{"id":2852,"date":"2010-07-13T05:52:36","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T04:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2010-07-13T05:52:36","modified_gmt":"2010-07-13T04:52:36","slug":"best-worst-thriller-adaptations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/best-worst-thriller-adaptations\/","title":{"rendered":"Best & Worst Thriller Adaptations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lorenzo-carcaterra\"

The just completed Thrillerfest \u2014 think \u00a0Comic-Con for thriller authors and their fans \u2014 \u00a0 featured a lecture that caught my eye. Sleepers author Lorenzo Carcaterra chose the 10 best thriller films made from books, the 10 worst, and the 10 he most wants to see get made.<\/div>\n
Carcaterra\u2019s Sleepers was turned into a hit film by Barry Levinson, and most of his subsequent thrillers are under option by studios and big producers. \u00a0His latest, Midnight Angels — an art history thriller set in Florence — was just published by Ballantine and is just being shopped now. Carcaterra cautioned that his \u00a0lists (culled with the help of other authors and editors) were subjective, guaranteed to stir rancor, and maybe a frivolous exercise. So I say, what\u2019s wrong with a little subjectivity, rancor, and frivolity on a summer Sunday morning?<\/div>\n
The 10 Best: \u00a0The Bourne Trilogy, Silence of the Lambs, Day of the Jackal, 3 Days of the Condor, The Manchurian Candidate, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Getaway (Steve McQueen version), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The French Connection, Patriot Games and Marathon Man (the last two tie for 10th).<\/div>\n
The 10 Worst: The Getaway (Alec Baldwin version), \u00a0The Eiger Sanction, The Osterman Weekend, The Manchurian Candidate (Denzel Washington version), The Sum of All Fears, The Da Vinci Code, Hannibal Rising, The Chamber, Hostage, Heat (the William Goldman novel adapted into a Burt Reynolds pic). Carcaterra hated the Richard Chamberlain TV adaptation of The Bourne Identity so much, he gave it dishonorable mention.<\/div>\n
The 10 That Should Be Made: The Vince Flynn-written series about government operative Mitch Rapp (CBS Films is trying to make Consent to Kill, hoping Gerard Butler or Matthew Fox will star for Antoine Fuqua); Brad Thor ‘s Scot Horvath series; \u00a0Lee Child\u2019s series on hulking drifter Jack Reacher (last I recall, Cruise\/Wagner had the rights, and while Reacher might be the top selling thriller protagonist without a film series, little has happened to get a film like The Killing Floor made); James Rollins’ Sigma Force series, William Diehl\u2019s The Hunt, Bill Granger\u2019s The November Man, Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Alon series, any of \u00a0Matthew Pearl\u2019s novels that include The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens; \u00a0Christopher Reich\u2019s Numbered Account; and PD James\u2019 Innocent Blood and Jack Higgins\u2019 Luciano\u2019s Luck (tied for 10th).<\/div>\n
Carcaterra put numerous authors on the best and the worst lists, including author Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy\u2019s Jack Ryan series, the Jim Thompson novel The Getaway (Carcaterra thought McQueen’s Doc McCoy was the personification of cool while Baldwin was too pretty) \u00a0Tom Harris\u2019s Hannibal Lecter series and William Goldman. Carcaterra \u00a0considers Goldman’s Marathon Man to be one of the best adaptations ever, but he\u2019s friends with Goldman, and the author\/screenwriter suggested his own work, Heat, for the bad list). What becomes clear from Carcaterra\u2019s experience is that the best adaptations are the ones where the screenwriter\/director has the guts to tear apart the book to serve the film, even if a superstar author (think Clancy in Patriot Games or Anne Rice at the start of Interview with the Vampire) kicks and screams. The other make or break variable is the impact of actors who can use their influence to screw things up, or elevate the film. \u00a0On Sleepers, Carcaterra said \u00a0when they got Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, the scenes for their characters escalated and made the movie much better.<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Bourne Identity film is much better than the book, and when Tony Gilroy was asked to write, he told them he didn\u2019t care for the book,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cHe finally said the only part that interested him was an assassin who didn\u2019t know who he was, wanted to find out, but didn\u2019t want to kill. Of course, to find out, he has to kill. \u00a0It was a troubled shoot, a lot of reshoots, but that core idea and the script started what has become the best thriller book series. I put all three into the same category because they’re all so good.\u201d<\/div>\n
Carcaterra said it was smart to change James Grady’s 6 Days of the Condor: \u201cWhether it was a screenwriter economizing or a producer short of cash, it was a better title and the tightened time line helped the movie.\u201d He said the David Fincher adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo likely won\u2019t come close to the darkness of the Swedish film that he feels will be tough to improve. Carcaterra worked on TV shows with Sonny Grosso, one of the two cops in The French Connection. Grosso \u00a0told him that William Friedkin didn\u2019t even read the book when he first met the cops, but studied them closely. \u201cHe was interested in these two cowboys on the streets, and the details of the case got sketched over,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cThe chase scene was invented, the subway shooting scene didn\u2019t happened. And when Sonny told Friedkin that shooting that Frenchman in the back wouldn\u2019t happen because cops don\u2019t shoot fleeing suspects in the back, Friedkin said, this guy killed five people, and the crowd will go nuts. He was absolutely right.\u201d<\/div>\n
Carcaterra said The Da Vinci Code suffered from reverence to Dan Brown\u2019s huge bestseller and the fear of turning off the book\u2019s huge fan base. Angels & Demons was a much better film, Carcaterra said, because the screenwriting and plotting were bolder.<\/div>\n
Authors who get script approval can often hamper a screen adaptation, unless it is someone like Elmore Leonard, who wrote so many scripts himself that he knows what works on the screen and isn’t precious about his prose. \u00a0\u201cAuthors like Elmore realize it’s unseemly to complain, when you consider how much we get paid. When Sydney Pollack mentioned to John Grisham he hoped they hadn\u2019t messed up The Firm, Grisham \u00a0said \u2018if you did, you\u2019ll never hear it from me.\u2019 Anne Rice took out full page ads about the casting of Interview with the Vampire, until maybe somebody explained her backend definition, and suddenly she was ecstatic,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cAdapting books into movies is a hard job that becomes impossible with an author standing over your shoulder who doesn\u2019t understand the process. Authors get paid very well, and so you have to take the money and shut up.\u201d<\/div>\n

