Top Ten Books That Should be Movies: C.C.C Issue #40

Top Ten Books I Want to See Adapted to Film  

Many people make the false assumption that I am primarily a movie guy, but I am actually primarily a writing/book guy. I always have a book on the go, and I’m always writing, and when I mean always, I mean always. While many of my favourite books have already been adapted to the big screen, these are ten that have yet to make their way to a theater near you, and once (or if) they ever do, you can bet I’ll be first in line to see them.

10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon 

I read this mystery novel for the first time last year, and the way the events unfold made me imagine it like a movie. The premise is Christopher, a teenager with a form of autism, is trying to solve the mystery of his neighbour’s dog’s murder, which leads him on a path of discovery about those closest to him, and about himself. I don’t want to give too much else away, because it’s quite a fascinating mystery—one that switches gears about halfway through and becomes less about what the title refers to and more about the family dynamics at play. The point of view is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel, and one that would have to be done in the right way for it to work on film. If this ever gets made into a movie, which is the eventual plan as far I know, they would need to find just the right director, and if they did, I think this could easily be one of the best films of the year.

9. Prey – Michael Crichton

Most of Michael Crichton’s novels have been made into either movies or TV shows (now even his own movies are being remade, with the new miniseries Westworld coming to HBO next year), largely thanks to Crichton’s way of writing cinematic action scenes that leap off the page and just beg to be turned into big-screen blockbusters. Though one of his greatest works, Jurassic Park, became an excellent film, many of his novels were turned into forgettable, lackluster movies, such as Sphere, Congo, and Timeline. However, there’s a particular novel of his that’s one of my favourites, and it has yet to be made into a feature film. Prey is about nanobots that travel in deadly swarms and are evolving at an alarming rate. Think Terminator Genisys only good. This premise is ripe for adapting in this day and age of ever-evolving technology, and the visual effects could be accomplished simply enough. Get the right cast together, a director who knows how to handle suspense and action (David Fincher or Christopher Nolan would be amazing) and you could have the best Crichton novel-to-film adaptation since Jurassic Park. 20^th Century Fox holds the rights, so it’s just a matter of waiting.

8. The Neanderthal Parallax – Robert J. Sawyer

Famous Canadian sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer has written over a dozen cutting-edge novels over the past two decades, and in my eyes, is the only other current sci-fi writer to rival Crichton in terms of executing brilliant concepts and crafting fast-paced action. His novel FlashForward was the basis for a series on ABC, but it was cancelled after one season. For whatever reason, none of his books have yet been adapted to film, but there are several which I think would make excellent sci-fi thrillers. There are two that stand out to me—one of them shows up later on this list—and the other is not one novel but actually a trilogy of novels, referred to collectively as The Neanderthal Parallax. The first novel, Hominids, details the breaking down of walls between two universes: the one we all know, where humans dominate the planet, and an alternate universe, where humans went extinct instead of Neanderthals, which became the dominant species instead. The other two novels, Humans and Hybrids, follow the relations established between the two worlds, focusing in on the relationship between a human scientist and a Neanderthal scientist. It’s a truly unique and ingenious concept, and with today’s technology, could be easily achieved on screen, whether through detailed makeup effects or the same sort of cgi that brought the apes to life in both of the latest Planet of the Apes films. Either way, it could be a trilogy of films that delivers both philosophical narration on humans and our everyday lives and pulse-pounding action. 

7. At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft

Long considered an unfilmable masterpiece, At the Mountains of Madness is among sci-fi/horror writer H.P Lovecraft’s most recognized works. Published in the early 1930’s, it has been the inspiration for many other works of fiction, including graphic novels, video games, and even the quasi-prequel to Alien, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.  Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro co-wrote a Mountains screenplay which he hoped to direct back in 2006, but with the release of Prometheus, the project, which was seen as too similar, was scrapped. It’s a shame, because as much as I liked Prometheus, I would much rather see a filmmaker take a crack at bringing the epic and harrowing tale to the big screen as a proper adaptation. The story features incredible alien creatures, horrific encounters with them, and would make for a chilling and thrilling film. Hopefully one day a filmmaker like Del Toro gets the green light on the project, or even Del Toro himself returns to give it another shot. The material is right up his alley, and I think he would do the source material justice, as well as make it more accessible to general audiences.

6. The Gingerbread Man – various

Taking a complete detour from the macabre At the Mountains of Madness, where is my film adaptation of The Gingerbread Man? Seriously? I have a collection of children’s stories from when I was very young, and included in the collection are such classic as Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and many more. Nearly all of them have been made into movies, and while the Gingerbread man did make memorable appearances in the Shrek films, he has never been at the center of a film! I would love to see Disney or even Blue Sky Studios (the guys behind the Ice Age series) do a 3D-computer-animated feature film about the Gingerbread Man and his zany story about escaping all the kooky characters (no pun intended) trying to eat him. And then, just to make it different from every other family film out there, end it the same way the book ends: he gets devoured by a fox and DIES. That should shake up the little kids and give jaded parents something to gawk at (not to mention the task of explaining to their infants that yes, cookies do die when you eat them, which would perhaps make kids eat less cookies and there will be less fat kids as a result). 

