[phil_geo]

Name a book that is just BEGGING to be made into a movie. If you are so inclined, pick actors for the lead roles.

The Legacy of Heorot got me thinking about it - that book would make one awesome movie. Russell Crow as the lead? Maybe Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)?

[confused]

If there's one book that's begging to be made into a movie, it's Snow Crash. Granted, the discussion of language would be difficult to get across, but there's so many highly photogenic scenes : skateboarding down the steps of the FBI's office block, samurai fights in virtual reality, attacking an aircraft carrier in an inflatable dinghy (?) ... Haven't the foggiest who the actors would be, though.

[Archren]

Originally posted by confused
If there's one book that's begging to be made into a movie, it's Snow Crash. Granted, the discussion of language would be difficult to get across, but there's so many highly photogenic scenes : skateboarding down the steps of the FBI's office block, samurai fights in virtual reality, attacking an aircraft carrier in an inflatable dinghy (?) ... Haven't the foggiest who the actors would be, though.

LOL, that was exactly what I was going to say!!!

However, I feel that short stories make better movies than novels, because you don't force the screenwriters to do so much creative editing.

[Mugwump]

Just a few:

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester
Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly all by Philip K. Dick.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Eon by Greg Bear
Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton
Non-Stop and Hothouse by Brian Aldiss (the latter would really test the mettle of the director!)
Rendezvous with Rama and The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke.

I know a lot of people will forward Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, and on the surface it appears a good choice. However, when you consider the age of the protagonist and what he actually goes through - it soon becomes apparent that this book is quite simply not suitable for celluloid.

[lemming]

Yeah, I think a realistic Ender's Game would be a real turnoff to a lot of people. Maybe with a lot of voiceover (Ender's voice) it might work.

A lot of the best film adaptations are from novellas or graphic novels--I agree with whoever said that Snow Crash is just too darn long, though it would be fabulous and possibly worth it to come out with a 2- or 3-movie series that add up to the whole book (hey, it's working for Lord of the Rings).

I think I might vote for the first Rocheworld book (Flight of the Dragonfly?) by Robert L. Forward, if anyone could manage the special effects. It's a simple enough story and would have some awesome visuals.

[Kamakhya]

I could have sworn I heard somewhere that Ender's Game was being made into a movie, though it might have just been that the movie rights had been bought.

I would like to see The Left Hand of Darkness as a movie, among a gazillion other choices. :)

[Ouroboros]

I could have sworn I heard somewhere that Ender's Game was being made into a movie, though it might have just been that the movie rights had been bought.

Here ya go :-

http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/ender/endersgame_update.html

Still four years away. Plenty of time for them to ruin it just right... ;)

---

SF classics that I would like to see on screen :-

1- 'I am Legend' - Richard Matheson (OK, some will argue that this is horror rather than speculative fiction ... but if it's in the Gollancz SF masterworks series then that's good enough for me. Besides, it's already in development hell and there are already storyboards and character sketches floating around. The downside being that some giant 'liberties' have been taken with
the plot).

2- 'Lord of Light' - Zelazney (Hear me out on this one ... yes, the chronology is fragmented and challenging to say the least... but it might actually work better on screen. If audiences can handle the fragmented nature of 'Kill Bill', 'Identity', 'Memento' and others, then they can handle this. I was just thinking how fantastic an anime version of this would be ... I get rich, colourful visual imagery when I read this book, with all its complex mythology and high science / magic, I think it would work well as an animated feature.

3 - Lastly, some that have already been made into movies, but which have been altered beyond recognition or not quite realised to their full potential:-
- 'Startship Troopers' - Heinlein (This time made with some respect, dammit....)
- 'Day of the Triffids' - Wyndham (With British-made horror resurging quite strongly, now is the time for an updated and more faithful version of this classic work.)

:D

[emohawk]

Originally posted by Mugwump
Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly all by Philip K. Dick.


Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Monty Python) was very keen to do a film adaptation of A Scanner Darkly, especially after The Truman Show was, what he believes, a very poor rip-off. He doubts it will ever happen, though. Or so I read in a book about his art and films (Dark Knights and Holy Fools).

As people may well know, there's film coming out soon that's (very) loosely based on a Philip K. Dick short story called Paycheck starring Ben Affleck (blech) and Uma Thurman. Unfortunately though it's directed by John Woo who hates sci-fi and has stripped out all the sci-fi elements he could out of it (ala Face/Off). He also tends too make really sucky US movies imho (with the exception of the afore mentioned Face/Off) so I don't have high expectations.

Also, apparently a film is being made of Ray Bradbury's famous short story A Sound of Thunder (the one about the time travel safari's, and the guy running off the walkway and killing a bug which then changes history). Look for it next year - could be interesting. Good Sci-fi films have been very rare indeed in recent years.

[Mugwump]

Originally posted by lemming
Yeah, I think a realistic Ender's Game would be a real turnoff to a lot of people. Maybe with a lot of voiceover (Ender's voice) it might work.


The problem you have with Ender's Game is that, yes it's a story about loss of innocence, but it is also a horrific tale of child abuse.

In truth, it's too horrific to bring to film, especially considering that some kid actor is going to have to endure all of it on set!

There is a Hollywood adaptation in the pipeline, but I suspect that the original novel will have to be butchered in order to arrive at a suitable screenplay.

[Mugwump]

Originally posted by emohawk


Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Monty Python) was very keen to do a film adaptation of A Scanner Darkly, especially after The Truman Show was, what he believes, a very poor rip-off. He doubts it will ever happen, though.


It's in 'development hell' at the moment. The word is that it will be filmed as animation.