While I may not be able to come up with a full ten, I have to mention one movie that would be on my list of worst books-to-films: Dune, directed by David Lynch, based on the novel by Frank Herbert. This book was one that I loved to death…I mean, I LOVED this book, although not all of the sequels that followed were as good.I knew exactly what the planet looked like, what the characters looked like, what all the weird and wonderful things were that Herbert described. Lynch’s film took all of that and tossed it out the window. The casting choices were bizarre: Sting? Kyle MacLachlan? Come on, people! I was horrified, to say the least.
Aside from a few Philip K. Dick short stories that have been turned into some…let’s call them “interesting” movies, I think Hollywood doesn’t do sci-fi books particularly well. And I don’t know why. It’s all there, isn’t it? All the description of future worlds and such? And even in the sci-fi that we call “soft,” there is less futuristic stuff to screw up; yet they screw it up. Take Dick’s “We Can Remember it For You Wholesale” (which became Total Recall) or Asimov’s I, Robot (which is the classic among classics). How could Hollywood mess these up? It’s all on the page for them!
I know I sound like a total geek when I say this but…I could do a much better job! LOL!
Your (not so humble) Hollywood connection,
Leigh