5. Weet – John Wilson

This short novel targeted at teens was pretty popular in my middle school, but I doubt many have heard of the series or the author. John Wilson is a Canadian writer who lives not too far from where I live, and he actually came to my school and signed my copy of Weet’s Quest, which is the second book in the trilogy. Weet is about two kids and their dog who somehow go back in time to the Cretaceous period, where they encounter various dinosaurs—some good, some bad—and an intelligent humanoid race of dinos that are based on designs of what the dinosaur Troodon might have looked like had it continued evolving beyond the age of dinosaurs (Fun fact: Troodon has the largest brain compared to its body size of any dino). Weet, a young member of his species, befriends the two children and their dog and takes them on an epic journey across the landscape of 65 million years ago. There can never be too many dinosaur movies, and with the success of this year’s Jurassic World, we can expect a lot more in the near future. I think Weet would be a great addition to the influx of dinosaur films on the way. 

4. The Quintaglio Ascension – Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer’s other trilogy of novels, which were among his earlier works, also happen to feature dinosaurs, but not the typical giant, toothy, roaring kind that are trying to eat every human in sight. This series takes place on another planet, where dinosaurs have evolved to near-human levels of intelligence, and have established a complex society. In this world are many other types of dinosaurs, though more in-line with what you’d see at Jurassic Park, but the main dinos, the Quintaglios, are evolved tyrannosaurs, with developments such as ships, telescopes, and many other technological advancements, but they still rely on their teeth and claws as weapons, and are discovering shocking facts about their world. Robert J. Sawyer does some of the best world building I’ve ever seen in a sci-fi novel. The Quintaglio world is so fully realized, it’s no effort to believe this could all be real. Ten years ago, I would have said a book like this would be impossible to make into a movie, but with the motion capture technologies now available, I think it could be easily accomplished. Plug in the right visionary director, someone like Peter Jackson or James Cameron, and this could be the next big film series. I haven’t read the second or third book (all three of which are hard to find these days, unfortunately), so that’s all the more reason to make them into movies, so I can find out how it ends! 

3. Meg series – Steve Alton 

Unlike all the books I’ve covered so far, this is the only one that actually has had serious talk about being filmed in the near future. Only a few weeks ago, rumors began popping up that horror director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) might be helming the giant killer shark film, Meg, based on the series of novels by Steve Alton. Though not known for any kind of scientific accuracy, the Meg series is already a blockbuster on paper. The first novel follows a diver and a scientific team, who go down into the Mariana Trench, where they discover the extinct shark Megalodon, is actually still alive and thriving in the deep-sea thanks to thermal vents which create a pocket of warm water that allows them to survive. One of them escapes from the depths and begins causing mayhem on the surface, and to make matters worse, it’s pregnant. There’s lots of action and thrills in the novel, and they would be easy to transfer onto the big screen, though I think a more action-oriented director would be better suited to helm the project (though I do appreciate they want someone familiar with the horror genre, since it’s also a thriller and not just straight up action). This movie has been in development hell since the book was published in the late nineties, and my copy of the first book even says “Soon to be a major motion picture!” Such lies. Let’s hope it becomes fact sooner than later.

2. The Dark Tower series – Stephen King

Next to Michael Crichton, Stephen King is my favourite author—certainly my favourite horror writer. Like Crichton, many, many, many, of his books have become movies, and like Crichton, not a lot have been good. Though typically known for writing horror and thriller novels, one of King’s most popular series of novels is the fantasy epic The Dark Tower, which starts out with The Gunslinger, and spans eight novels. A unique blend of fantasy and western and horror and drama, The Dark Tower series is ripe for a filmmaker to bring to theaters. I’m currently working my way through the series, and it’s obvious why this series has, much like Meg, been in development hell for quite some time. It’s a sprawling narrative that, given the trend lately, would probably result in each book getting split into two, which would mean a sixteen-part film. I know what you’re thinking, “ain’t nobody got time for dat!” and I agree, splitting each book would be stupid, but I think if each book became one film, and each film was directed by a different director, it could be a really compelling franchise. The main element of The Dark Tower that’s so compelling is the characters, so A-list actors would be a requirement. Daniel Day Lewis as Roland the Gunslinger would be my ideal choice, and for those familiar with the books, I think Octavia Spencer, Oscar Isaac, and Javier Bardem would be excellent in the roles of Susannah, Eddie, and The Man in Black, respectively. As far as I know, Sony is moving ahead with the first film, which will be called The Gunslinger, and I can’t wait to see Roland’s pursuit of the Dark Tower on the big screen.

1. Raptor Red – Robert Bakker

Of all the books on this list, Raptor Red is the one I think is least likely to be turned into a movie, which is unfortunate. Written by famous paleontologist Robert Bakker, this story is told entirely from the perspective of a female Utahraptor in the early-Cretaceous period, and follows a year of her life—where she goes, other dinosaurs she meets, how she hunts, how she feeds, how she perceives her environment, how she mates, and how she raises her young. It’s an intimate, detailed, and totally compelling look at dinosaurs, in a way no other work of fiction has ever managed to accomplish. This could be the next Jurassic Park if done correctly, but if done incorrectly, it could be the next Walking with Dinosaurs 3D (remember that turd, with the goofy narration and dinosaurs talking? Great visual effects, garbage plot and dialogue). No actors would be required for this movie. Devote a huge budget to the best visual effects that can be accomplished, film it in real locations across the planet that resemble the Cretaceous landscape, get a composer to do an epic musical score, find a director who knows how to film wildlife and action (is Steven Spielberg too much to ask for?) and I seriously think this could be one of the best book-to-film adaptations of all-time. If the dinosaur craze is about to return thanks to Jurassic World, why not put this into production and give audiences a more realistic, grounded approach to dinosaurs? Make it more like a nature drama than a blockbuster. Raptor Red deserves to be made into a movie, and if someone doesn’t get around to doing it soon, I think I might just have to do it myself.