One of my favorite fiction books ever, Ballard’s “High Rise,” was recently released in the U.K. (any members here seen it?) Looks very promising from the collected trailers and posters that I’ve seen.
I wonder if anyone else has any positive or negative responses to books that got film adaptations, or the other way around (one of my great regrets in life is that I never picked up a copy of the NOVELIZATION of RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 that I saw in a mall bookstore when I was a kid).
On a mildly Ministry-related note, it’s also interesting A.I. was originally an adaptation of a short story by Brian Aldiss (“Super-Toys Last All Summer Long”), which was to be directed by Kubrick, but the project fell into Spielberg’s hands after Stanley’s death.
I wonder if anyone else has any positive or negative responses to books that got film adaptations, or the other way around (one of my great regrets in life is that I never picked up a copy of the NOVELIZATION of RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 that I saw in a mall bookstore when I was a kid).
Unless you just want a first edition, it’s on Amazon for $10. It was actually written by the guy that wrote the original First Blood novel.
On a mildly Ministry-related note, it’s also interesting A.I. was originally an adaptation of a short story by Brian Aldiss (“Super-Toys Last All Summer Long”), which was to be directed by Kubrick, but the project fell into Spielberg’s hands after Stanley’s death.
Stanley and Steven were actually collaborating on this project prior to Stanley’s death. Stanley had owned the property for years, but couldn’t quite crack the story he wanted to tell. (If you’ve read the short story, there isn’t much to work with) Stanley eventually became convinced that he didn’t have the proper emotional touch to pull it off. He spent a long time trying to convince Steven to direct it, while he would produce. Intimidated, Steven refused for a long time. Stanley would fax him notes on the project. Eventually, they started to seriously discuss the project. Then Stanley died.
After his death, Stanley’s producing partner Jan Harlan gave all his notebooks and concept drawings to Steven so that he could make the film.
Steven did his best to incorporate all the various (and sometimes incomplete) notes in the film. In one notebook, the was a brief mention of a band called Ministry. The story goes that Stanley heard a crew member listening to Ministry one day while filming Eyes Wide Shut. He thought that they sounded like what music would sound like in the future, so he thought they’d be a good fit for AI.
And yes, the ending of AI was conceived by Stanley and was detailed in his notebooks.
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I wonder if anyone else has any positive or negative responses to books that got film adaptations, or the other way around (one of my great regrets in life is that I never picked up a copy of the NOVELIZATION of RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 that I saw in a mall bookstore when I was a kid).
Unless you just want a first edition, it’s on Amazon for $10. It was actually written by the guy that wrote the original First Blood novel.[/reply]
Huh - I’ll be damned. Didn’t know the author had such a distinguished career, and the book seems to get strong reviews overall.
Stanley and Steven were actually collaborating on this project prior to Stanley’s death. Stanley had owned the property for years, but couldn’t quite crack the story he wanted to tell. (If you’ve read the short story, there isn’t much to work with) Stanley eventually became convinced that he didn’t have the proper emotional touch to pull it off. He spent a long time trying to convince Steven to direct it, while he would produce. Intimidated, Steven refused for a long time. Stanley would fax him notes on the project. Eventually, they started to seriously discuss the project. Then Stanley died.
After his death, Stanley’s producing partner Jan Harlan gave all his notebooks and concept drawings to Steven so that he could make the film.
Steven did his best to incorporate all the various (and sometimes incomplete) notes in the film. In one notebook, the was a brief mention of a band called Ministry. The story goes that Stanley heard a crew member listening to Ministry one day while filming Eyes Wide Shut. He thought that they sounded like what music would sound like in the future, so he thought they’d be a good fit for AI.
And yes, the ending of AI was conceived by Stanley and was detailed in his notebooks.
Sorry, geeked out for a minute there.
No need to apologize, I’m always interested to hear info about how large-scale creative projects like that unfold…and it’s a refreshing change from some of these forums I’ve been to where people start calling you “autistic” if you type more than two lines per post.
One of my favorite fiction books ever, Ballard’s “High Rise,” was recently released in the U.K. (any members here seen it?) Looks very promising from the collected trailers and posters that I’ve seen.
I wonder if anyone else has any positive or negative responses to books that got film adaptations, or the other way around (one of my great regrets in life is that I never picked up a copy of the NOVELIZATION of RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 that I saw in a mall bookstore when I was a kid).
High Rise looks great and got really good reviews. Weirdly it was made in quite a small Northern Ireland town not far from Belfast, in an old leisure centre of all places. Looks fantastic.
I read the Rambo book many, many years ago, it was really good. I read Rambo III as well, i used to be a big fan of novelisations of movies. There’s always a lot of stuff that didn’t make the final cut of the film that adds an extra bit of depth to it.
Believe it or not, yes, but Prongs will always be the [url https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron]Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport of forums. All the others are like Geo Metros in comparison.
High Rise looks great and got really good reviews. Weirdly it was made in quite a small Northern Ireland town not far from Belfast, in an old leisure centre of all places. Looks fantastic.
I read the Rambo book many, many years ago, it was really good. I read Rambo III as well, i used to be a big fan of novelisations of movies. There’s always a lot of stuff that didn’t make the final cut of the film that adds an extra bit of depth to it.
The only immediate red flag I see about ‘High Rise’ is that, in the movie, it looks like they give the tower block a name like ‘Elysium’ or something like this. In the book it’s never anything but ‘the high rise,’ and so it’s not as easy for you to develop this comfortable distance that it’s a work of fiction - there’s more of a ‘this could happen anywhere’ feeling I reckon.
