Movie adaptations the author disliked
All of these films were not best appreciated by the authors of their original pieces of work (novel/play) - Whether it's because you've read the book, or seen the original play in action and it's completely changed, or because the film is awful... Which author do you believe has the most cause to feel aggrieved at the film adaptation?
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- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsJulie AndrewsDick Van DykeDavid TomlinsonIn turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.Author - P.L. Travers. Her edits were largely disregarded, her characters were changed, or were almost left out entirely (Hence "Saving Mr. Banks" 2013). She hated the animated sequences and didn't like the songs.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Author - Stephen King. He thought that Kubrick couldn't grasp the fact that the hotel was evil, so instead tried to portray the evil in the characters - he thought that the movie was made into a human tragedy and had little of the original supernatural intent. Also he felt that rather than Jack Nicholson's character being made crazy by the hotel, he started off crazy.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.Author - Winston Groom. Certain plot points were omitted (Gump became an astronaut in the book). He also felt that the film was made too child friendly with bad language and sexual scenes left out. As well as this the film didn't actually turn a profit so his contractual agreement of 3% of profits left him with nothing.
- DirectorBreck EisnerStarsMatthew McConaugheyPenélope CruzSteve ZahnMaster explorer Dirk Pitt goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War battleship known as the "Ship of Death" in the deserts of West Africa while helping a WHO doctor being hounded by a ruthless dictator.Author - Clive Cussler. Cussler was meant to have total script control, however the producer did not honour this agreement. Other than that the movie was just plain bad.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsDana AndrewsSusan HaywardKent SmithAfter being visited by an old friend, a woman recalls her true love, the man she met and lost years ago.Author - J.D. Salinger. Salinger consented to have his short story Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut made into a movie retitled My Foolish Heart. He was so mortified by the swooning love story that he swore his works would never be made into film again.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.Author - Anthony Burgess. He felt that "the book I am best known for, or only known for" was a novel that he regretted writing due to the film. This was because he felt it seemed to glorify sex and violence. And that film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and that the misunderstanding would "pursue me till I die".
- DirectorMary HarronStarsChristian BaleJustin TherouxJosh LucasA wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.And other films; The Informers (2009) Author.- Bret Eaton Ellis. He doesn't think that any of the film adaptations of his books were that great but, with AP, he didn't think it should have been adapted at all. Because the mystery and ambiguity of the books was unrepresented within the film as the answer were there visually.
- DirectorMel StuartStarsGene WilderJack AlbertsonPeter OstrumA poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.Author - Roald Dahl. The title was changed to promote a chocolate bar. Dahl was unhappy that Spike Milligan was not cast as Willy Wonka, and said Gene Wilder's performance was "pretentious and bouncy". And he was also infuriated by certain plot changes.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Author - Ken Kesey. He disagreed with the casting of Jack Nicholson and was unhappy that the story was not told from the view point of Chief Bromden. He has since refused to watch it after a small viewing.
- DirectorFrancis LawrenceStarsWill SmithAlice BragaCharlie TahanYears after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.And other adaptions; The Last Man on Earth (1964), Omega Man (1971). Author - Richard Matheson. 1964 - Vincent Price was miscast and the direction was poor. 1971 - The film was completely different to the book. 2007 - The entire ending was changed as it didn't test well with audiences. Leading him to say "I don't know why Hollywood is fascinated by my book when they never care to film it as I wrote it."
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsGary CooperHelen HayesAdolphe MenjouAn American ambulance driver and an English nurse fall in love in Italy during World War I.Author - Ernest Hemingway. He thought the film betrayed the original ending of the book, and that it heavily focused on the romantic element of the story and failed to depict the sense of war time brutality that he had hoped to portray.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsNatalya BondarchukDonatas BanionisJüri JärvetA psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.And other adaptations; Solaris (2002). Author - Stanislaw Lem. The author felt that neither of the adaptations capture the mystery of the novel -the film-makers - trying to grasp the human concerns of the story miss the point of the novel entirely. - credit - cartman_1337.
- DirectorMichael WinnerStarsCharles BronsonHope LangeVincent GardeniaA New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks. In self-defense, the vengeful man kills muggers on the mean streets after dark.Author - Brian Garfield. The lead character Paul Kersey shouldn't start killing until near the end of the story, as he ought to be a conflicted man who kills to prove he's in control of his life. However in the film Kesey seems to start on screen having already developed an intent to kill. As a result Garfield was deeply displeased with the final product. - credit - cartman_1337.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsNoah HathawayBarret OliverTami StronachA troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.Author - Michael Ende. He was so unhappy with the film version that he refused to have his name appear in the opening credits of the film. He thought that film was straying so far from the book, that he wanted them to stop filming entirely, or change the name, they did neither. - credit - cartman_1337.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsChris O'DonnellGene HackmanFaye DunawayA young man fresh out of law school tries to win a reprieve for his racist grandfather who is on death row.Author - John Grisham. He said that due to the numerous amount of re-writes, that this was the least favourite of his film adaptations, leaving him to say that "it was just a mess". - credit - cartman_1337.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.Author - Lothar-Günther Buchheim. He felt that despite his original intent of conveying an anti-war novel the adaptation was "another re-glorification and re-mystification" He called the film a cfoss between a "cheap Amercan action flick" and a "contemporary German propganda newsreel from World War 2". He also said that it was over-acted and unrealistic. - credit - cartman_1337.
- DirectorGorô MiyazakiStarsTimothy DaltonWillem DafoeMariska HargitayIn a mythical land, a man and a young boy investigate a series of unusual occurrences.Author - Ursula K. Le Guin. She was not satisfied with the adaptation made of her film as she felt the film was not in keeping with the spirit of her book - a point defined by the fact felt that "the films excitement was maintained by violence". As well as this she thought that corners were cut in the animation of the film. - credit - Pencho15.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsElizabeth TaylorPaul NewmanBurl IvesBrick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.Author - Tennessee Williams. He hated the film, as the screenplay, removed almost all of the homosexual themes and revised the third act section to include a lengthy scene of reconciliation between Brick and Big Daddy. he disliked it so much he told those queuing for the film to "go home". - credit - Time_for_Some_Bad_Jokes.
- DirectorMichael RymerStarsAaliyahStuart TownsendMarguerite MoreauIn this loose sequel to Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), the vampire Lestat becomes a rock star whose music wakes up the equally beautiful and monstrous queen of all vampires.Author - Anne Rice. She considers the film to be a terrible disappointment for both her and her readers. Feeling that it was too dissimilar to her novel, saying "Let’s forget the film. That’s the best thing to do there: simply forget it... I don’t count it as being based on my work. And I try to blot it out of my mind." - credit - cartman_1337.