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Will Ferrell—Your Hero?

June 8, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Writing tagged as Abby Gaines, movies

Land of the Lost, the movie, not the TV show I used to watch way back when, opened on the weekend and reportedly bombed. In fact, it’s been called “the first bomb of summer.” Ouch. I’m partly to blame, I guess, as I didn’t go. But it’s on my list of “possibles” so if you saw it, let me know what you think.

However, if it’s any comfort to Will Ferrell, he did benefit financially from me over the weekend, because I rented the DVD of Stranger Than Fiction, a movie he did a couple of years ago with Emma Thompson. He must have made at least a penny in royalties off my rental fee…

Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS agent who starts to hear a voice narrating every action in his tedious life. Turns out he’s a character in a book being written by reclusive author Karen Eiffel (Thompson), though his figuring that out takes up a large part of the movie (the audience is clued in from the start). Bad news for Crick, he’s doomed to die at the end of the book, when he realizes that, it becomes a race against time to save his life just as it starts to get interesting.

I really enjoyed this movie, it was so different and quite unpredictable. And quite unexpected to see Ferrell as a romantic hero (in an unlikely romance with a baker played by the very cute Maggie Gyllenhaal), especially if you’re more used to his Talladega Nights-style of character. I must admit, Ferrell’s not the man I have in my head when I’m writing one of the romantic heroes in my books, but maybe I could rethink that…

Dustin Hoffman played a big part in the movie, too, and of course, he was recently paired up with Thompson in Last Chance Harvey, another movie I really enjoyed. I wonder if acting in Stranger Than Fiction together was what sparked their pairing in Last Chance Harvey?
So, did you see Land of the Lost? Love it, hate it? Got any other Will Ferrell recommendations?

Abby
www.abbygaines.com

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Is the book always better than the movie?

August 8, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as movies

Iâ€™m about to make a sweeping generalization…but I hope someone out there can prove me wrong.

Have you ever noticed that when you read a book and see the movie of the same story, the book is always better than the movie?

There are a couple of simple explanations… A book allows you to get into the characterâ€™s head better, because their thoughts are on the page. And when you look at how much shorter a screenplay is than a book, you realize the screenwriters have to lose a lot of material from the book in order to fit it into a movie.

But on the other hand… A movie can be so much more visual, and can bring a book to life in an almost tangible way. So why is the book always better? Or am I wrong about this?

There are some movies Iâ€™ve enjoyed without ever reading the original novel. Youâ€™ve Got Mail, based on the book The Shop Around The Corner. Heartburn, from the book of the same title. I canâ€™t comment on the book v. movie question there.

And I have to say, The Sound of Music (my favorite movie) was better than the book The Von Trapp Family Singers. But it doesnâ€™t really count, as the movie was only very loosely based on the book. It wasnâ€™t an adaptation of the book for the big screen.

Some great books have been transformed into terrible movies. The Bonfire of the Vanities (horribly miscast, IMHO). Captain Corelliâ€™s Mandolin. And my kids tell me they didnâ€™t enjoy the Eragon movie (they loved the book). Reportedly, The Other Boleyn Girl was a poor reflection of the book, but I havenâ€™t seen that one.

There have, of course, been some excellent adaptationsâ€”the Harry Potter movies, a couple of John Grisham stories, Stephen Kingâ€™s Miseryâ€”but I wouldnâ€™t say they were better than the original books.

I havenâ€™t read The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, nor read the book. Apparently they’re both great – I donâ€™t know which to do first. Any recommendations?

When I hear that a book I love is being made into a movie, Iâ€™m cast into nail-biting anticipation about how good the movie will end up. Can Sophie Kinsellaâ€™s Shopaholic heroine Becky Bloomwood be as brilliant on screen as she is in the books?

I wonder what the secret is to turning a great book into an even better movie…if thatâ€™s possible. Iâ€™ll bet Blake Snyder knowsâ€”heâ€™s a Hollywood screenwriter who gave a brilliant talk about story structure at the Romance Writers of America convention last weekend.

What do you think about the book v. movie question? Give me your recommendations for â€œa great movie from a book,â€ and Iâ€™ll go rent the DVD.
Abby

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