to pick up something new with each read.

[grace0418]

28. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay

I heard it's being made into a movie. I think Adrien Brody should play Kavalier.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

48. I heard that as well

Good choice for Kavalier. This is a monster of a book, size wise, so it should be interesting to see how it is handled.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

31. The Cowboy And The Cossack by Clair Huffaker

While I was in film school I read this novel. At the same time, I was working as a reader of screenplays for a major film company. I was specifically searching for material that would make a good film. This novel was it. It's about some cowboys who drive a herd of cattle to Stockton, California and the head ramrod loses the herd in a drunken poker game to some Russians. On orders from the Czar, the Russians have come to the United States to buy cattle to rescue a starving city in Siberia that is being beseiged by Tartars. The American cowboys having lost the herd can't face the owner. Therefore, they agree to accept money for the herd from the Russians, but the deal is that they have to go to Siberia to help drive it across thousands of miles of terrain to the beseiged city. The rivalry between the Cossacks and the Cowboys, both great horsemen and rugged individualists is wonderful. The cattle drive across Siberia and all of the dangers faced by these two very different groups of men and the bonds that they form in the end makes for an unforgettable story. This one is Lonesome Dove quality, in my opinion. When I approached the film executives with it, they made an effort to purchase the novel, but its rights were already owned by a famous actor who wouldn't part with them (I recall that it might have been Gene Hackman or someone of similar stature).

[Enraged_Ape]

33. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

AKA, "Tyger Tyger" in the UK.

One of my absolute favorite novels. I always pictured Bruce Willis as a great candidate for the main character Gully Foyle, but now I think Vin Diesel could do a really good job with it.

ON EDIT: I also think Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" would make a great flick, and very timely.

[swag]

35. "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" by Andrew Sean Greer

Kind of like a crazy cross between Nabokov's Lolita (I say this for the hopeless love involved; pedophilia is absent) and Martin Amis' Time's Arrow as though told by Ford Maddox Ford.

I would be surprised if some current filmmaker didn't attempt it.

[bettyellen]

55. is that the one where he starts old, and gets younger

and younger. it sort of sounds like that's what you are describing.

[swag]

56. Yes, that's the one.

Have you read it?

[bettyellen]

58. LOL. i must have read the review or a exerpt or something a while back.

good, huh? not too sappy?
i keep starting books and discarding them. it's been tough keeping my interest lately.

[swag]

65. No, it's good, not sappy.

Not sentimental about love. Just sort of destroyed by it in that detached Humbert Humbert type of way.

Might not be the book to engage you in your current mood, though. Summer's here and activity besides reading beckons constantly.

[bettyellen]

68. i had to get reading glasses and i was in such denial that i convinced

myself for months that i just didn't feel like reading. for a while there i really thought it was a mood thing, or how bad the news was, but it was because things were getting blurry.
i'm adjusting slowly to having readers. i still stare at my hands as if i'm tripping or something. i guess after a few more weeks of staring at the incredible detailed nature of everything, i'll be able to settle down and pick up a book. i hope.

[4_Legs_Good]

36. The Lord of the Rings movies perhaps opened the door to serious fantasy

films. I'm not a big fan of Jackson's LotR, but one good reprocussion might be that other serious fantasy books might get a fair shake at a film deal. If so many people were willing to accept Jackson's movies and go see them, maybe there's room for more fantasy films, a genre that has met with little success in the past.

Stephen R. Donaldson's "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" series have been optioned apparently, which is good news.

I'm re-reading "The Dragonbone Chair" right now by Tad Williams, and I think that would make a great film.

IMO the only great fantasy films made this far are The Bakshi version of LotR, "Ladyhawke" and "The Dark Crystal" all of which are brilliant. You might tack "The Princess Bride" onto the list, but I think that's more of a romantic comedy than a fantasy.

david

[Burma Jones]

37. A Confederacy of Dunces

Or Perhaps an HBO mini-series....

[KamaAina]

54. Johnny Carson owned the rights to it

wonder what happened to them after his passing.

Ignatius: John Goodman, whose wife is from N'awlins; they got married (or had the reception) at Tip's!

[jmowreader]

38. Inside the Aquarium by Viktor Suvorov

It's the true story of a young Soviet Army armor captain who gets picked up by the Soviet GRU, then defects when he figures out that they're going to execute him.

He describes the method the GRU used to execute people who strayed far enough, and it's fairly barbaric: the GRU believed that when you died, the secrets you knew stayed in your brain and, given the proper advanced technology, could someday be extracted by an enemy of the Soviet Union. Therefore, all GRU agents were cremated after they died. The ones who strayed were cremated before they died. And worse: if something came in that was "more important" than you, like an honored agent who died in the service of the Soviet Union or a box of classified waste, they'd take the stretcher you were tied to off the rollers that fed the crematory, prop you up against the wall facing the mouth of the crematory, feed in whatever it was that's more important than you, wait till it was finished (remembering, of course, that it takes several hours to cremate a body) then put you in.

People like spy movies, and this would be a good one.

[Tikki]

39. 'The Butterfly Kid'....by Chester Anderson..

The story is very dated with a psychedelic theme and 60's references.

With today's animation and robotics it could make for an amazing sci-fi experience on the big screen.

Tikki

[Orsino]

40. Tim Powers' ON STRANGER TIDES

Pirates 'n' voodoo. Delicious!

[silverpatronus]

41. gaiman/pratchett's good omens...

and/or some of pratchett's 'discworld' books.

[bicentennial_baby]

45. Oh hell yes to Good Omens

That would rock my fucking world!

