Random Authors Who Loathed Movie Adaptations of Their Books (15 items)

• 

  (#1) P. L. Travers

  • Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins and the House Next Door, Mary Poppins In Cherry Tree Lane, Mary Poppins In the Kitchen: A Cookery Book with a Story, Mary Poppins in the Park, Mary Poppins From A to Z, Mary Poppins Opens the Door, Mary Poppins: Three Enchanting Classics: Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Comes Back, and Mary Poppins Opens the Door, I go by sea, I go by land, Mr. Wigg's birthday party, Friend Monkey, Two pairs of shoes, The gingerbread shop, What the Bee Knows, The fox at the manger, The magic compass, Moscow excursion, About the Sleeping beauty, Maria Poppina ab A ad Z, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

  The Novel: Mary Poppins (original book published in 1934)

  The Film: Mary Poppins (1964)

  The famous feud regarding Mary Poppins was so juicy it was turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as PL Travers (Saving Mr. Banks). For 20 years, Travers was intent on not letting Disney get his hands on her work. Personal financial problems caused her to cave.

  During production, just about all of Travers's ideas were turned down. She hated that Poppins wasn't stricter, all the animation scenes, the music, and even the casting. Yes, she hated Julie Andrews. Disney was so scared of how much Travers despised the film she wasn't invited to the premiere. Despite this, she worked out an invite, and reportedly cried during most of the movie.

  In Her Own Words:

  “I cried when I saw it. I said ‘Oh God, what have they done’. I really hadn’t wanted Disney to do it – I don’t think he was the man. I had been with him in Hollywood, and he had made me certain definite promises as to about 20 items. And it seemed to me that these promises had not been kept."
• 

  (#2) J. D. Salinger

  • The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, For Esmé—with Love and Squalor, The Varioni Brothers, Last Day of the Last Furlough, Hapworth 16, 1924, The Stranger, The Young Folks, Seymour: An Introduction, A Boy in France, The Heart of a Broken Story, Soft-Boiled Sergeant, I'm Crazy, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All, The Hang of It, Teddy, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls, Once a Week Won't Kill You, De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period, Elaine, Both Parties Concerned, Blue Melody, Personal Notes of an Infantryman, The Long Debut of Lois Taggett, Just Before the War with the Eskimos, Down at the Dinghy, The Laughing Man, Go See Eddie, This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise, Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes, The Inverted Forest, Slight Rebellion off Madison

  The Short Story: Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (1948)

  The Film: My Foolish Heart (1949)

  There have been plenty of Catcher in the Rye-esque coming of age films made over the years. Ever wonder why there was never a direct adaptation of Salinger's classic? Blame the adaptation of his short story Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (called My Foolish Heart).

  My Foolish Heart was the only film adaptation of the reclusive author's work. The writing team at MGM turned Salinger's sullen story, which aims to indict middle class society, into a sappy love story with a pat, happy ending. Salinger was so dismayed by what the studio did to his story, he vowed to never sell the rights to any of his works ever again.

  In His Own Words:

  Salinger said he was "humiliated" and "appalled" by what MGM did to Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut. That the film did well at the box office and received two Academy Award nominations infuriated him even more. When asked about selling the movie rights to Catcher in the Rye, Salinger responded, "No, no, no. I had a bad experience in Hollywood once."
• 

