Thursday, 16 May 2013

Your very own book-film adaptation...

Today's the day! I don't know about you but I've been waiting for this day for a long time to come. It is the (UK) release of the new The Great Gatsby film!



Is anyone as excited about it as I am? Plans to go see it?
If it's anything like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet I'm expecting it to be fantastic! I think it has that perfect combination of an absolute classic storyline, a great director and a fantastic A list cast! Although I have a slight soft spot for Leonardo Di Caprio's acting and Carey Mulligan looks like she will carry the role of Daisy amazingly - I think Isla Fisher stands out for me as the character of Myrtle in all the posters.
I really hope it lives up to my expectations and becomes the film of the year!


The problem is, and I'm sure some if not a lot of you may agree, when you have such a great, strong book, it can almost always fall short when it is made into a film. I enjoy the films mostly but I can't help but sit there and think 'the book wasn't like that' or 'the book did this better'and I'll always always favour reading the book over watching the film. I do admit though, as of late there have been some pretty good film adaptations, would you agree? The Hunger Games serves as a great example. Although it wasn't quite what I imagined the character of Peeta to be, I thought the film as a whole was really quite true to the book and Jennifer Lawrence was really good. I'm looking forward to the next one!



So it got me thinking - if you could have any book, especially any YA book, made into a film which would you pick? And who would you cast as your characters? Everyone always has their own interpretations of what the characters would be/look like so who would be perfect to play yours?

3 comments:

  1. I have never read The Great Gatsby although I have to admit the film looks lush, this might be another case of me doing things the wrong way round and seeing the film before reading the book. I saw the first Harry Potter film without reading the book but then it did get me to read the next ones straight after. Also yesterday I watched Warm Bodies and I haven't read the book yet although I do have it in my tbr pile.
    As for books being made into films I am hopeful at some point The Selection series by Kiera Cass will be made as it has been turned down for a TV series but I would still like to see it on screen.

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  2. I've never read The Great Gatsby, so that's number one on my list after exams have finished.
    I would love for 'The Iron King' by Julie Kagawa to be made into a movie. That would be pretty amazing. Not sure about the cast, but someone quite boyish looking like Steven McQueen from TVD as Puck, and no idea who would be a good Ash. :)

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  3. I've read the Great Gatsby and I'm afraid to say it was completely lost on me. I think I need someone to sit me down and explain to me what it was about because I was left feeling extremely confused when I finished reading it (please don't hate me for saying that!)

    As for books that have been made into film - most of my favourite books have/are being made into films so I can't really add to that. Ender's Game looks promising and as I've only just started reading the book I can't really comment on it.

    My favourite books (Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit) have obviously been made into very successful films though I was left quite angry with parts of The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey (that's just my Tolkien geek side showing through)- the casting was perfect though and The Hunger Games was okay, it wasn't amazing. I hope they do a better job with the second film.



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