[BreweryYardRat]

42. There's plenty...

Simon R. Green's Blue Moon Rising, for starters. Great one-liners and an excellent plot that wouldn't need any alteration for the movie. You really care about the characters, plus there's plenty of intrigue and action.

George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series would be great to try and adapt to film once it's done. You wouldn't need to tinker with the books' plot at all-just choose which viewpoints you wanted to focus on, especially since some of them overlap.

Steve Alten's Meg would be an excellent summer movie, so long as you got a good cast.

David Gemmel's Druss the Legend series would also be a great choice.

[Pacifist Patriot]

44. If done right, "Just One Look" by Harlan Coben

Just don't cast Nicole Kidman as Grace. Please!

[Initech]

46. Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Of course, the entire movie would just be Al Franken talking on the screen about how much he hates Ann Coulter, but that wouldnt be a bad thing, would it?

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

49. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

America: The Book by Jon Stewart and other Daily Show geniuses

[Jara sang]

69. I like Krakauer

Didn't they make "Into Thin Air" into a movie? I think "Into the Wild" would make a great movie.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

84. Might have been a tv movie

but I'm not 100% sure either way.

[Bullwinkle925]

50. The Known World - Edward P. Jones

[WeRQ4U]

52. David Sedaris' "Santa Land Diaries"

I saw the play in Portland, Oregon last christmas. I think it would be a great movie.

[Jara sang]

62. I heard an essay of his on NPR

It might have been a excerpt from one of his books about a beach house in North Carolina while he was growing up. He was so right on it's not even funny. I've heard him described as a modern day Mark Twain, just from that one essay I think he is brilliant.

[WeRQ4U]

64. I'm reading his new book.

I can't get enough of him. His humor makes me laugh out loud.

If you haven't read "Me Talk Pretty One Day", do so. It'll make you cry from laughing in parts. I'll start you off with this.......

"You can't kill the Mother Fucking Rooster"

lol

[baby_mouse]

53. "Weaveworld"

... by Clive Barker. Full of weird ideas... but really it'd need to be a triology, I think...

[Terran]

57. "Startide Rising" by David Brin

and other books in that series. The role of humanity as plucky underdogs caught in the middle of a galactic controversey would be very appealing on film, I think.

Also, along similar lines, a 1950's novel called "Sleeping Planet", in which two humans and a few million mild-mannered robots repel an alien invasion that has captured the entire Sol system. Again, that underdog theme is always a winner.

[democracyindanger]

63. "Forever War" by Joe Haldeman

[StaggerLee]

66. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

By Christopher Moore

[WindRavenX]

67. "Otherland" by Tad Williams

EPIC 4 part sci-fi/fantasy series that blew my mind.

[ScreamingMeemie]

70. I LOVED those books...and I'm not a sci fi fan.

:hi:

[Democracy White]

71. I am going to say 'The Handmaid's Tale'

And not the wimpy made-for-TV crap, a full production movies starring Scarlett Johensburg or whatever the hell her name is.

Dee

[AuntieM1957]

72. It's been done

several years ago -

Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway, one of the Redgraves, Aidan Quinn.

Sometime during the 90s.


3 1/2 stars on netflix.

I saw it - but don't recall it all that well. Much preferred the book - but I normally prefer book to film.

Good choice, BTW, it's a great read - and a cautionary tale.

[yellowdogintexas]

73. "The Joyous Season" by Patrick Dennis (wrote Auntie Mame)

I so love this book. It would be a wonderful movie!

[IChing]

74. A Great movie would be the Carlos Castaneda's first 3 Books

talk about horror, harry potter, mysticism, drugs and spiritualism.

[The Straight Story]

75. The Xanth Series :) (nt)

[barb162]

76. I saw that as a series several years ago on PBS I think

It was excellent and I think Keir Dullea was in it. I think it is like the US now. Born an A+ and you stay an A+; way way less movement between classes these days and pretty soon there will be none.

[libnnc]

77. "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown

autobiographical story about a young lesbian from the south trying to make it in NYC in the 1960s and early '70s. It has everything. Little bit of southern poor-kid-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks backstory, civil rights/anti-war issues, birth of the women's and lesbian rights movement, interpersonal relationship stuff and lotsa hot sex. A happy ending and everything.

Why hasn't RMB tried to make her classic into a movie? She's a script doctor too. Can't be that daunting a task.

Hey Rita Mae...get to work!

[dad]

78. Jennifer Government by Max Barry

They could change up the plot, make it better. As long as the movie starts out like the book did, and uses the same concept of a world gone completely corporate, you could hardly go wrong.

[Mojambo]

83. That's what I was going to say

Intriguing setting with quite a bit of action. Quirky characters.

It would make a great indie film.

[giant_robot]

79. Actually, I feel that short stories translate better to film than books.

I'd pick a pretty obscure sci-fi short story that would translate into a great action flick, if done right. It's called "Peaches for Mad Molly", by Stephen Gould. Cool story, I'd change the title for the movie, tho.

[shugah]

80. the sunne in splendour (sharon kay penman)

also:

the madness of a seduced woman (susan fromberg schaeffer)
the manor (isaac bashevis singer)
the octopus (frank norris)
peter the great (robert massey)
sweet savage love (rosemary rogers)

the last one ... well, i'd have to cast and direct it, probably, to make it the great movie it ought to be - i might be able to get it an 'R' rating ;-)

[Aristus]

82. Jennifer Government, by Max Barry

Read about it here:


http://www.maxbarry.com/jennifergovernment/

[Hardrada]

85. The Mote in God's Eye

Niven and Pournelle. Would be a huge and scary and thoughtful SF flick.