  (#3) Stephen King

  • Needful Things, The Stand, The Shining, It, Carrie, Dolores Claiborne, Pet Sematary, The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Misery, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Cujo, Under the Dome: Part 1, 'Salem's Lot, The Green Mile, Christine, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, The Tommyknockers, Desperation, Night Shift, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: A Novel, The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, The Dark Half, Everything's Eventual, The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, The Talisman, Bag of Bones, The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Black House, Insomnia, The Regulators, Skeleton Crew, The Eyes of the Dragon, 11/22/63, The Dead Zone, The Running Man, The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole, Different Seasons, Cell, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, The Bachman Books, Danse Macabre, Rose Madder, Firestarter, From a Buick 8, Hearts in Atlantis, Duma Key, Gerald's Game, Thinner, Dreamcatcher, Four Past Midnight, Lisey's Story, Cycle of the Werewolf, The Colorado Kid, Blood and Smoke, Faithful, The Long Walk, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, Nightmares in the Sky, Blaze, Just After Sunset, Rage, Secret Windows, Roadwork, Doctor Sleep, The Plant, Blockade Billy, Finders Keepers, Joyland, Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, Dark Visions, The Mist, Robert Bloch's Psychos, Secret Window, Secret Garden, That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French, Mr. Mercedes, Best of the Borderlands, The Seventh Shrine, The Body, Popsy und 25 weitere Geschichten nach Mitternacht, The Langoliers, Prime Evil, Stephen King Goes to the Movies, Guns, Riding the Bullet, Nouvelles, The Night Flier, Six Stories, The Monkey, Graveyard Shift, Creepshow, My Pretty Pony, Apt Pupil, The Secretary of Dreams, The Gingerbread Girl, The Library Policeman, Sometimes They Come Back, La tour sombre 3 - terres perdues, Le singe suivi de le chenal, The Stephen King Collection, Feast of Fear: Conversations With Stephen King, Coffey's Hands, Das Mädchen. 7 Cassetten, 13 histoires diaboliques, Campeones mundiales al fin!, Der Talisman. Roman, Weird Tales 298 Fall 1990, Briefe aus Jerusalem. 2 Cassetten, Fall from Innocence, Las Cuatro Estaciones/ Different Seasons, El Ciclo Del Hombre Lobo / Cycle of the Werewolf, Developing new brands, Juego de Gerald, El, Cujo. Sonderausgabe, Pesadillas y Alucinaciones II, Modern Classics Collection Deluxe Edition, How useful is proposition testing?, Dolores. Der Roman zum Film, PT2 Skeleten Crew, Katzenauge. Erzählungen vom Meister des Horrors, The British meal, The Aftermath, Otono E Invierno II - Las Cuatro Estaciones, Blut Im Morgengrauen, Niebla, La, Minuit 4, Cuerpo, El, Bare bones, The Body 6 Hours), Reves et cauchemars - 2, El Gran Libro del Terror, Schlaflos. Insomnia, De vervloeking, Ten years all in, LA Tormenta Del Siglo/Storm of the Century, Lord John Signatures, Tomorrows Food, CA3, Desp/reg Can Combo 2, A Face in the Crowd, Der Gesang der Toten. Unheimliche Geschichten, Cagri, Stephen King Anthology, Kusku mevsimi, Eljego De Gerald, Horror 2, Are you ready for a BS 7799 audit?, Cell Dumpbin, Frühling, Sommer, Herbst und Tod. Vier Kurzromane, Kudzho, Ölüm hücresindeki fare, Sword in the Darkness, OP Tommyknockers, El-Lepsplandor, El Cuerpo/Different Seasons, Carrie and The Tommyknockers, Alpträume. Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Cancion De Susannah / Song of Susannah, CA2, The Shining Cork Special Edn, Desperation 48cc Woolworth's Bin, 999 - Livre du MIllenaire des Maitres du Fantastiques, Tot. Der dunkle Turm 3, Les Tommyknockers, Feuerkind / Cujo. Zwei King- Klassiker in einem Band, LA Danza De LA Muerte/the Stand, The Giant Book of Horror Stories, Le Fléau, tome 1, La zona muerta / The Dead Zone, Coffey yesil yolda, Minuit 2/Four Past Midnight, Trucks. Erzählungen vom ßMeister des Horrorsß, King Stephen 10cc Pack 1 X22 1, Steven King Display, Tormenta del Siglo, La, Iki ölü kiz, Lobos Del Calla I, Ölümün en kötüsü, Dump-Dark Tower 6 Song of Susan-12cy, One Past Midnight, Another Quarter Mile, Der Werwolf von Tarker Mills. Kalendergeschichten, La Zone Morta, Apocalipsis / The Stand, Pasillo de La Muerte, El - La Hora Final de, Coffey'nin elleri, Mitad Siniestra, La, Bag of Bones 18 Copy Bin, Stories from Nightshift, La Expedicion, Cuatros Estaciones, Las, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, Revival, Full Dark, No Stars, Under the Weather, Tommyknockers, The Boogeyman, The Man in the Black Suit, Under the Dome: Part 2, The Road Virus Heads North, Transgressions: Volume Two, The Last Rung on the Ladder, Paranoid: A Chant, I Know What You Need, All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, For Owen, The Woman in the Room, The Dark Man, Lunch at the Gotham Café, Autopsy Room Four, Rainy Season, Nona, The Reach, Battleground, Willa, The Wedding Gig, The House on Maple Street, The Lawnmower Man, The Slow Mutants, The Little Sisters of Eluria, Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game, Morality, Everything's Eventual, In the Deathroom, The Reploids, Graduation Afternoon, Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, The Ten O'Clock People, Throttle, Sneakers, Here There Be Tygers, The Mangler, The Beggar and the Diamond, The Breathing Method, Luckey Quarter, Brooklyn August, Word Processor of the Gods, The Reaper's Image, Dedication, The Doctor's Case, Popsy, Mile 81, Ur, Head Down, The Jaunt, In the Tall Grass, Survivor Type, Never Look Behind You, N., The End of the Whole Mess, The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, Cain Rose Up, Morning Deliveries, Slade, Dolan's Cadillac, Children of the Corn, You Know They Got a Hell of a Band, Memory, The New Lieutenant's Rap, It Grows on You, Chattery Teeth, The Blue Air Compressor, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates, The Crate, The Things They Left Behind, Night Surf, Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling, Weeds, The Gunslinger and the Dark Man, The Way Station, Umney's Last Case, Home Delivery, The Gunslinger, The Man Who Loved Flowers, I Am the Doorway, Gray Matter, Beachworld, Suffer the Little Children, The Cat from Hell, The Death of Jack Hamilton, 1408, Strawberry Spring, Quitters, Inc., Stationary Bike, Jerusalem's Lot, Trucks, Uncle Otto's Truck, Ayana, One for the Road, The General, Gramma, The Raft, Crouch End, The House on Value Street, The Oracle and the Mountains, The Ledge, The Fifth Quarter, L. T.'s Theory of Pets, The Moving Finger, The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Sorry, Right Number

