[ANOther]

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=206941

The thread linked to above is on the Internet Infidels forum (I lurk there but have never joined; same with the Straight Dope). The OP on that thread listed a number of historical people and events, and by extension novels (which ended up taking over the thread), that s/he thinks would make good movies. The thread runs to 6 pages, and if I could break down the suggestions by genre my impression was that it was something like this:

Sci-fi / cyberpunk / graphic novels: 95%
War: 3%
Literary fiction: 1.5%
History other than war: .5%
Other genre fiction: negligible unless it sneaks in under the cyberpunk heading
Chick lit: duh, what's chick lit? For that matter, what's chicks?

Let me put the same question to a forum made up mostly of women: What would you like to see made into a movie? I have a few suggestions here I could start with:

From real life, I'd like to see a biopic of Helen Keller's adult life, and in particular with her progressive activism which locked horns with the anti-Communist witch-hunters of the mid-20th century. Her story did not end with the Miracle Worker "wah-wah" scene at the pump!

And here are three novels I'd like to see filmed:

1. Green Darkness by Anya Seton: reincarnation, and a perfect karmic storm brewing at an elegant British country-house party

2. Dreams of Gold by Maynard F. Thomson: forget about One in a Million, Ice Castles, The Cutting Edge, Ice Princess, Blades of Glory and all the sappy made-for-cable family flicks and biopics about Nancy/Tonya, Tai Babilonia, Oksana Baiul etc etc: with the right cast (real skaters please, not actors and skating body doubles) and director this could be the Raging Bull of figure skating movies

3. Thinner than Thou by Kit Reed, that is if anyone doesn't think obesity and anorexia are legitimate weapons in the war against body-image mania

[ANOther]

Um, that last line about Thinner than Thou is a mite confusing: I am NOT trying to suggest that obesity and anorexia ARE legitimate weapons against hang-ups about appearance. Got that straight?

[NotTheCheat]

That was an interesting link. I am really excited that HBO is picking up George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice books. I read Orson Scott Card’s page so I knew that they were making Ender’s Game into a film. I can’t imagine how they will deal with how actually young those children actually are in the book.

However, I have gotten VERY wary of sci-fi adaptations, especially if the sc-fi channel has anything to do with it. I will give them a little credit for turning the Dresden Files into a decently watchable show (although it does stray wildly from the books), but I sat there and cried when I saw how horrendously they had butchered Riverworld. For that reason I didn't watch the Earthsea trilogy and I heard it was horrible - Ursula K LeGuin washed her hands of it.

That said, the Deathgate Cycle could be fantastic if done right. I love the Farseer Trilogy, but I don’t know how well that would translate to film. Also with the Thomas Covenant series, it would be hard to make him into a likeable enough protagonist to carry the film without understanding what is going on in his head. Something from the Discworld series could be really fun. The trailer for the Golden Compass looks like it could be fantastic.

Mainly, I would love a complete adaptation of the Aubrey Maturin series. The film Master and Commander was good, but they missed SO MUCH about the characters that would take a long running series of mini-movies to produce. However, only if they did them with at least the quality of the Horatio Hornblower series, and not the Sharpe series.

I would also love to see the Amelia Peabody Emerson mysteries picked up, done something like the Agatha Cristie's Hercule Poirot series.

[lizziness]

I am also very excited both for Ender's Game and for the Fire and Ice series. There is fantasy trilogy I read by Juliet Marrilier called The Seven Waters trilogy... I think the first or second one would make great movies too.

I'd saw there is a new Dark Crystal coming soon, can't wait for that.

[Mummy_Tummy]

I'd like to see Anne Rice's The Witching Hour made into a movie. I once heard rumors it would be but have yet to find it. However, I'd like to see it made as a mini-series so nothing would have to be left out (much like Stephen King novels make better t.v. movies for the same reason) and perhaps be aired on HBO so the plot or the scenes would not have to be sanitized. The Mayfair witches would make awesome movie material!

[Shrinkarino]

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The closing credit soundtrack is already perfect and it's a story with a lot of potential pathos if handled correctly.

Steve Shrinkarino

[ANOther]

Update since I first opened this thread: Internet Infidels appears to have done away with its forum on media and popular culture: if I click on that link I just get some page for registering with them; some of their other forums are accessible but not the media forum

[bodhisattva]

Wow....the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was one of my first thoughts (I'm from Michigan)....but I didn't think anyone else would come up with it!

I would love to see a movie on the life of Harriet Tubman. I have read several biographies about her and she was an amazing woman.

Alot of movies about historical events have irked me a bit, to be honest. Why do they always have to throw a love story into the mix?? Like the sinking of the Titanic wasn't dramatic enough?? It was still a pretty good movie, but it bothered me that the main focus was the whole Jack and Rose thing....I would have liked it better if they had focused more on real passengers and their stories. Pearl Harbor was the same way....they took away from the event with the love story.

However....'Bobby' is absolutely fantastic. The last 15 minutes give me chills every time I see it. (and our cousin, William H. Macy, is in it!)

[ANOther]

Originally Posted by bodhisattva

Why do they always have to throw a love story into the mix?? Like the sinking of the Titanic wasn't dramatic enough??

Sullivan I want this to be a picture of dignity... a true canvas of the suffering of humanity.
LeBrand But with a little sex in it
Sullivan But with a little sex in it
- Sullivan's Travels, 1941

[zenor77]

The Thursday Next Novels by Jasper Fford. Those would be great fun to see on the screen. I think that the BBC would need to do it though since it is decidedly British humor.