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Movies That Are Nothing Like the Books They're Based On
- Thread starter JaseMath
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This thread reminds me of Jodorowsky's Dune (2014). The Dune movie that was made is wildly different from the "Bible" Jodorowsky created. Though, I don't know how it differs from the book, having never read it. Interesting watch, nonetheless.
Killer Queen
Banned
To be fair that's because at this point there is no book.
Came to post this. I adore the book, but that movie is straight up garbage.
That actually makes sense of the title for me. I'd kinda wondered where that came from.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Who was running for money for his wife and baby in a world where all but a few lived in extreme poverty. He got paid more the longer he lasted.
He had to shoot video of himself regularly and send it in.
Based on how he speaks about the movie, nothing like the book. Not to say it would be bad.
tearsintherain
Member
I, Robot
DorkLord54
Member
I'm surprised no one has posted the ur-example yet, Universal Pictures' Frankenstein (1931), which influenced the entire public's perception of the setting, and is not faithful at all to the source material except for the fact that Frankenstein wants to create life.
I didn't even consider this, lol, not having watched Frankenstein but having read the book.
But yeah this is the example.
Dash_Riprock
Member
I literally forgot that movie existed. And looking at the BO, so did everyone else.
Its greatest sin is cutting out everything in the books that wasn't human. It didn't "pad" things so much as excise all the bits that made it more than just a medieval white people fairy tale and replaced it with more medieval white people.
Also the
Also the
happy ending misses the whole point! Gaiman very explicitly went "beyond the end" to show you even happy endings fade away eventually, and the movie just threw that out the window.
malingenie
Member
V is for Vendetta. I liked the movie when it came out. Read the book, and immediately understood why people hated the rendition. Also From Hell.
blazenumb1
Member
It's not a complete departure but the shining definitely has some big changes from the book.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I, Robot
Starship Troopers
I really don't think the movie is a parody of the book because they simply have so little in common beyond superficial elements and maybe 1 or 2 scenes that were lifted from the book. It's more like a parody of fascism with a thin coat of starship troopers paint over the top.
Starship Troopers
I really don't think the movie is a parody of the book because they simply have so little in common beyond superficial elements and maybe 1 or 2 scenes that were lifted from the book. It's more like a parody of fascism with a thin coat of starship troopers paint over the top.
Elitist1945
Member
The director didn't even get through much of the book so its not surprising they don't have much in common setting/theme aside.
The Dune movie that was made is very faithful to the book. Maybe too faithful, in fact. If you go into Dune without having read the book... hoo boy, NOTHING will make sense.
To be fair, though, I actually really like Dune (the book AND the movie) and I'm kind of glad Jodorowsky's version was never made. His style is just too outlandish and silly for me.
But, y'know, different strokes and all that.
The was what I immediately thought of too. It is literally similiar in name only.
Nappuccino
Member
Noooooope
I really bummed that an accurate rendition can never be made. Not for many more years, at least. The ending is just . . . something else.
Also, Naked Lunch is both nothing like the book and all too much like it. The movie adapts part of Burrough's life into the fold. Both media are really great at making you feel uncomfortable as hell, though.
UltimaPooh
Member
Hello!
Skiptastic
Member
Adaptation?
EDIT: Dammit Pooh!
EDIT: Dammit Pooh!
User 479360
Banned
Noooooope
I came here to post this.
I read the book and was really excited to watch the movie, because I loved the novel. But it was a weird take and a disappointment. Hardly like the book.
As far as the book and the movie is concerned, From Hell offers up a pretty stark contrast. I actually do understand why the film was more of a simple murder mystery versus the insane detailing of Victorian London and its class struggles that the book went into (you aren't telling the book's story in two hours), but the film added its own strange wrinkles for no real reason, like Abberline's opium addiction.
LastGamer84
Member
Maybe the Wonka movie with Gene Wilder? I know the Johnny Depp version is closer to the book, but I haven't met anyone who preferred the new movie to the old.
The Depp version gets credit for being more like the book thanks to the squirrels making it in, but it was still a huge departure from the book. They both changed stuff, but at least the old movie was entertaining.
WoolyNinja
Member
Ha, came into to say Jurassic Park - the OP was exactly right on this one
Said writer also did a draft on that last Fantastic Four. He doesn't seem to be well suited to screen writing (at least in live action, Lego Batman looks good).
The book really was a lot of fun to read.
Reptars Revenge
Member
Planet of the Apes
It skews closer to the source than a lot of examples here, but the 1949 adaptation of the Great Gatsby makes a lot of bizarre deviations the partly stem from trying to rework the source material into more of a noir and partly stem from the censorship board at time. The film gets Gatsby's backstory out of the way super early so they can focus more on his exploits as a bootlegger.
It follows the major beats close enough but every change winds up sticking out, particularly when Gatsby gets shot at the end and declares before he dies he did everything... FOR THE KIDS!
It follows the major beats close enough but every change winds up sticking out, particularly when Gatsby gets shot at the end and declares before he dies he did everything... FOR THE KIDS!
Tertullian
Member
I love this movie. It explores emotional territory radically different from the book.
The Artisan
Member
the first book starts with him unconscious in the ocean. i think that's about it.
echoshifting
Banned
Fight Club
Palahniuk has even said in interviews it is a massive improvement
Palahniuk has even said in interviews it is a massive improvement
Dash_Riprock
Member
On that subject:
The Prestige.
Aside from being about dueling magicians, almost nothing is the same, and there is FAR more Sci-Fi/Fantasy elements.
Though as with Fight Club, the author has said that the movie is better than his own work.
echoshifting
Banned
That's interesting...I actually prefer the book for The Prestige. I love the way everything is revealed at the end and felt it made more sense than how they did it in the movie. I'm so glad I read it before the movie came out.
Bowie as Tesla though...that is admittedly hard to beat.
echoshifting
Banned
Oh man. Yeah.
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