  The Novel: The Shining (1977)

  The Film: The Shining (1980)

  Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining. However, it could have been a case of sour grapes, because Kubrick rejected the screenplay King wrote for the movie, which was much truer to the book. The film initially did not perform well.  However, time has been good to The Shining, which is often cited as one of the best horror films ever made. Even still, King has failed to warm up to the film over time.

  In His Own Words:

  "The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice. In the book, there's an actual arc, where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he's crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene.

  I had to keep my mouth shut at the time. It was a screening, and Nicholson was there. But I'm thinking to myself the minute he's on the screen, 'Oh, I know this guy. I've seen him in five motorcycle movies, where Jack Nicholson played the same part.' And it's so misogynistic. I mean, Wendy Torrance is just presented as this sort of screaming dishrag. But that's just me, that's the way I am."
• 

  (#4) Bret Easton Ellis

  • American Psycho, Less Than Zero, Glamorama, The Rules of Attraction, Lunar Park, Imperial Bedrooms, The Informers, Zombies, Confidentes, Los, Las Leyes de La Atraccion, First Look at Macintosh and System Seven

  The Novel: American Psycho (1991)

  The Film: American Psycho (2000)

  Bret Easton Ellis didn't think adapting his story about a Wall Street guru by day, serial killer at night was possible. One of his arguments was in part  rooted in the book's ambiguity - readers don't really know for sure whether Patrick Bateman is a deranged murderer or just totally delusional (Although one could easily argue the same ambiguity exists in the film).

  Ellis also doesn't think the movie should have been made by a woman (directed by Mary Harron), because he feels the medium of film "requires the male gaze." Additionally, Ellis believes women do not respond to films the same way men do because of "how they're built." There have been a few adaptations of Ellis's work, and the only one he likes is Rules of Attraction.

  In His Own Words:

  I don’t know if it really works as a film. It’s trying to take something that’s not answerable and answering it in a medium that demands answers, which is film. By the very nature of the medium, it demands that you make choices. Where a novel can be unresolved, an unreliable narrator, it doesn’t matter. I think Mary a little bit was trying to have it both ways and kind of left it with an odd sense of displacement that wasn’t particularly satisfying. That you can get away with in a novel. In a movie, especially a movie like that, a fairly mainstream movie, it’s odd.
• 

