Random Authors Who Loved the Movie Adaptations of Their Books (18 items)

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  (#14) Mystic River

  • Emmy Rossum, Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney, Eli Wallach, Marcia Gay Harden, Ari Graynor, Connor Paolo, Jonathan Togo, Tom Guiry, Spencer Treat Clark, Kevin Conway, John Doman, Will Lyman, Eric Bruno Borgman, Kevin Chapman, Lance Norris, Jenny O'Hara, Stephen O'Neil Martin, José Ramón Rosario, Scott Winters, Robert Wahlberg, Tom Kemp, Cayden Boyd, Ken Cheeseman, Shawn Fogarty, Ed O'Keefe, Lonnie Farmer, Bates Wilder, Cameron Bowen, Brett Murphy, Adam Nelson, Susan Willis, Douglass Bowen Flynn, Brian Van Kay, Frank Ridley, Sean Patrick Doherty, Jillian Wheeler, Ryan Patrick, Celine du Tertre, Celeste Oliva, Mackenzie Hawe, Bill Richards, J.T. Turner, Greg Stechman, Shawn Fitzgibbon, Paul Bronk, Mikey Kelley, Jason Kelly, John Pungitore, Gary Greenberg, Joe Stapleton, Andrew Mackin, Jerry Trupiano, Tori Davis, Jon Joyce, Mark O'Leary, Michael Peavey, Brian A. White, Jim Smith, Kris Williams, Richard DeAgazio, Charley Broderick, Patrick Shea, Duncan Putney, Bill Thorpe, Zabeth Russell, Matty Blake, T. Bruce Page, Adam LaFramboise, John Ferus, Miles Herter, Michael McGovern, Dave Zee Garison, Thomas Derrah, Stephen Kyle, Marc Vos, Dean H. Huh, James DeVoy, Loy Lee, Anthony Taurasi, Brian Frates

  When Dennis Lehane wrote Mystic River, he was attempting to marry pulpy plotting with a more literary writing style. Lehane was nervous that a movie adaptation would miss the point of his book and try to give the story a happy ending. Director Clint Eastwood convinced Lehane to sign over the rights by promising not to change Lehane's ending. In the short-term, Eastwood and Lehane paid the price. Warner Brothers only agreed to finance half the film's budget, forcing Eastwood to secure funding from Village Roadshow, and initial reviewers described the film's unhappy ending as "bleak chic." But Lehane was happy with the film, and it went on to receive six Academy Award nominations, winning two. 
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  (#15) Who Framed Roger Rabbit

  • Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd, Bob Hoskins, Mel Blanc, Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Joel Silver, Joanna Cassidy, Amy Irving, June Foray, David Lander, Russi Taylor, Charles Fleischer, Richard LeParmentier, Richard Ridings, Wayne Allwine, Mike Edmonds, Tony Anselmo, Lou Hirsch, Stubby Kaye, Alan Tilvern, Betsy Brantley, Edwin Craig, Lindsay Holiday, Paul Springer

  If a filmmaker who's adapting a book decides to completely change the original story, it can give the author a bruised ego. But for Gary Wolf, the author of the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? that became the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, seeing his story evolve wasn't a problem. According to Wolf, Disney changed practically everything in his story except for the premise and the main characters. But Wolf's top concern was whether the filmmakers could bring his story's unique world, which features cartoon characters living alongside humans, to life. Wolf said he "loved everything about" the film, and thought that director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg elevated his material to a higher level.
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  (#5) Fight Club

