Movie adaptations of Best-sellers---their endless route to success in Hollywood

The Journey of Some of the Best Fiction Writing into Hollywood Films

 

The journey of some faithfully filmed movie adaptations of best-selling novels in Hollywood started as early as the 1940’s, with Victor Fleming’s classic adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s best seller “Gone with the Wind”. An Academy Award-winner, the film went on to set the stage for movie adaptations that went on to become the most beloved, enduring and popular films of all times. In the following years, Hollywood had been bombarded with some of the most successful movie adaptations of all times. They included the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972), viewed as a touchstone of cinema and one of the best American films ever made, “A Room With A View”, faithfully adapted from E.M. Forster’s novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, (who won the Oscar), to the exquisite direction of James Ivory, “A Passage To India”, another adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel by David Lean, set in colonial India in 1924.

 

The 1990’s was another decade replete with some huge screen successes of best-selling novels, including the “Silence of the Lambs”, one of the most gripping and horrifying thrillers on celluloid ever, that introduced moviegoers to the screen's most blood-curdling antihero Hannibal Lecter -- a psychotic killer and confirmed cannibal. The other remarkable classic adaptations of the 1990’s included “The Shawshank Redemption”, an engrossing adaptation of Stephen King’s novella that impressed moviegoers with its painstaking perfection, stylish direction, and memorable performances; “Forrest Gump”, an enduring human story of faith and humility, featuring the Academy Award winning portrayal of the eponymous protagonist Forrest Gump, a dull-witted member of the baby-boom generation. It was even the most perfectionist directors of all times like Stephen Spielberg who had the urge to portray the written words into celluloid; and that he did with two most notable films in Hollywood: “Jaws”, the terrorizing tale of a fin in the water adapted from Peter Benchley's bestseller that horrified a generation of filmgoers, and “Schindler’s List”, a searing drama about a Nazi industrialist who saved more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps during World War II.  

 

Starting at the 1990’s, the tradition of filming some literary romance classics has continued till the present times, with two of the most successful and faithful adaptations being “Sense and Sensibility” and “Pride and Prejudice”. Both the films, adapted from Jane Austen’s classic novels, reflecting the Victorian society and man-woman relationship of those times, have been the recipients of the prestigious Academy awards, including nominations for the best acting, direction and screenplay adaptations. Even Indian director Mira Nair’s movie adaptation of W.M. Thackeray’s classic novel “Vanity Fair” received critical acclaim for its lush screen adaptation as well as the director’s valiant effort to create a period piece with keen eye and artistic flair.

 

Amid the current times, the trend towards movie adaptation of bestsellers has reached newer echelons of success, and thus movie adaptations are still a staple for filmmakers in Hollywood, very much the same as it used to be when classics like “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “A Clockwork Orange” had been adapted to sheer perfection and inimitable artistry in Hollywood. The year 2006 saw the most anticipated movie adaptation of “The Da Vinci Code”, the best selling hardcover, fiction book of all time by Dan Brown, which was also previewed at the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival that year. Though the film was harshly criticized and boycotted by the Roman Catholic church, the Bishops and several other Catholic organizations on the grounds of controversial interpretations of Christian history in both the film and the book it was based upon, in its opening weekend, the film earned over US$224 million worldwide, second only to the opening of 2005's “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”. However, critics’ responses to the film were also not very favorable, as many said that the film contains boring, absurd plot twists those are entirely arbitrary and contrived, and excessively anti-Christian and unhistorical in nature. “Brokeback Mountain”, on the other hand, which was initially whipped up by the media as “a gay cowboy movie”, went on to become the most successful and well-made movie adaptation of a short story (by Annie Proulx) approached by an independent film production house. Depicting the complex, multilayered romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West, the film went on to win a multitude of awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards and also the Independent Spirit Awards, among many other organizations and festivals.

 

Among the forthcoming films of Hollywood those are expected to release in 2008-2009, there are several movie adaptations of bestsellers slated for release or in its developmental stages. There is news that Summit Entertainment has already hired Catherine Hardwicke to direct their forthcoming adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight', a novel which follows the life of 17-year-old Bella and her mysterious classmate who hails from a family of vampires. Melissa Rosenberg is reported to pen the script for the film, which will be produced by Mark Morgan and Greg Mooradian. Khaled Hossaini’s brilliantly written novel “The Kite Runner” adapted for the screen by Marc Foster has already hit the theaters and has started getting rave reviews for its compelling storyline, complex emotional scenes and an engaging script while converting the book to the screenplay. Filming of yet another bestseller, Audrey Niffenegger's “The Time Traveler’s Wife” has already started in 2007 by director Robert Schwentke. It is already been announced that Eric Bana and Rachael McAdams will portray troubled lovers Henry De Tamble and Clare Abshire in the film which will delve into the life of a librarian, who, since the age of six, has popped in and out of his own past and future due to an unknown genetic disorder.

 

All said and done, movie adaptations of literary pieces have continued to rule the roost in Hollywood for many years now and will do so in the years to come. Keeping in mind that movie adaptations have happened in so many genres, starting from the Harry Potter fantasy movies based on J. K. Rowling’s bestsellers to the more serious, gripping and emotional ones like “The Bridges of Madison County” and “A Beautiful Mind”, it can be said that film adaptations have a definite place in the history of filmmaking, as well as a pivotal place in the minds of the audience. There are also some intensely gripping theatrical adaptations and also Television adaptations from novels in the history of filmmaking. However, the attraction of bestsellers on celluloid and their greater impact on the minds of the audience happen to supersede those portrayed on theater and Television. It is not likely to change much, in the days to come!