  (#5) Roald Dahl

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, The BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox, Danny, the Champion of the World, The Twits, Boy, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Country Stories of Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories, Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety, The Enormous Crocodile, Matilda, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Revolting Rhymes, The Gremlins, Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen, My Year, Esio Trot, Memories with Food at Gipsy House, Roald Dahl: Collected Stories, Dirty Beasts, The Magic Finger, My Uncle Oswald, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, The Vicar of Nibbleswicke, The Minpins, Someone Like You, The Roald Dahl Treasury, Rhyme Stew, Kiss Kiss, Two Fables, More Tales of the Unexpected, Terrible Tricks with Other, Tales of the Unexpected, Going Solo, Switch Bitch, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Skin and Other Stories, The Mildenhall Treasure, The Roald Dahl Omnibus, Twenty-Nine Kisses from Roald Dahl, Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying, Vile Verses, Great Mouse Plot, The Great Automatic Grammatizator, A taste of the unexpected, The Book of Children's Classics, My Own Book of Animal Stories, Die Kunst des Mordens. Exquisite Kriminalgeschichten, Das Wundermittel. ( Ab 6 J.)., Sophiechen und der Riese. ( Ab 8 J.)., L'Enfant qui parlait aux animaux, La Jirafa, El Pelmcano y El Mono (Serie Morada), La princesse et le braconnier, Hexen hexen. ( Ab 10 J.)., Le Trésor de Mildenhall, Agu Trot, Les Nouvelles Recettes irrésistibles de Roald Dahl, Unglaubliche Ferien. Das große Roald- Dahl- Lesebuch, Boy / Going Solo, The Princess and the Poacher, Danny, O Campion Do Mundo, Kubchen Kubchen 11 Ungewohnliche Geschichten, Gran Gigante Bonachon / The Bgf, La Democracia y Sus Criticos, James und der Riesenpfirsch, Die Prinzessin und der Wilderer. Vier Geschichten, Les Minuscules, El Jardin de Yosi / Josi's Garden, Der krumme Hund. Eine lange Geschichte, Puchero de Rimas, Matilda Audio, Im Alleingang. Meine Erlebnisse in der Fremde, Kuschelmuschel. Vier erotische Überraschungen, Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, Agu Trot Esio Trot, The Best of Roald Dahl, The Honeys, Mein Freund Claud. Erzählungen, Tel est pris qui croyait prendre, Los Minpins, Dedo Magico/Magic Finger, Os pestes, Beastly Balloons, A Roald Dahl selection, More Roald Dahl tales of the unexpected, Taste & Other Tales, Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory, SONGS AND VERSE, Wonder/henry Sugar, Mauvaises intentions, Twits CD, A Second Selection, ... steigen aus... maschine brennt... 10 Fliegergeschichten, Bizzare! Bizarre!, Mi Tio Oswald, Histoires de fantômes, nouvelle édition, Relatos Escalofriantes, Edward the Conqueror and Other Stories, Els culdolla, Three Favourite Stories, Under this Roof, Ych a Fi, The Puffin Roald Dahl Collection, The Dahl Diary 1992, Que Asco De Bichos!/Dirty Beasts, Fiendish Faces, Selected stories of Roald Dahl, Matilda. Sonderausgabe. ( Ab 8 J.), Le Doigt Magique, A Marabillosa Medicina De George, Boxed-Roald Dahl-4 Vol, Three More from Roald dDhl, Las Brujas / The Witches, Ffi Ffai Ffiaidd, Der Zonberfinger, Le Doiat Magique, Der Fantastiche Mr Fox, Los Mejores Relatos de Roald Dahl, LA Venganza Es Mia, S. A./Vengeance Is Mine, Emotional Learning, Un conte peut en cacher un autre, El Gran Cambiazo, Vengeance is Mine Inc., The Last Act, Measles, a Dangerous Illness, Taste, Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, Bitch, Beware of the Dog, Pig, The Hitch-Hiker, An African Story, The Great Automatic Grammatizator, The Visitor, Parson's Pleasure, Lamb to the Slaughter, Royal Jelly, The Way Up to Heaven, Georgy Porgy, Galloping Foxley, Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story, Neck, Nunc Dimittis, Edward the Conqueror, Dip in the Pool, William and Mary, The Great Switcheroo, Poison, Man from the South, The Landlady, Mr. Botibol

  The Novel: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)

  The Film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

  Roald Dahl didn't particularly care for any of the film adaptations of his books (Matilda, James the Giant Peach.) His biggest issue with the adaptation of his most famous novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, can be found right there in the disparity of the movie adaptation title. Dahl felt his novel concentrated on Charlie's story, while the movie paid too much attention to the sinister yet somehow delightful Willy Wonka. Dahl also didn't care for Mel Stuart's direction or Gene Wilder's performance; he wanted comedian Spike Milligan for the titular role. 

  In His Own Words (Sort Of):

  Liz Attenborough, a trustee of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire, said of the author, "He thought it placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie. For him the book was about Charlie."
• 

  (#6) Clive Cussler

  • Raise the Titanic, Sahara Romanzo, Trojan Odyssey, Treasure, Golden Buddha, Arctic Drift, Skeleton Coast, Valhalla Rising, Inca Gold, Sacred Stone, Black Wind, Dark Watch, Atlantis Found, Vixen 03, Treasure of Khan, Shock Wave, White Death, Iceberg, Blue Gold, Fire Ice, Flood Tide, Cyclops, The Mediterranean Caper, Plague Ship, Dragon, Pacific Vortex!, Night Probe!, Lost City, The Thief, The Tombs, The Kingdom, The Silent Sea, The Navigator, Deep Six, Serpent, Polar Shift, Corsair, The Spy, The Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks, The Jungle, Poseidon's Arrow, The Storm, The Race, Das Todeswrack, Flammendes Eis, Akte Atlantis, Muerta Blanca, Hebt die Titanic. Roman, Im Zeichen der Wikinger, The Sea Hunters II, The Chase, Devil's Gate, The Eye of Heaven, Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt revealed, Two complete novels, Clive Cussler: Two Novels, The Mayan Secrets, Ghost Ship, Zero Hour, The EXP Navigator, The Striker: An Isaac Bell Adventure, The Bootlegger, Chasseurs d'épaves, Mirage, ORO AZUL, El Imperio Del Agua, L'incroyable secret, Schockwelle, La ciudad perdida, L'or des Incas, Pánico en la Casa Blanca, El Tesoro De Alejandria / Treasure, Exploracion Nocturna/Night Probe, Das Alexandria - Komplott. Roman, Dirk Pitt Car Collection, The adventures of Vin Fiz, Um Haaresbreite. Roman, Rescaten el Titanic / Raise the Titanic, Im Todesnebel. Roman, Höllenflut, La Odisea De Troya/ the Odyssey of Troya, Operation Sahara, Cyclops X, Cyclops Unabridged, La Cueva De Los Vikings, Die Ajima- Verschwörung, BUDA DE ORO, EL, DEEP 6 X, The Numa Files 2, Cyclop. Roman, UC Lost City Disc. Unabr. Cass, Cueva De Los Vikingos, La, Onde de choc, Incursion Nocturna, The Wrecker

