Book to Film Adaptations

It's always fun to see how books we have read are conceptualized by filmmakers.

Sometimes I am disappointed,

sometimes I am baffled,

(The inexplicable change in the ending of My Sister's Keeper, for example.)

 and sometimes I am impressed by the filmmaker's brilliance and imagination.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was beyond anything I could have imagined.

The first of three movies depicting The Hobbit will be released on December 14, 2012.

See the trailer [here].

(In case you are interested, Richard Armitage, the British actor who played John Thornton in North and South and Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood will be playing Thorin Oakenshield!)

Unlike my daughter who is angry about every single change in the Harry Potter movies, I don't need the filmmakers to stay true to the book in every particular. I understand that the medium is different and that some characters will be deleted, some will be combined, some of the subplots will be eliminated, etc. There is no way to include the richness of detail that was included in the book. I just want the movie to stay true to the book at its heart, which I think many of us thought The Help adaptation accomplished.

But how are they going to pull off Life of Pi with the weather, water and wild animals? And how will they deal with the ambiguity and symbolism?

Life of Pi is in 3D and will be released on November 21, 2012.

After watching this trailer I am definitely intrigued.

The author, Yann Martel, weighs in on the movie [here].

This short video features the author and the director, Ang Lee.

It's definitely worth watching.

 

The movie I am most excited to watch is Les Miserables, which will be released on Christmas Day 2012. 

I have seen several of the other film adaptations and have been sorely disappointed in each one of them, including the 1998 movie starring Liam Neeson, which many others enjoyed.

Since Les Miserables has had such a profound influence on my life, the movie version has a lot to live up to for me.

But after watching this video I

cannot

wait!!!