The just completed Thrillerfest<\/a> \u2014 think \u00a0Comic-Con for thriller authors and their fans \u2014 \u00a0 featured a lecture that caught my eye. Sleepers<\/strong> author Lorenzo Carcaterra chose the 10 best thriller films made from books, the 10 worst, and the 10 he most wants to see get made.<\/p>\n

Carcaterra\u2019s Sleepers<\/strong> was turned into a hit film by Barry Levinson, and most of his subsequent thrillers are under option by studios and big producers. \u00a0His latest, Midnight Angels<\/strong> — an art history thriller set in Florence — was just published by Ballantine and is just being shopped now. Carcaterra cautioned that his \u00a0lists (culled with the help of other authors and editors) were subjective, guaranteed to stir rancor, and maybe a frivolous exercise. So I say, what\u2019s wrong with a little subjectivity, rancor, and frivolity on a summer Sunday morning?<\/p>\n

The 10 Best: \u00a0The Bourne Trilogy<\/strong>, Silence of the Lamb<\/strong>s, Day of the Jackal<\/strong>, 3 Days of the Condor<\/strong>, The Manchurian Candidate<\/strong>, The Talented Mr. Ripley<\/strong>, The Getaway<\/strong> (Steve McQueen version), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo<\/strong>, The French Connection<\/strong>, Patriot Game<\/strong>s and Marathon Man<\/strong> (the last two tie for 10th).<\/p>\n

The 10 Worst: The Getaway<\/strong> (Alec Baldwin version), \u00a0The Eiger Sanction<\/strong>, The Osterman Weekend<\/strong>, The Manchurian Candidate <\/strong>(Denzel Washington version), The Sum of All Fear<\/strong>s, The Da Vinci Code<\/strong>, Hannibal Rising<\/strong>, The Chamber, Hostage<\/strong>, Heat <\/strong>(the William Goldman novel adapted into a Burt Reynolds pic). Carcaterra hated the Richard Chamberlain TV adaptation of The Bourne Identity<\/strong> so much, he gave it dishonorable mention.<\/p>\n

