Book vs. Movie
Since many of us like movies almost as much as books (ok, some of you like them more), and we know that more and more movies are being based off of books — I’m happy to share this fun site with you today!
Books vs. Movie (run by Brynne) lets you know which movies (based on books) are coming out and when, if the movie was as good as the book or (gasp!) better, and gives advice on must see movies (girls night anyone?).
The movies I’m most looking forward to are: One for the Money (out January 29th), The Hobbit (December 2012), and Austenland (no set date). All three are based off of books I’ve loved, so I am excited to see how they create them on the big screen. The only one that will draw serious numbers is The Hobbit, but the hands it has been put in have proven to be trustworthy — the other two on this list will just be light and fun (and would be hard to ruin considering they don’t have high expectations behind them).
Movies I’m least looking forward to? Anna Karenina (I’m working my way through this right now, and in no way, shape, or form does Keira Knightley come close to what I’ve imagined Anna to look like… I have nothing against Keira, she just doesn’t fit the bill in my opinion. We shall see.), Les Miserables (they cast Taylor Swift in an important role — enough said), and The Great Gatsby (Really? Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be Gatsby? I guess if you have enough money and clout in Hollywood you get to do whatever you want. I’m wondering if F. Scott Fitzgerald is rolling over in his grave now or if he’s going to wait until December when the movie comes out.)
Lest you think I have something against important pieces of literature being made into movies, let me explain it this way: I think beautiful pieces of literature can be made into beautiful movies… but I also think beautiful pieces of literature can be ruined by celebrities (notice I didn’t say actors) taking on roles they have no business taking on, just so studios can use big names to try to pull money into a suffering industry.
She now steps of her soapbox and runs for the hills, while yelling the following question over her shoulder…
What about you? Which movies (based on books) are you looking forward to in 2012?
I’m intrigued by the idea of Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby! Bearing in mind that I still haven’t read the book. This year!
Also, Keira as Anna? That’s interesting… I don’t seem to get upset by film interpretations of literature. To me it feels like such a different medium, i’m just curious to see how the work is translated. I’m not sure if that says anything about me and books. Just that I like seeing the interpretations. 
I’m ok with books being turned into movies! Definitely.. love many of them. I just think it needs to be done with the thought in mind of how many readers have already created these characters for themselves while reading. It can ruin a movie if they cast without thinking about that (or thinking if the movie star actually fits the role they are casting for).
You don’t think Leo can play Gatsby? Maybe we have totally different ideas of what constitues a talented actor and he was amazing in J. Edgar so I wouldn’t put anything past him. Kiera is insanely talented, I haven’t read Anna though so it may be totally off base but she is so talented so I have no doubt she can do it. My question would more likely be how in the world are they going to make that monster book into 1 movie. Taylor in Les Mis is blasphemous on its head! I am also looking forward to One for the Money but I am a Janet Evonovich fan freak of nature and they have tried to get this movie made for YEARS so I will see it. The Hobbit…..OF COURSE 100% Have not read Austenland so cannot offer an opinion but am hopeful to read it before the movie.
I think Leonardo Dicaprio and Keira Knightley both have done good work (and still will), but when you take a role that is as famous as Jay Gatsby or Anna Karenina (characters that millions of people have already created in their heads) and put a mega-movie star in it, I tend to think it’s a bad decision to put mega movie star unless that person is incredible at shape shifting (which, in my opinion, neither of those actors are) so that we can see the fictional character past the celebrity who is playing it. I think Keira did a wonderful job as Lizzie Bennett, but I would argue that it is because it was before she was as famous as she is right now and therefore many people didn’t think of her as Kiera Knightley yet. On that note… they are putting several big movie stars (including Jude Law) in AK, so one can only imagine the draw they are trying to create. Agreed– how one movie? It won’t be able to be very close to the book if only one.
I really hope One for the Money does well so they’ll make another one! Apparently Evanovich gets nothing from this movie since she sold the rights so long ago and didn’t know the business yet.
Keira Knightley is playing Anna Karenina? She doesn’t even begin to look like how the character is described. At all. Way too willowy and fair.
I don’t think Di Caprio will be a bad Gatsby. He’s come a long way since his Titanic days.
I have mixed feelings about books being turned into movies. Usually they’re not nearly as good, though there are a few that really manage to succeed. I’m excited for The Hunger Games, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle actually watching it. It’s much easier for me to read about death than to watch it.
Exactly, I think they go for the name over the decision to cast someone who looks like the character! Sometimes its as though casting directors forget that authors have actually distinctly described characters and the readers have known them that was for years.
I don’t mind books being translated to movies, but I think one always has a better shot with a book that hasn’t been famous for almost (or more than) a century. Newer or smaller run books are usually better because not as many people are familiar with the characters, so the filmmakers can be creative and build on the concept (i.e. The Devil Wears Prada).
For some reason I usually end up seeing movies before I read the book. That’s backfired on me a couple times. I loved the Swedish version of “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” so much that it wrecked the book for me when I tried to read it after seeing the movie. I couldn’t finish it. It was the reverse for me with “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side”. Although I liked both movies a lot, I actually liked the books better afterwards.
I think Leonardo will make a very sexy, polished Gatsby. The pictures I’ve seen from the movie are great. I would have rooted for Kate Winslet over Keira Knightley for Anna Karenina but we’ll see how that turns out.