  The Novel: Sahara (1992)

  The Film: Sahara (2005)

  There's a reason novelists aren't typically involved in adapting their own work. Movies have to cut away a lot of parts in a novel, which can be a painful process for authors. The industrialist/wannabe producer who funded Sahara gave Clive Cussler tremendous creative control over everything from casting to approval of director and supervision over the script (which ended up having ten authors). 

  In the end, things got ugly. Cussler was upset he didn't have final say on the screenplay, and he bad-mouthed the movie before it opened. Sahara, starring Matthew McConaughey and Penélope Cruz, was a box office disaster. Cussler sued Crusader Entertainment for not giving him full authority regarding the script, then Crusader counter sued for him publicly sabotaging the movie. 

  In His Own Words:

  "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me...and I just got fed up with it."
• 

  (#7) E. B. White

  • Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Elements of Style, Essays of E. B. White, The Trumpet of the Swan, Letters of E. B. White, Here Is New York, Sti͡uart Litl, Boxed Set: includes, Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do, One Man's Meat, Farewell to Model T and From Sea to Shining Sea, Quo Vadimus or the Case for the Bicycle (Essay index reprint series), Writings from The New Yorker 1927-1976, Le sexe pour quoi faire ?, La Tienda Hinchable / Unstable Store, Subtreasury of American Humor, The lady is cold, Petit Stuart, Pearls from My Oyster, E.B. White reader, Kleine Stuart, Alice through the cellophane, The wild flag, Shārotto no okurimono, Three Books for Children by E.B. White, E. B. White, 3 Vol, The second tree from the corner, No ordinary mouse, Notes on our times, Wilbur's Adventure, The fox of Peapack, and other poems, E B White Treasury Boxed Set, Once More to the Lake

  The Novel: Charlotte's Web (1952)

  The Film: Charlotte's Web (1973)

  EB White's story about a lovable pig named Wilbur and his friendship with Charlotte the spider is the best-selling children's paperback of all time. When White agreed to sell the rights to his novel to Hanna-Barbera, he asked that the film not be turned into a musical. White's request was denied.

  In His Own Words:

  "The movie of Charlotte's Web is about what I expected it to be. The story is interrupted every few minutes so that somebody can sing a jolly song. I don't care much for jolly songs. The Blue Hill Fair, which I tried to report faithfully in the book, has become a Disney World, with 76 trombones. But that's what you get for getting embroiled in Hollywood."
• 

  (#8) Anthony Burgess

  • A Clockwork Orange, Inside Mr. Enderby, Joysprick, Homage to Qwert Yuiop, Little Wilson and Big God, Being the First Part of the Confessions of Anthony Burgess, 1985, The Wanting Seed, The Kingdom of the Wicked, Earthly Powers, Man of Nazareth, A Dead Man in Deptford, Abba Abba, Enderby Outside, Language Made Plain, A Mouthful of Air, Any Old Iron, The Pianoplayers, Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel, Mozart and the Wolf Gang, Shakespeare, A free reference library for Northampton, The Swilly and the Wee Donegal, Beds in the East, The Enemy in the Blanket, The Right to an Answer, One Hand Clapping, M/F, Time for a Tiger, The Doctor Is Sick, Devil of a State, Beard's Roman Women, You've Had Your Time: Being the Second Part of the Confessions of Anthony Burgess, The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End, Enderby's Dark Lady, or No End to Enderby, New York, Napoleon Symphony, A Vision of Battlements, The Worm and the Ring, Honey for the Bears, The Eve of St. Venus, Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love Life, Byrne: A Novel, Oberon Old and New, One Man's Chorus: The Uncollected Writings, The End of the World News: An Entertainment, The Devil's Mode (Stories), The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy, Enderby, A Long Trip to Teatime, This Man and Music, Ninety-nine Novels, Blooms of Dublin, On Mozart: A Paean for Wolfgang : Being a Celestial Colloquy, an Opera Libretto, a Film Script, a Schizophrenic Dialogue, a Bewildered Rumination, A, Publick affections, pressed in a sermon before the House of Commons assembled in Parliament, Urgent Copy: Literary Studies, Ernest Hemingway and His World, Offshore on the Southern, Les puissances des ténèbres, The Age of the Grand Tour, L' orange me canique, Railways in Ulster's Lakeland, Rom im Regen, Smoke Amidst the Drumlins, Revolutionary sonnets and other poems, The difficulty of, and encouragements to a reformation. A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at the publike fast, Septem. 27. 1643, Dernières nouvelles du monde, Hommage a qwert yuiop, Zavodnoĭ apelʹsin, Rencontre au Sommet, Chasing the Flying Snail, The Novel To-day, A Christmas Recipe, Flame into Being: The Life and Work of D.H. Lawrence, Conversations with Anthony Burgess, Re Joyce, Obscenity and the arts, Cyrano, Moses: A Narrative, Cyrano de Bergerac