The 10 That Should Be Made: The Vince Flynn-written series about government operative Mitch Rapp (CBS Films is trying to make Consent to Kill<\/strong>, hoping Gerard Butler or Matthew Fox will star for Antoine Fuqua); Brad Thor ‘s Scot Horvath series; \u00a0Lee Child\u2019s series on hulking drifter Jack Reacher (last I recall, Cruise\/Wagner had the rights, and while Reacher might be the top selling thriller protagonist without a film series, little has happened to get a film like The Killing Floor<\/strong> made); James Rollins’ Sigma Force series, William Diehl\u2019s The Hunt<\/strong>, Bill Granger\u2019s The November Man<\/strong>, Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Alon series, any of \u00a0Matthew Pearl\u2019s novels that include The Dante Club<\/strong>, The Poe Shadow<\/strong> and The Last Dickens<\/strong>; \u00a0Christopher Reich\u2019s Numbered Account<\/strong>; and PD James\u2019 Innocent Blood<\/strong> and Jack Higgins\u2019 Luciano\u2019s Luck (tied for 10th).<\/p>\n

Carcaterra put numerous authors on the best and the worst lists, including author Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy\u2019s Jack Ryan series, the Jim Thompson novel The Getaway<\/strong> (Carcaterra thought McQueen’s Doc McCoy was the personification of cool while Baldwin was too pretty) \u00a0Tom Harris\u2019s Hannibal Lecter series and William Goldman. Carcaterra \u00a0considers Goldman’s Marathon Ma<\/strong>n to be one of the best adaptations ever, but he\u2019s friends with Goldman, and the author\/screenwriter suggested his own work, Heat<\/strong>, for the bad list). What becomes clear from Carcaterra\u2019s experience is that the best adaptations are the ones where the screenwriter\/director has the guts to tear apart the book to serve the film, even if a superstar author (think Clancy in Patriot Games<\/strong> or Anne Rice at the start of Interview with the Vampire<\/strong>) kicks and screams. The other make or break variable is the impact of actors who can use their influence to screw things up, or elevate the film. \u00a0On Sleepers<\/strong>, Carcaterra said \u00a0when they got Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, the scenes for their characters escalated and made the movie much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bourne Identity<\/strong> film is much better than the book, and when Tony Gilroy was asked to write, he told them he didn\u2019t care for the book,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cHe finally said the only part that interested him was an assassin who didn\u2019t know who he was, wanted to find out, but didn\u2019t want to kill. Of course, to find out, he has to kill. \u00a0It was a troubled shoot, a lot of reshoots, but that core idea and the script started what has become the best thriller book series. I put all three into the same category because they’re all so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carcaterra said it was smart to change James Grady’s 6 Days of the Condor<\/strong>: \u201cWhether it was a screenwriter economizing or a producer short of cash, it was a better title and the tightened time line helped the movie.\u201d He said the David Fincher adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo <\/strong>likely won\u2019t come close to the darkness of the Swedish film that he feels will be tough to improve. Carcaterra worked on TV shows with Sonny Grosso, one of the two cops in The French Connection<\/strong>. Grosso \u00a0told him that William Friedkin didn\u2019t even read the book when he first met the cops, but studied them closely. \u201cHe was interested in these two cowboys on the streets, and the details of the case got sketched over,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cThe chase scene was invented, the subway shooting scene didn\u2019t happened. And when Sonny told Friedkin that shooting that Frenchman in the back wouldn\u2019t happen because cops don\u2019t shoot fleeing suspects in the back, Friedkin said, this guy killed five people, and the crowd will go nuts. He was absolutely right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carcaterra said The Da Vinci Code<\/strong> suffered from reverence to Dan Brown\u2019s huge bestseller and the fear of turning off the book\u2019s huge fan base. Angels & Demons<\/strong> was a much better film, Carcaterra said, because the screenwriting and plotting were bolder.<\/p>\n

Authors who get script approval can often hamper a screen adaptation, unless it is someone like Elmore Leonard, who wrote so many scripts himself that he knows what works on the screen and isn’t precious about his prose. \u00a0\u201cAuthors like Elmore realize it’s unseemly to complain, when you consider how much we get paid. When Sydney Pollack mentioned to John Grisham he hoped they hadn\u2019t messed up The Firm<\/strong>, Grisham \u00a0said \u2018if you did, you\u2019ll never hear it from me.\u2019 Anne Rice took out full page ads about the casting of Interview with the Vampire<\/strong>, until maybe somebody explained her backend definition, and suddenly she was ecstatic,\u201d Carcaterra said. \u201cAdapting books into movies is a hard job that becomes impossible with an author standing over your shoulder who doesn\u2019t understand the process. Authors get paid very well, and so you have to take the money and shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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