Have you ever read a book that so vividly came to life in your head that you would like to see it made into a movie?
Here's three from me:
The sirens of Titan....Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch....P.K. Dick
The stars my destination....Alfred Bester

We've been hearing hints that Metacritic will be introducing book reviews before too long and I would imagine that will include a place in these forums for book chat as well. When that day comes, burning man, we will have a lot to talk about.

A lot...

Oh, and the scene in William Gibson's Neuromancer when case takes the pay phone call from Wintermute in Istanbul is definitely a scene I would like to see realized on film.

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Book reviews finally? Oh thats awesome. I thought it was just an idea/thought. Do you have a date or so when this will actually be introduced?

About books into movies and adaptions. Whenever I read a book, I visualize it in my mind, so in one sense Im making a movie, I cant think of any book though where I thought well enough of it becoming a movie while I was reading it with actors ect.

Yeah, LinnTate. I forgot about "Neuromancer". Why hasn't this already been made into a movie?

I belive Neuromancer has been optioned several times over the years, but I've also seen speculation that the poor performance of Johnny Mnemonic has cooled interest considerably.

Give what a stinker the latter was and how much I love the novel, I think I'd just as soon keep Neuromancer locked in my head if that's the best we can hope for.

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Sure, "Johnny..." was a cautoinary tale, but given the lessons learnt, and the advances in technology, maybe one day humans will be advanced enough to make a go of it. Until then, we have the book.

Wasnt there originally supposed to be a Catcher in the Rye movie? I heard that it wasnt allowed to be released because of J.D. Salinger and his family wouldnt allow it. I think they need to wait ?50 years? after his death before it can be released.

Elijah, I told you to keep that in the down low. Whatever, now that you've said it I'll clarify it a bit.

Way back in the late 50's or early 60's it is rumored that a Catcher in the Rye movie was made by Paramount.

However, J.D. Salinger, the book's author never approved and the movie was not allowed to be released.

So now it's supposedly locked away in some vault at Paramount studios just waiting to be released. The way the whole copyright deal works is that if they cannot get the author's permission, they must wait until 50 years after their death until the movie can be released.

I believe that Salinger is now in his late 80's and will probably die soon. So, who knows, maybe when some of us are in are really old, the movie might be released. Remember, this is just rumor, so it might not even exist.

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Originally posted by burning man:
Sure, "Johnny..." was a cautoinary tale, but given the lessons learnt, and the advances in technology, maybe one day humans will be advanced enough to make a go of it. Until then, we have the book.

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My fear is the lessons have not been learned. While I don't completely buy jakal40's premise that special effects dominate good story-telling in the Science Fiction genre, I have to admit that my own favorite films in the genre are hardly new releases.

quote:

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Originally posted by kraftdeluxe:
Way back in the late 50's or early 60's it is rumored that a _Catcher in the Rye_ movie was made by Paramount.

However, J.D. Salinger, the book's author never approved and the movie was not allowed to be released.

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I've never heard such a rumor before, kd. It's a bit far-fetched, but given how strange everything else is surrounding Salinger's life, I guess that makes it all the more interesting.

Do you recall where you heard this?

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quote:

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Originally posted by LinnTate:
Do you recall where you heard this?

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Yeah, my 9th grade English teacher told me last year. I know that I can't just believe anything I hear, but he knows the book like the back of his hand and was a pretty trustworthy guy.

Your ninth grade English teacher, eh? I have to say, that's a better source than the web!

That being said, I tried about a half-dozen different Google searches and came up with nothing, which makes the rumor all the more interesting.

The only part I don't buy is the film being made without Salinger's approval. I can't see bankrolling a film with such an obvious landmine in its path. I would suspect that like so many rumors, there's a kernel of truth buried in there somewhere, though.

Fun stuff!

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Well, I just read under the Trivia for J.D. Salinger on IMDB that he was so angered by Hollywood's adaptation of his story "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" that he refused to sell movie rights of any of his stories from then on. They then say that it is rumored that in his last will and testament he has a stipulation that blocks any Hollywood adaptations of his work after he dies.

Now I'm not sure what to believe. Whatever, I doubt that any movie, no matter how good, could live up to the greatness of the book.