Do you plan to read any of the books this season's movies are based on?
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 7:16PM I'll answer the question first. I might, though I probably shouldn't say that I might. For each year I make an internal plan to read all of the books on which upcoming films are based. Guess how many I usually get through? But given that I'd never trade F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" for any film version that might ever exist, I should probably try and read source material quicker once I know it's going to be a movie. I weep proactively, for example, for anyone who sees August: Osage County first as a movie (if it's not good) without having previously known the brilliance of the play. With this year's "Adapted" crowd, I have actually had read/experienced at least five of them... plus all the superhero stuff, 'natch.
intimate knowledge *before* seeing the movies, 2013 edition
This topic is on the mind since I've posted my predictions in the Original and Adapted Screenplay Oscar categories.
What's the difference between ADAPTED and ORIGINAL these days? Well, like the Acting Categories, sometimes screenplays play fast and loose with definitions. The landmark year for "Original" vs "Adapted" shenanigans was 2002 in which both Gangs of New York and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which had presented themselves as adaptations of a novel and play respectively for months on end as they made their way into the public consciousness, suddenly decided they were originals when that category proved conveniently easier to nab nominations in. Oh sure, they had their excuses ("only inspired by" "I wrote a version of this for the screen before I wrote it as a play") but it still smelled like Category Fraud.
I bring this up because it's possible that some of the films will be classified differently than I've classified them. The most confusing case is probably Foxcatcher since books have been written about the bizarre true story but the film doesn't seem to be based on those books but on an unpublished autobiography (?) by one of its secondary characters (played by Channing Tatum). I'm guessing Adapted for now but that could easily change.
But back to books. Have any of you read any of these pictured? Do you want to?
Which of these ten should I read and write about before the film version?
WHICHEVER BOOK WINS THIS POLL I PROMISE TO READ / BLOG.
I'll try for two but I will do one. I will, I will.
Reader Comments (23)
FYI, Labor Day is a pleasant but rather thin read. (Watch out for Winslet though--tricky, meaty role.)
Serena is very good... I'm so, so curious about this movie, but I'm not sure why no news has broken about a release. Makes me a little worried. Also, Jennifer Lawrence is the last person I pictured in that role--I thought more Charlize Theron.
I'd love to have any excuse to revisit August: Osage County.
I'm actually pre-planning to read Pynchon's Inherent Vice as PTA is adapting that as his next work.
12 Years a Slave is a definite must.
I wonder on American Hustle, what is the best sources on that true story? It comes from an original screenplay but that ABSCAM scandal was huge. There has to be a book on the whole case and maybe that particular story as a footnote (much like say, that Argo thing and the whole Iran hostage crisis).
It should also be noted Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy gives you an excellent excuse to revisit the Korean graphic novel.
Monuments Men is in a period that is such an Oscar goldmine that I get an aversion to it.
CMG: 'Old Boy' is actually based on a Japanese manga, not a Korean one. But yes, it is worth a read!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Boy_(manga)
I knew the moment I typed that it was actually Japanese manga!
That also happened to Syriana, which actually competed as an Adapted script for most of the season, until at the last minute it was deemed original, since it wasn't really based on Robert Baer's book apparently (even the name of Clooney's character was changed). I think there should be less ambiguity here than with the acting because, while the acting categories don't really have a clear definition of Lead/ Supporting (which is why I believe Nat will forever be fighting a losing battle in those characters), here it's clear. If it's based on a book or previous movie, it's adapted, if not it's original (how much was adapted, it shouldn't matter if there's a source material). Of course, where there's a technicality, there's a loophole. If it were me, I would make every script based on a true story compete as Adapted (since the story is based on real life and most likely the writer had to consult a book, so it's definitely adapted from something, even if it is real life) and sequels to original screenplays should also be original (Before Sunset and Toy Story 3 are examples of the Academy disagreeing with me). At the end of the day, the Academy will do whatever the hell they want....
I'm excited that production has finally begun on the fantasy classic Winter's Tale (and no, not the play by Shakespeare!)...Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Will Smith...Hoping for a release by the end of the year!
I read Gatsby for the first time a month ago. It wasn't a mandatory read for me like most schools seem to do these days. I only decided to put it on my reading list after i heard Baz was attached to the movie. I do alot of things for Baz. lol. But I rather liked it even though i did have to do some extra reading online to catch some of the symbolism.
I usually try my best to read the book before i see a movie that i'm really anticipating. I do alot of things for Nicole too (She owes me another Baz collaboration for making me see Trespass) but i can't do The Railway Man. Not to sound totally plebian, but both movie and book sound terribly boring. I did read The Family Finch because she was trying make the movie with her in the main role though. Good read. She can totally do that character too.
I've read X-Men: Days of Future Past too and hope they can do the material justice. It makes me sad how X3 botched The Dark Phoenix Saga because that's my all-time favorite X-Men story arc. It did soften the blow that Famke Janssen was Jean Grey/Phoenix because i love both the character and actress.
