Movies in development hell

I'd doubt that people would want to sit in a theater for 9 hours. :) Binge-watching at home is quite a bit different from that -- breaks taken between episodes, comfortable furnitue, easy access to bathrooms, control over the pace, watching in your jammies, etc.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
As for 'not filmable'... I've not had a problem with many of the recent Live Action + CGI adaptations of various 'unfilmable' novels. I'd probably like a SISL adaptation. Heck, I even liked the first "Chronicles of Narnia"... the later ones suffered from poor script as well as lowered budget...
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The problem with Stranger is that so much of it isn't visual.
 
abreu-canedo said:
Speaking of Stranger in a Strange Land, which may not be well suited for a 2-3hr script, do you think that with the newly discovered viewer stamina for visual narrative, a-la Netflix binge-watching of entire seasons 4-8hrs at a time, can this bleed into the feature-film world? Say, longer films? Multiple arcs? I'm not talking just replicate episodic formats, either. Perhaps Stranger in a Strange Land could be an epic 5hr movie!!! Haha :)
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It'd be rivetting up until the end, but I can't see how you'd salvage the godawful metaphysical ending of the book.
 
David Jimerson said:
The problem with Stranger is that so much of it isn't visual.
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You would just have to accept that it's a movie, not a book, and the structure and some of the plot would need to be changed for a good 3 act movie. I couldn't do it, but I"m sure a talented experienced screenwriter could. It has a protagonist and plenty of conflict, you just have to show that conflict instead of spending time in someone's head like books often do, and structure the conflict for 3 acts.
 
David Jimerson said:
Just read that Bryan Singer is directing The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. While not as unfilmable as Stranger in a Strange Land (which just shouldn't be tried), I can't imagine a couple of hours will do that book anything approaching justice.
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I find that fascinating because the main theme is very unHollywood if you know what I mean.
 
Gillvane said:
You would just have to accept that it's a movie, not a book, and the structure and some of the plot would need to be changed for a good 3 act movie. I couldn't do it, but I"m sure a talented experienced screenwriter could. It has a protagonist and plenty of conflict, you just have to show that conflict instead of spending time in someone's head like books often do, and structure the conflict for 3 acts.
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You can make a movie with the visuals and trappings of the book. But that's not the essence of the book. If you can't capture the essence, if the change to the medium of film requires you to do something other than the essence, then the book is unfilmable. Even if you like the film, it's not the book.
 
David Jimerson said:
You can make a movie with the visuals and trappings of the book. But that's not the essence of the book. If you can't capture the essence, if the change to the medium of film requires you to do something other than the essence, then the book is unfilmable. Even if you like the film, it's not the book.
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Films aren't books.
 
Gillvane said:
I concede that no film could satisfy your expectations, but a good script writer and a good director could make a good movie from the source material.
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You're not following.

It's not whether or not the movie they make is good, or whether or not it meets my expectations. It's whether or not it captures the essence of the book. If they can't do it, no matter how good the movie is by itself, the book is unfilmable.

Poetry is unfilmable. It's the same thing.
 
Fine. Then YOU can just stay home from the premiere of my new film "Ode on a Grecian Urn: The Motion Picture". Keanu Reeves stars as The Urn.
 
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