I should be clear on this from the start; this is not a list of the best books that haven't been turned into films. This is a just a list of five of my favourite books that haven't been turned into films, along with some daydreaming about what a film version might look like. At least one of these titles would be fearsomely controversial if the adaption were faithful, but all of them would be challenging projects. It's an interesting point to reflect on; these titles are all lauded, acclaimed novels, yet have been deemed too difficult or otherwise unsuitable to translate into a movie, which must say something about the differences between the two industries.
1. BLOOD MERIDIAN
By Cormac McCarthy
'Blood' is in the title for a reason; this revisionist Western is awash with it, as an unnamed kid joins a gang of Indian hunters during the Mexican-American war of the 1850s. McCarthy pulls no punches in his brutal depiction of a group of savage men at large in a lawless time, and then dazzles by setting these scenes directly alongside lyrical prose that conveys the wonder of the natural world around them. A truly remarkable book, rightly considered the authors seminal work and among the most audacious of the 20th century.
Fantasy Movie Time
The Pitch
A bleak, modern take on a classic Western scenario, equal parts Leone and Deadwood.
Players
Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson has adapted books before and takes an uncompromising approach to his material. Terence Malik's films show a mix of ferocity and spirituality that would suit the story.
Actors:
- The Kid: An unknown, precocious newcomer.
- Glanton: Mark Strong as the psychotic gang leader.
- The Judge: Daniel Day Lewis, channeling Bill the Butcher, as a philosophical outlaw with a sadistic streak.
- Sam Rockwell as The Ex-Preist, a lost soul who The Kid befriends.
2. GENERATION X
By Douglas Coupland
Canadian author Coupland didn't coin the phrase of the title, but he helped lodge it permanently in the mainstream consciousness with this hip, flippant, hugely influential book. Dag, Claire and Andy have abandoned upwardly mobile lives in fashionable parts of America and relocated to the Coachella Valley to regroup. They fill their days with cocktails, anecdotes and pop culture ephemera and prop up this minimalist existence with McJobs in the service industry. Their goal is to try and figure out what comes next. These are lives adrift, but their stories are pointed and the narrators are people you'd like to share a lazy afternoon with.
Fantasy Movie Time
The Pitch
A sly, droll comedy-drama about finding your place.
Players
Director:
Richard Linklater is a director who has depicted characters like these throughout his career. Ben Stiller has been one of these charcaters, at times anyway, and would choose a great 90's soundtrack.
Actors:
- Andy: Benedict Cumberbatch as the melancholy, reflective everyman.
- Dag: Will Arnett as his compulsive, hyperactive bestie.
- Claire: Zooey Descehnal as their witty, intelligent neighbour.
3. NEUROMANCER
By William Gibson
In the near future, a down and out computer hacker takes a job working for shadowy interests who want to crack the world's most advanced Artifical Intelligence system. What follows is a heady mixture of Phillip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler, imaginative sci-fi and gumshoe mystery, as our anti hero tours a bleak future world so vivid a new term had to be created to summarise it; cyber-punk..
Fantasy Movie Time
The Pitch
Like an updated version of 'Blade Runner'; cutting edge, cerebral sci-fi.
Players
Director:
Guillermo del Toro if he felt like working on a smaller project. Darren Aranofsky if he felt like getting back to his roots.
Actors:
- Case: Ezra Miller as the inscrutable, brooding hacker.
- Molly: Elizabeth Olsen as Case's tough, resourceful ally/troubleshooter.
- Armitage: Nick Nolte as the burnt out former military man, the front for Case's employers.
4. RABBIT, RUN
By John Updike
Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom has come to a dead end; married to a woman he doesn't like, working a job he can't stand and lumbered with two kids that he barely notices. A former high school basketball star with an inflated self opinion, Rabbit has sailed through life paying little attention to where he's headed, until one day he realises this has bought him to a place he doesn't like. His premature mid life crisis encompasses an affair, a tragedy and much puzzled indecision and Updike's elegant, spare prose provides a devastating portrayal of a frustrated life.
Fantasy Movie Time
The Pitch
The cons of middle class, middle America.
Players
Director:
Alexander Payne has built a career documenting the trials and triumphs of everyday life, and is an expert adapter of source material. The Coen Brothers would bring the comic elements of the book to life, and would have a field day with the novels rich cast of peripheral characters.
Actors:
- Rabbit: Joseph Gordon Levitt is naturally likable and a good enough actor to get to Rabbit's dark side.
- Janice: Kelly McDonald as Rabbit's ditzy, yet resilient, wife.
- Ruth: Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Rabbit's fling, a hard headed girl who falls hard.
- Eccles: Ed Norton as the unconventional priest who lends Rabbit his ear.
5. THE GLASS CANOE
By David Ireland
Sydney in the 70's; a group of mates hang around the Southern Cross Hotel, swapping yarns and downing schooners as the less constant elements of their life - jobs, women, money - come and go on the breeze. David Ireland's definitive picture of tribal, blokey, Australian life still rings true for anyone who's ever bent an arm at a bar, while also serving as a neat time capsule and reminder of all of the things around us that have changed. The sort of story we don't see told often enough, about ourselves.
Fantasy Movie Time
The Pitch
Kind of like a local version of 'Trainspotting,' with beer instead of heroin.
Players
Director:
David Caesar hasn't done much for a while and would seem ideally suited to capturing regular blokes mucking about. Peter Weir if he could be tempted.
Actors:
- Meat Man: Ben Mendelsohn is a dead lock to play the laconic, unflappable narrator.
- Mick: Joel Edgerton as the pub hard case.
- King: Adam Zwar as the pub smart arse.
- Sibley: Sean Micallef as an alcoholic wannabe intellectual doing a study on 'the drinking culture.'
Kind of like a local version of 'Trainspotting,' with beer instead of heroin.
Players
Director:
David Caesar hasn't done much for a while and would seem ideally suited to capturing regular blokes mucking about. Peter Weir if he could be tempted.
Actors:
- Meat Man: Ben Mendelsohn is a dead lock to play the laconic, unflappable narrator.
- Mick: Joel Edgerton as the pub hard case.
- King: Adam Zwar as the pub smart arse.
- Sibley: Sean Micallef as an alcoholic wannabe intellectual doing a study on 'the drinking culture.'
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