This isn’t exactly a novelization, but I while ago I was reading William Gibson’s rejected script for “Alien 3” - quite an interesting glimpse at what could have been (and his is only one of a few different proposed screenplays, which run the gamut from clever to awful).
I rarely read books that turn into movies, but a few from the years . . .
In all these cases I read the book first, then watched the movie (or in most cases, the movie was made LATER).
Most of these films I’ve not seen in 25+ years, so it is possible that they’re not quite what I recall, but . . .
Clockwork Orange - Great book and movie
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Great book, good movie
Rising Sun - Great book, sorta lame movie
Jurassic Park - Great book, great movie
1984 - Decent book, boring movie
Farenheit 451 - Good book, shit movie
I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
I used to read a LOT of Ray Bradbury, and the short stories were always my favorite. There is one in particular (from “The Martian Chronicles”) which absolutely rips my guts out every time I watch it (you can pull it up on YouTube). It’s called “All Summer In A Day” and the film version was done by BBC. Whether or not you’ve read the story, the film, I think, does a great job of relaying the emotion.
The only immediate red flag I see about ‘High Rise’ is that, in the movie, it looks like they give the tower block a name like ‘Elysium’ or something like this. In the book it’s never anything but ‘the high rise,’ and so it’s not as easy for you to develop this comfortable distance that it’s a work of fiction - there’s more of a ‘this could happen anywhere’ feeling I reckon.
This isn’t exactly a novelization, but I while ago I was reading William Gibson’s rejected script for “Alien 3” - quite an interesting glimpse at what could have been (and his is only one of a few different proposed screenplays, which run the gamut from clever to awful).
I haven’t read High Rise, but it definitely sounds intriguing, the film has a good cast and looks beautiful, so i’ll be looking forward to seeing it.
I remember reading movie magazines in the late 80s that were tracking the looooooong-ass development of Alien 3, all the stuff about the wooden planet and the various ideas they had, the different directors and writers and delays and shit. The film was fine, nothing amazing and not total crap (unlike Alien: Resurrection, which was fucking awful), but it could have been so much more interesting.
I used to read a LOT of Ray Bradbury, and the short stories were always my favorite. There is one in particular (from “The Martian Chronicles”) which absolutely rips my guts out every time I watch it (you can pull it up on YouTube). It’s called “All Summer In A Day” and the film version was done by BBC. Whether or not you’ve read the story, the film, I think, does a great job of relaying the emotion.
If that story is the one I’m thinking of - the one in which the kids on the rainy planet lock the other kid in the closet, who then misses the only day of sunshine they experience in years - that was a bummer indeed. My elementary school English teacher once showed us a filmstrip (!) of that in class one day, I definitely identified with the story.
The story goes that Stanley heard a crew member listening to Ministry one day while filming Eyes Wide Shut. He thought that they sounded like what music would sound like in the future, so he thought they’d be a good fit for AI.
I always heard it as Kubrik heard Thieves shortly after it was released and loved what they did with the samples from FMJ. Didn’t know it was as late as Eyes Wide Shut. I also head/read Al wrote the lyrics while on the phone with kubrik.
The “Thieves” story is on IMDb, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. I never heard anything about Al on the phone with Kubrick. Think something that big would’ve made the book.
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I used to read a LOT of Ray Bradbury, and the short stories were always my favorite. There is one in particular (from “The Martian Chronicles”) which absolutely rips my guts out every time I watch it (you can pull it up on YouTube). It’s called “All Summer In A Day” and the film version was done by BBC. Whether or not you’ve read the story, the film, I think, does a great job of relaying the emotion.
If that story is the one I’m thinking of - the one in which the kids on the rainy planet lock the other kid in the closet, who then misses the only day of sunshine they experience in years - [/reply]
That is exactly the story. (This story was part of the curriculum when I taught 8th grade.) She lives on Mars (Maybe Venus- I don’t remember as I taught jr. high years ago) The little girl came from earth to colonize the planet and since they only get an hour of Sunshine roughly once a decade because of all the storms, she misses the sun. This girl can’t wait to get outside and play in it and for whatever reason she gets locked in the closet and her classmates forget about her due to the excitement of getting out in the sun. Sad sad story. I like an Awful lot of Ray Bradbury’s stories. Something wicked this way comes was such a great movie because Bradbury had a hand in writing the screenplay. Fahrenheit 451 he had NO hand in writing the screenplay. Which tells you why the movie was so shitty.
The other story (I don’t remember how good the film of it was, though I know I watched it) that absolutely crushes my soul is “THE DWARF”. I won’t ruin it for anyone that hasn’t read it, but . . . . yeah, give it a try.
I made my wife cry her eyes out just telling her ABOUT these stories.
I always heard it as Kubrik heard Thieves shortly after it was released and loved what they did with the samples from FMJ…
Yeah. Almost. A copy of TMIATTTT ended up on Kubrick’s desk in the early 90’s as it contained samples from Full Metal Jacket that had not been cleared for use. Kubrick liked the album so much he dropped all notions of suing for copyright infringement. And it was Kubrick who played Ministry during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut, not a staff member.
I was a Kubrick nerd during the 90’s.
Stephen King was also a big fan of TMIATTTT and listened to it “endlessly” while writing Needful Things. It was around the time he was doing bucketloads of cocaine.
The other story (I don’t remember how good the film of it was, though I know I watched it) that absolutely crushes my soul is “THE DWARF”. I won’t ruin it for anyone that hasn’t read it, but . . . . yeah, give it a try.