  The Novel: A Clockwork Orange (1962)

  The Film: A Clockwork Orange (1971)

  Here's another dig at Stanley Kubrick. According to Anthony Burgess, Kubrick missed the entire point of his novel, which, as per Burgess, is about redemption. Burgess also took exception to Kubrick's use of graphic violence, and how the movie turned turned a group of rapists and murders into pop culture icons. 

  In His Own Words:

  "The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate: written a quarter of a century ago, a jeu d’esprit knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence. The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation."
• 

  (#9) Truman Capote

  • In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Other Voices, Other Rooms, Summer Crossing, The Dogs Bark, Music for Chameleons, A Christmas Memory, The Grass Harp, The Muses Are Heard, Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel, Otras Voces Otros Ambitos, A Capote reader, Crucero De Verano/summer Cruise, Bibliothek Suhrkamp, Bd.62, Die Grasharfe, A tree in the night and other stories, Petit déjeuner chez Tiffany, L'invite d'un jour, Local color, Children on Their Birthdays, Trilogy; an experiment in multimedia, One Christmas / Un Noel; The Thanksgiving Visitor / L'Invitee du Jour, Portraits et impressions de voyage, Un Placer Fugaz, Plegarias atendidas, Jug of silver, Un Arbol de La Noche, A house on the heights, House of Flowers, Wenn die Hunde bellen. Stories und Porträts, Luhova arfa, Duque En Sus Dominios y Otros Relatos, Un Noel, Holidays Remembered, Cercueils sur mesure, Sogukkanlilikla, I remember Grandpa, Three by Truman Capote, Una Navidad, Los Perros Ladran, Les domaines hantés, La harpe d'herbes, Die Grasharfe. Roman, Eine Weihnacht, Prieres exaucees, Ein Wunderschones Kind, Miriam, One Christmas, The Thanksgiving Visitor

  The Novella: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958)

  The Film: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

  Who doesn't love Audrey Hepburn? Apparently Truman Capote, at least in regards to the actress being cast as the titular Tiffany in the novella that prompted Normal Mailer to name Capote "the most perfect writer of my generation." Capote felt duped when Hepburn was cast as Holly Golightly; he wanted Marilyn Monroe. He also had an issue with the casting of George Peppard, simply because he wanted to play the romantic male lead himself, despite having no previous acting experience.

  In His Own Words:

  "Marilyn would have been absolutely marvelous in it. She wanted to play it too, to the extent that she worked up two whole scenes all by herself and did them for me. She was terrifically good, but Paramount double-crossed me and cast Audrey. Audrey is an old friend and one of my favorite people, but she was just wrong for the part."
• 

  (#10) Michael Ende

  • The Neverending Story, The mirror in the mirror, Jojo, Das Gefängnis der Freiheit, Das Traumfresserchen, Die Vollmondlegende, Jim Knopf. Window Color, Lirum Larum Willi Warum, Momo. Lehrerbegleitheft, Momo, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, The Night of Wishes, Die Zauberschule und andere Geschichten, Der lange Weg nach Santa Cruz, Die Geschichte von der Schüssel und vom Löffel, Das Gauklermächen, Die Zauberschule im Wünschelreich, Der Goggolori, Der Niemandsgarten, Der Teddy und die Tiere, Die Jagd nach dem Schlarg, Der Rattenfänger, Die Schattennähmaschine, Lenchens Geheimnis, Norbert Nackendick, oder, Das nackte Nashorn, Norberto Nucagorda, Michael Endes Zettelkasten. Skizzen und Notizen, Die Rupelschule, Filemon Faltenreich, Die Archäologie der Dunkelheit, Jim Knopf Und Lukdsder Lokomotiv, Die Spielverderber, oder, Das Erbe der Narren, Das kleine Lumpenkasperle, Ophelia's Shadow Theatre, Tragasuenos, Das Schnurpsenbuch, El Largo Camino Hacia St. Cruz, Das Michael Ende Lesebuch. (Ab 10 J.), Morno, El secreto de Lena, El Osito De Peluche Y Otros Animales, Momo/Momo, Tranquilla piepesante