  • Brad Pitt, Jared Leto, Helena Bonham Carter, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Eion Bailey, Lauren Sánchez, David Lee Smith, Edward Kowalczyk, Holt McCallany, Zach Grenier, Bob Stephenson, Christina Cabot, David Andrews, Brian Tochi, Matt Winston, Ezra Buzzington, Carl Ciarfalio, Tim De Zarn, Jim Jenkins, Richmond Arquette, Philip Hawn, Leonard Termo, Thom Gossom Jr., Charlie Dell, David Jean Thomas, Paul Dillon, Michael Shamus Wiles, Stuart Blumberg, Marcio Rosario, Pat McNamara, Michael Arturo, Markus Redmond, Tommy Dallace, Rachel Singer, George Maguire, Robby Robinson, Paul Carafotes, Peter Iacangelo, Joel Bissonnette, Christopher John Fields, Scotch Ellis Loring, Eugenie Bondurant, Eddie Hargitay, Kevin Scott Mack, Mark Fite, Evan Mirand, Sydney 'Big Dawg' Colston, Bennie Moore, Chad Randau, Lou Beatty Jr., Matt Cinquanta, Joon B. Kim, Michael Girardin, Christie Cronenweth, Baron Jay, Hugh Peddy, Tyrone R. Livingston, Andi Carnick, Owen Masterson, Rob Lanza, Van Quattro, Trey Ore, Jawara, Gregory Silva, Valerie Bickford, Alekxia Valdez, J.T. Pontino, Dierdre Downing-Jackson, Anderson Bourell, Todd Peirce, Louis Ortiz

  Chuck Pahlaniuk is one of the rare authors who thinks the movie adaptation of his book is better than the original. According to Pahlaniuk, not only does the film of Fight Club streamline the book's plot, it also makes thematic connections that he himself missed. "There is a line about 'fathers setting up franchises with other families,' and I never thought about connecting that with the fact that Fight Club was being franchised and the movie made that connection," Pahlaniuk said. "I was just beating myself in the head for not having made that connection myself."
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  (#8) Crazy Rich Asians

  • Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Pang, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Jimmy O. Yang

  When production began on the movie adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians, the stakes were high because it was first-ever Hollywood studio romantic comedy with an all-Asian cast. But when author Kevin Kwan finally saw the final cut, he couldn't have been happier. "I was blown away," he said. "I sat there in a darkened room by myself and was just in absolute awe of what [director] Jon Chu achieved. It was amazing, and it's been this five-year-long adventure. It's been climbing Everest to get this movie made, in a good way. Because we really, really wanted to take our time and get it done right. We knew how important this was becoming so we wanted everything to fall into place perfectly."
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  (#3) Psycho

  • Alfred Hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam, John Gavin, Ted Knight, John McIntire, John Anderson, Lurene Tuttle, Simon Oakland, Jeanette Nolan, Frank Albertson, Pat Hitchcock, Virginia Gregg, Vaughn Taylor, Sam Flint, Mort Mills, Fred Scheiwiller, George Eldredge, Francis De Sales, Kit Carson, George Dockstader, Pat McCaffrie, Frank Killmond, Fletcher Allen, Paul Jasmin, Helen Wallace, Harper Flaherty, Lillian O'Malley, Lee Kass, Prudence Beers

  As Stephen King would tell you, having a legendary filmmaker adapt your novel doesn't necessarily mean you're going to like it. But author Robert Bloch was "delighted" with Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 adaptation of Psycho. He particularly appreciated how close the movie was to his book. "It was about 90% from my book...the characters, the setting, various devices, all came from the book, right down to the last line," he said. Hitchcock's two major changes were expanding on certain scenes from the book that Bloch hadn't described fully, and making Norman Bates younger. Bloch thought aging Bates down was an especially good idea, because he thought a middle-aged Bates would have been too obviously villainous.
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  (#4) Blade Runner

  • Harrison Ford, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Joanna Cassidy, James Hong, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, Morgan Paull, Monty Pyke, Kevin Thompson, John Edward Allen

  Blade Runner was Ridley Scott's 1982 adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novella Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? And although the movie only loosely follows the book's plot, Dick loved it. Dick hadn't even seen a full cut when he wrote a letter to producer Jeff Walker praising the film. “This indeed is not science fiction,” Dick wrote. “It is not fantasy; it is exactly what [star] Harrison [Ford] said: futurism. The impact of Blade Runner is simply going to be overwhelming, both on the public and on creative people - and, I believe, on science fiction as a field. [ ... ] Nothing we have done, individually or collectively, matches Blade Runner." 

  Dick viewed the Blade Runner movie as the culmination of his life's work, but he passed six months before the premiere. The film underperformed at the box office, but since then it's become one of the most highly regarded films ever made.

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