Unfilmable Books

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What are some books that you would like to see adapted for film or TV that many view as "unfilmable?"

Frank Herbert's Dune.

Several movies and miniseries have been done based on it, none has even come close to capturing the essence of the novels.

Donaldson's Covenant series (at least the first trilogy). The protagonist is too much of an "antihero" for Hollywood to deal with.

Peter Jackson said "The Lord of the Rings" was unfilmable in the strictest sense, which is why he took some license with various aspects of the story. I think the same would probably hold true of the "Left Behind" books, since there's so many of them.

Wheel of Time, although I'm not exactly sure I would like to see it adapted. They would have to leave too much out, even in a tv series.

VALIS by Philip K. Dick

Naked Lunch, by William Burroughs. Even though David Cronnenberg had in fact made the movie back in the '80's, the fact is, it was more of a fictionalized account of the writing of the book. Naked Lunch would be impossible to film, as it goes from one hallucinogenic vignette to another, some of which make absolutely no sense, and many have been accused of being gay porn, without there being a clear, concise story.

"Confederacy of Dunces"

What I think are unfilmable:
Peter F. Hamilton's - Night's Dawn Trilogy -- Well over the head of most people. There are some things which do not translate well to a visual production.

Zelazny's Amber series -- Just the dimension changing powers alone would make it impossible. So many details just couldn't be shown in any effect manner for the audience to see. It would be neutered most likely to a single world with chaos at one end and the amberites at the other.

Jack Vance - Alistair series & Emphyrio -- No way could a producer do these justice, and it would go over the heads of most people. Emphyrio would just be neutered and maybe reset in modern day, or a future more limited.

Dan Simmons - Illium/Olympos and the Hyperion Cantos -- Same as the Night's Dawn Trilogy. It's too epic, and there are to many things in it that outright could not be shown without serious controversy in the current political/societies we have now.

Heinlein -
Year of the Jackpot(I think society would be bored by it)
Starship Troopers(we already know this flopped, that the movie and cartoons will never do it justice. Maybe a reboot in 20 years will work but probably not.)
The Door into Summer - Time travel stories seem really hard to do. Those that are well done are few and far between. I feel that this alone would keep it from working in a visual media format and stick to the book.

John Steakley - Armor -- Maybe as a miniseries, but I doubt it would be given the right director/producer.

Andre Norton -
Star Rangers/The Last Planet - It would be heavily modified to make sense. Probably end up like the Wing Commander movie where completely uneccessary elements are added in which ruin it in relation to the book format.
Time Traders - Same as The Door into summer. Maybe a tv series, but I feel it would flop after 1 season and be cut. Also key elements are based on cold war ideologies which aren't really understood by millenials and newer generations.
Crosstime - Same as The Door into Summer

Asimov's Foundation/iRobot universe - Yes they are the same universe if you didn't know. It's too epic. I did like the iRobot movie with Will Smith. The movie easily fits into why humans on earth stopped liking robots and using them. I feel that no one could do it justice.

Alan Dean Foster --
Damned Trilogy - No one could do it justice
Parallelities - It's to confusing for most people to see a multiverse hopping character deal with hopping through the multiverse. See Fringe series for some of the complaints people have. Although Fringe did last 4 seasons, so maybe, maybe not.
Jed the dead - Dead alien that's not so dead, presented as a ventriloquist's dummy, just wouldn't be successful. The story is good, but people I feel would be turned off by some of the elements used.


Robert Forward's Cametlot 30k -- It's a good story, but I feel that how good would be lost on everyone. It definitely would need to be a miniseries if it had any chance of success.





What I think would work fairly easily:
Jack Vance -
Showboat World - Miniseries
Ports of Call/Lurulu - miniseries.
Tales of the Dying Earth - animated feature

Moorcock -
Elric series - Miniseries or even movies, animated or live action
Corum series - miniseries or tv series, animated or live action

Dan Simmons - The Hollow Man - Make a great movie or miniseries or Tv series

Zelazny's Eye of Cat - Movie

Andre Norton - Witch World -- Movies, TV series, miniseries, animated or live, it would work. There is nothing complicated that would ruin translation from written to visual media.

Asimov's iRobot(actual novel) - Yes I know there was already a movie done for this, and no it doesn't follow at all with the book/universe it came from. But the stories and others could be easily made into a miniseries or even a documentary about the dangers and quirks of logic based on the 3 laws. This is just the book itself not the whole universe.

Alan Dean Foster -
Journeys of the Catechist - Get the same people who are making the discworld movies on this, and it would be a success.

I do not know about existing books, but our government does not like movies made that could put rebellious ideas into peoples minds.

It would appear that the Bourne Identity was unfilmable. The only thing about the film that was similar to the book was that it was about a guy who had lost his memory. The film would need to be set in the 80s too because his time in Vietnam is a key part of what makes him who he is, so he couldn't be played by a man in his 30s/40s in the present day who wouldn't have been in Vietnam.

The Catcher In The Rye

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

A Confederacy Of Dunces

Bonfire Of The Vanities
{Yes, I know Brian De Palma directed a adaptation that was released in the early 1990s, but that version was both a commercial & critical flop.}

At The Mountains Of Madness

Fahrenheit 451

1984

Brave New World

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Amazing Adventures Of Kavielier & Clay

Last edited by AnonymousAnonymous on 09 Apr 2014, 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If this is playing in your area, and if you're interested, go see Jordorowsky's Dune, a documentary on a failed attempt by Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Jordorowsky to make Dune into a movie in the 1970s.

Apparently no one's been able to make H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror into a proper movie, despite two utterly horrible versions made already.

War & Peace

Atlas Shrugged

House Of Leaves

Gravity's Rainbow

All other works by HP Lovecraft

I think most of Lovecraft's works. It would be hard to capture the feelings of his work I would think.