  The Novel: The Neverending Story (1979)

  The Film: Neverending Story (1984)

  German author Michael Ende wrote the first screenplay for the adaptation of his fantasy novel. Like most Hollywood screenplays, it was subsequently rewritten by another writer. Ende hated the new script so much he unsuccessfully tried to buy back the film rights. When that didn't work, he had his name removed from the project, which he called a "revolting movie." Ende's main issue with the adaptation is... well, basically everything. He felt the film didn't understand the book at all, and was simply about money.

  In His Own Words:

  “I saw the final script five days before the premiere and only as a result of a judicial verdict in Munich. I was horrified. They had changed the whole sense of the story. Fantastica reappears with no creative force from Bastian. For me this was the essence of the book.”
• 

  (#11) Billy Hayes

  • Midnight Express

  The Novel: Midnight Express (1977)

  The Film: Midnight Express (1978)

  Midnight Express tells the true story of an American college student caught trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. Both the film and the autobiographical novel depict Hayes's terrifying years spent in a Turkish prison and his daring escape. Hayes's main issue with the adaptation, from a screenplay written by Oliver Stone, is how the movie depicts the Turkish people, who, according to Hayes, weren't all bad.

  Additionally, the ending of the movie differed greatly from the source material. In the film, Hayes kills a prison guard who was preparing to rape him. In actuality, Hayes broke out of prison, stole a dinghy, and rowed 17 miles from his island prison on the Sea of Marmara to the city of Bandirma. From there, he crossed into Greece.

  In His Own Words:

  "I wish they included the real ending. I sat with Oliver [Stone] in a room in the May Fair Hotel in London working on the script. Oliver was young and crazy. Totally crazy. There was a lot of weed, he snorted a ton of coke, was guzzling Bloody Marys. He wanted to see beneath the lines of the book. Oliver put it in the original draft of the script, the sea escape in the boat, but it never made it into the final draft."
• 

  (#12) Gore Vidal

  • Myra Breckinridge, The City and the Pillar, Creation, Lincoln, Palimpsest: A Memoir, Death in Fifth Position, Burr, 1876, Live from Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal, Three by Box, United States: Essays 1952-1992, Matters of Fact&fiction, Julian, Messiah, The Golden Age, Empire, The Smithsonian Institution, Hollywood, Washington, D.C., The Second American Revolution and Other Essays, Sex is politics, Death likes it hot, Berg and Vidal, La Mort en cinquième position, Muerte en la quinta posición, La mort l'aime chaud, Kalki, Duluth, At Home: Essays 1982-1988, Myron, Two Sisters, A Thirsty Evil, The Best Man, Inventing a Nation, Death Before Bedtime, Great American Families, Sonando La Guerra, En Directo del Golgota, Patria E Imperio, Juliano - El Apostata, Das ist nicht Amerika!, Clouds and Eclipses, En Busca del Rey, Gore Vidal: Sexually Speaking, Creacion, In a Yellow Wood, Dark Green, Bright Red, Verde Oscuro, Rojo Vivo/Dark Green, Bright Red, Dreaming War, Sexualmente Hablando, El Juicio de Paris, Institucion Smithsoniana, La, A Search for the King, La Invencion de una Nacion, Imperial America, View From the Diners Club, The Best TV Plays, Three by Vidal, La Ciudad y El Pilar de Sal, Season of Comfort, Pink Triangle and Yellow Star and Other Essays, An Evening With Richard Nixon and..., Weekend, A Visit To A Small Planet, Reflections Upon a Sinking Ship

  The Novel: Myra Breckinridge (1968)

  The Film: Myra Breckinridge (1970)

  Gore Vidal's worldwide best-selling, critically acclaimed satirical novel was extremely controversial for its time. The story concerns a young man named Byron Breckinridge (played by film critic Rex Reed) who undergoes a sex change and becomes Myra (Raquel Welch). Vidal hated the sexually charged film, and he wasn't alone. Despite a star-studded cast, it's often cited as one of the worst movies ever made.