Oh no! That’s too bad (about Tattoo). I’ll go see a movie before reading the book if the book is something that I know I many never actually read.
I’ve seen the pictures too… I think it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio the way he looked at the Golden Globes, only with a shaved face.
Les Miserables sounds interesting (I’d gladly watch most things with Eddie Redmayne in it). Shall be interesting to see Sasha Baren Cohen in that- can he sing? Taylor Swift’s casting concerns me far less than Amanda Seyfried, who can’t act or sing in my opinion (and creeps me out), who is in the other major female role. At least Taylor can sing, but I would picture her more as Cosette.
Gatsby interests me more for Laz Burhman directing it- He always does an interesting twist to his movies, especially the retellings of known work. Leo – I can take him or leave him.
Right now I’m mostly interested in The Hobbit and The Hunger Games. I really need to see trailers before really getting interested in the films. Some times there is great casting, but the people adapting the books do horrible, horrible things (hello, Eragon).
I know, I think Les Miserables is going to be a mess. I’ll see it just to see how it turned out. (I like Eddie Redmayne as well… he’s the only one I get out of that cast).
Cannot wait for The Hobbit. It will be awesome, I’m sure. I’ll be re-reading that this year before I go see the movie!
I think Helena Bonham Carter might be perfect for Madame Thénardier, acting wise, but the others I’ll need a trailer to believe them for their roles. Seems hard for that to come out this year, if they are still casting
Thanks, Wallace, for adding another blog to my reader! Yikes. I have been unemployed for about 8 months and start work on Monday. I really need to figure out how I’m going to keep up with all the blogs I follow!
On the topic of movies: I usually will see a movie if it’s based on a book I have loved. Movies often disappoint in the way they portray what has been in my mind, but they also bring back to me the experience of reading that book, so it’s never that bad. Sometimes the glaring differences in the movie will make me squinch my eyes for a while in the theatre, almost as if it hurts my head. But I just love movies so much.
I am really looking forward to Austenland, as I loved that book as well, and I also was excited to learn that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is being made into a movie! That was a wonderful book.
I am hesitant to see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, because I loved that book so much. It just can’t be as good. But I will see it – maybe even today (if my daughter gets her way) – and I’ll let you know what I think.
Congrats! Hope to still see you, but am glad you’ve found work!
I agree– it’s really hard to see a movie that is about a book you love (usually you feel as if you have relationship with the characters and the story and you are having to see someone else’s relationship with them played out onscreen).
How exciting about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society! I loved that book – will be fun to see who they cast in it. I wonder when it’s coming out?
Kate Winslet is in the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and it’s directed by Kenneth Branaugh! It looks like a 2013 release. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/456198/The-Guernsey-Literary-and-Potato-Peel-Pie-Society/details
You’ll still see me around – and I can’t wait to sign up for A Moveable Feast readalong! I’m ready!
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Leo has grown a lot in my opinion and I can totally see him as Gatsby. Who would you have picked for that role?
I like Keira, but agree with others that she is pretty willowy for Anna. On the other hand, Anna, while beautiful and projecting strength, was really like a leaf being blown in the wind to me. She had the strength of character to want more from her life, but she didn’t really have the will to fight for it.
For Gatsby? No one. I don’t have anyone in mind… if money weren’t an issue (which it is… movies must bring people to the theater, especially now when there is so much trouble in that industry), I’d just audition new-comers and see who best embodied the role. I’d make it about finding someone who resembled Gatsby rather than making a Leonardo Dicaprio-fied version of an almost century old character. I’d possibly make Nick a bigger star if there needed to be one (since he’s mostly the narrator and they could do without always having him in the shot). That way they could have the name without having the movie be ABOUT that name. You don’t hear many people talking about the book when they refer to the new movie… you hear them talking about Leonardo DiCaprio’s The great Gatsby (that’s where I think the movie suffers). I like how they did things with The Help. The biggest stars were smaller parts (with the exception of Emma Stone, who was cast before she became as big as she is now).
What a terrific idea for a blog (I just subscribed!). I am most looking forward to Hunger Games and Anna Karenina. I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and liked how closely linked it was to the book – I actually liked the movie better than the book – which is unusual for me!
I’m looking forward to Leo’s Gatsby, but I am DREADING Tobey Maguire’s Nick. I think that is a horrible casting move. Nick has a darker side and I can’t take Tobey seriously after Spiderman.
Keira Knightly as Anna Karenina? What are they thinking?! I’m reading the book right now, too, and she’s just about the last person I’d cast. As a society woman of that time, I’d expect her to have some meat on her bones — and Anna’s described as being full-figured! I liked Knightly in Pride and Prejudice, but I can’t imagine her as Anna. In the world of actresses, I see Anna as more of a dark-haired Kate Winslet?
Also, how are they going to convert that hugely long book into a movie? Cut out the whole Levin storyline?
DiCaprio as Gatsby… I can kind of understand; I am imagining a 20s version of some of the Catch Me If You Can glamour.
Like some of the other commenters, Tobey Maguire as Nick? Really? Urgh. Could we not have someone with some serious movie credibility?
My uncle actually has a very small part (I think it’s credited, not sure) in Gatsby so I will definitely be going to see it in the cinema!
I’m looking forward to Anna Karenina. And I just checked the book out from the library so I can read it before watching the movie.
Book vs. Movie is a great blog! I’m so glad I know about it now!