Darren Franich at popwatch.ew.com has a neat article about books he thinks are "unfilmable." On his list is Gerald's Game. That's interesting, because I was thinking recently that for all the talk lately about Stephen King adaptations, there has never been any talk about Gerald's Game (to my knowledge).
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In his article, titled "What books are in your opinion unfilmable", Franich writes: When I think of unfilmable books, my mind always goes to Gerald’s Game. It’s one of the few Stephen King books to never even come close to being adapted. The reason: The book takes place entirely in one room, with the lead female character handcuffed naked to a bed. It’s a thrilling, freaky read, and I guess you could argue that it’s not that much different from 127 Hours or Buried, but it’s hard to imagine any actress willingly signing up to be so exposed for the complete running time of a movie.
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The book does not really just take place in one room. There is a series of powerful flashbacks. But even they will leave you squirming -- because it deals with the subject of child abuse.
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Are there other books by King that are "unFilmable"? Well, I would suggest the Dark Tower is. But if anyone can do it, I think Ron Howard can! 1922 would also be iffy. Seems like it would be hard to bring such a dark book with a dark ending to screen -- but hey, I'll pay admission if someone will make the movie! It was a good story.
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There are some books that were adapted for screen that I still think were pretty much unfilmable. No, I won't name them. . . but you're welcome to.
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Some books have been declared unfilmable because of technology problems. For years that was the situation with The Mist. When it was filmed the results were awesome!
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It seems that more than a few books have been made better by the process of movie adaptation. After all, the story has to move through multiple layers of writers, directors and producers thinking over the details. This doesn't always insure anything at all, but sometimes it adds to the magic. This was the case with Tommyknockers, which I think is stronger on screen than in print. I also think Secret Window, Secret Garden was better as a movie. (Was there a secret Garden I missed in that story?
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I think the idea is that the actress will be performing against her own breasts, in the sense of trying to draw attention to her face and acting as compared to her breasts, which will more or less just be sitting there, looking at the audience.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the source for this comment, but I recall reading an interview or something with King in which he said he'd love, if he ever directed a movie again, to try his hand at directing "Gerald's Game." Probably not a great idea, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat novel probably is fairly close to being unfilmable, but if the right director, the right screenwriter, and the right actress -- who, I suspect, would be wearing clothes of some sort rather than being semi-nude as in the novel -- all got together at an inspired point in each of their careers...? Well, in that case, it could be done.
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