  In His Own Words:

  "The second-worst movie I’ve ever seen."
• 

  (#13) Brian Garfield

  • Death Sentence, The Woman at Apache Wells, Peace Officer, Sisters, Sweeny's Honor, The thousand-mile war, Death Wish, Hopscotch, Recoil, The hit and The marksman, A déguster froid, The threepersons hunt, The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud, The vanquished, Ein Mann sieht rot, Kolchak's gold, Sliphammer, Vultures in the Sun, Bugle and Spur, The Villiers touch, The Romanov succession, Wild times, The last bridge, What of Terry Conniston?, The lawbringers, The Crime of My Life, Jode's Last Hunt, Scrimshaw

  The Novel: Death Wish (1972)

  The Film: Death Wish (1974)

  Who knew Death Wish was adapted from a novel? The uber-violent film that made Charles Bronson a household name spawned four sequels. However, writer Brain Garfield was upset with the adaptation, which he believes got the entire tone of his work wrong. In the book, grieving Paul, whose wife is murdered and daughter raped, doesn't start killing people until the end, so it's not an all out bloodbath like the movie. Rather, the film grapples with more weight existential questions. 

  In His Own Words:

  "The original Death Wish movie had enormous impact on people, but if you look at it as cinema, it’s woeful.”
• 

  (#14) Anne Rice

  • The Queen of the Damned, Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Armand, The Vampire Lestat, The Tale of the Body Thief, The Witching Hour, Vittorio the Vampire, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Memnoch the Devil, Blackwood Farm, Lasher, Blood Canticle, Servant of the Bones, Cry to Heaven, Belinda, The Feast of All Saints, The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned, Merrick, Taltos, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Violin, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, Of Love and Evil, Angel Time, Der Fürst der Finsternis. Roman., The Sleeping Beauty Novels, Memnoch der Teufel., L'Heure Des Sorcieres / The Hour of Sorcieres, Pandora, Nachtmahr. Ein Roman aus der Chronik der Vampire, Blood and Gold, Exit to Eden, The Wolf Gift, Interview with Anne Rice, Beauty's Release, Interview Mit Einem Vampir, Conversations with Anne Rice, Vampire Chronicles, Beauty's Punishment, Prince Lestat, Die Mayfair- Hexen., Tanz der Hexen., The Anne Rice Collection, Engel der Verdammten., Die Mumie oder Ramses der Verdammte. Roman., Les infortunes de la Belle au bois dormant, Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story, Untitled Audio #3 Anne Rice, The Wolves of Midwinter, El Ultimo De Los Taltos, Le violon, Gespräch mit dem Vampir, Novel 3, Liberacion de la Bella Durmiente, Un Grito Al Cielo - Bolsillo -, Der Konigin der Verdmmen / Queen of the Damned, El Castigo de La Bella Durmiente, Hacia El Eden - B -, Mayfair Witches, The Master of Rampling Gate, Hexenstunde, Pandora 16c.w/3aud+2lp Floor, La Liberacion de La Bella Durmiente, X12 Anne Rice Backlist Pack, El Rapto de La Bella Durmiente, Cities of the Sacred Unicorn, LA Horas De LA Brujas, O Servo Dos Ossos, Violín

  The Novel: Queen of the Damned (1988)

  The Film: Queen of the Damned (2002)

  More than one film has been adapted from the books of Anne Rice's long-running and globally popular Vampire Chronicles series. She liked the first adaption of her work, Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise as Lestat. However, she thought Hollywood "mutilated" Queen of the Damned, a story about Lestat (Stuart Townsend) becoming a rock star. The movie was a box office and critical disappointment.

  In Her Own Words:

  "I think everybody knows pretty much that Queen of the Damned killed the franchise in Hollywood, that it was not well received and its big mistake was that it did not respect the fanbase. It was not based on the books. It was a fiction created by the studio using the names, and there just is no market for that in today's world."
• 

  (#15) Elizabeth Wurtzel

  • Prozac Nation, More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction, The Secret of Life: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, The Bitch Rules, cal sanity, Radical Sanity

  The Novel: Prozac Nation (1994)

  The Film: Prozac Nation (2001)

  Elizabeth Wurtzel's autobiography details her experiences with major depression while she studying at Harvard. The memoir highlights the author's drug and alcohol abuse, self-mutilation, and deep gloom. Wurtzel was placed on Prozac following a suicide attempt.

  Despite a strong performance by Christina Ricci as Wurtzel, test audiences were unimpressed. Many felt Wurtzel as a film character came across as unsympathetic and narcissistic. Prozac Nation never received a national release in the US, and the author claimed she wept when she first saw the movie. Wurtzel thought Ricci's voice-over narration should have come verbatim from her book.

  In Her Own Words:

  ''As you should have figured out by now, it's a horrible movie. It's just awful. If they thought it was good, they'd have released it long ago.'' She added, "You could argue that I'm a terrible writer, but I'm the best version of me that there is.''

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