I plan on getting to August: Osage County since it's been a while that i've read a play, plus, the trailer has me wondering what the hell it is actually about.
I might actually read "The Company You Keep." I really enjoyed the film, especially Susan Sarandon's performance, though it unfortunately seems pretty DOA.
god, you can tell from what nat says about august: osage county that he has already decided to be disappointed with the movie version. sad. there is no way this movie can match the play. just not possible. you have to judge it within its realm. julia will never portray barbara as well as amy morton. meryl will never portray violet the same way as deanna. just not possible. just write your review now and get it over with.
1. Weird you don't think Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have any sort of shot in original screenplay. They've been building for nine years now, and I'd see them as a FAR safer bet than Gravity, a movie that, supposedly, eschews dialogue for VERY long stretches, Fruitvale Station, which doesn't sound like it has the strong structuring of something like The Kids Are All Right and the one trick pony that Neil Blomkamp seems like.
2. Inside Llewyn Davis is adapted (The Mayor of MacDougal Street by Dave Van Ronk).
I would read August: Osage County, but I don't really want to be spoiled for the film.
I've been meaning to read Serena, heard great things about it!
I've only read Serena and it's pretty amazing. Lawrence and Cooper are perfec for their roles, but everyone else involved with the movie is totally wrong so I expect this to be nothing more than a complete disaster people forget about two weeks after the Toronto premiere.
volvagia -- a comedy with a gang of actors playing themselves is not really the kind of thing Oscar takes seriously. Even if it's very funny / good it's just not that kind of movie.
mcv -- i haven't decided to be disappointed with anything. I will go in hopeful. But i am only human so i naturally go into everything with some degree of opinions about people's previous work and the source material (if i know it... which I do here). i thought Company Man was just dullhorriblemediocrity so it would be weird to just assume that John Wells was a genius, right? And it would also be super strange not to have an opinion about how it might translate as a movie since i know the play, right? I guess i never understand these arguments that you should go into movies having no opinions about anything beforehand. That would be inhuman actually ;)
I voted for The Spectacular Now because, as a YA librarian, I feel obligated to vote for the YA book (Although it is actually quite good and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2008). Also a big fan of Serena which is by a local author who is a huge deal in my area...Under the Skin is the one I haven't read that intrigues me the most. I can't wait for that film and the plot of the book sounds fascinating.
I loved reading Labor Day--the novel. Couldn't put it down. Didn't really care for the script. :(
Books! Too many books! I can't finish Much Ado because there are too many characters and Doris Lessing keeps distracting me. I also bought August Osage County, which is killer.
I voted Spectacular Now because it's coming out before the other ones, and that Laour Day and Monuments Men seem to be out of print in this wilderness.
You know, after seeing The Great Gatsby the other week, I was pretty lukewarm on the movie but TOTALLY had a desire to reread the book. The last time I read it was sophomore year of high school, so if Baz was at all successful with the movie, at least it was in reminding me that I'm way overdue for a reread at some point in the near future!
Gatsby aside, I really would like to get to August: Osage County sometime soon =)
Nat: I don't see the "playing himself" thing, AT ALL. Simon Pegg is a comedic ACTOR, and each time (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End) it's a markedly different character, none of which necessarily strike me as "Pegg playing himself." Shaun of the Dead: A bit of a slacker but a good guy at heart who isn't really built for the zombie apocalypse. Hot Fuzz: The picture of staid hypercompetence who gets thrust into a plot that's equal parts slasher, British social comedy and action flick and changes over the course of it. The World's End: As far as we can tell from the teaser trailer, this time he's the ultimate obsessed pub rat that wants EVERYONE to be as hammered as he is who MIGHT also be diving far into a petty derangement over the course of the film due to having to deal with an Invasion of the Body Snatchers riff.
To put it another way:
Shaun reacting to a friend ordering a tap water: Okay. I've already ordered the first round, but I'll take the extra.
Nicholas reacting to a friend ordering a tap water: I understand. You have work in the morning, after all.
Gary reacting to a friend ordering a tap water (this one's in The World's End's trailer): WHAT!?
Unless you're actually confusing it with "This is the End." Unless the reviews paint it as something different than the trailer, don't ANYONE pay good money to see This is the End. The trailer made it look like a bunch of actors getting together to lazily roast their public perceptions. Oh, and gratutious product placement.
Funny, but seeing Gatsby didn't make me want to read the book again, after decades, since the narration made me pretty much feel as if I'd just reread it.
I don't often read books before seeing the movie versions, but I'll probably make an exception for The Monuments Men, as I read A LOT of World War ii stuff.
I read The Spectacular Now and thought it was a very easy read. Almost pleasant, which is probably far "better" for summerish reading. I was a little surprised that the hero was an unapologetic drunk teenager and didn't die of it in the end. That's progress of some kind, right? ;-)
volvagia -- oh i was confusing it with This is the End -- my bad -- but either way these aren't "oscar" films