Top 10 Authors Who HATED Adaptations of Their Books
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Date: 2023-11-20
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Comments and reviews: 30
Alicia
If Victor Hugo were alive, he'd hate the 2012 film adaptation of his novel, The Man Who Laughs. The book, set in 18th century England, tells the story of Gwynplaine, a boy who is disfigured with a Glasgow smile as a punishment to his father, a nobleman who stood up for the people. Gwynplaine, of course, grows up knowing nothing of his aristocratic background and instead becomes a clown, traveling throughout the countryside to perform. He even develops a sweet romance with Dea, a blind girl who works with him. But things get complicated when their act reaches London, catches the attention of Queen Anne's court, and Gwynplaine's true past is revealed. The book deals with themes of class division, how theater can be a political tool, what happens to individuals and society if and when we inherit the wounds and battles of those who came before, what does it mean to love, etc. etc, all things Hugo is known for addressing in his work in general. The 2012 film took the bare bones of the story--character names and basic plot elements--and strung just enough muscle tissue on them so they could hobble about as an obvious Twilight knockoff. It's absolute shit.
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If Victor Hugo were alive, he'd hate the 2012 film adaptation of his novel, The Man Who Laughs. The book, set in 18th century England, tells the story of Gwynplaine, a boy who is disfigured with a Glasgow smile as a punishment to his father, a nobleman who stood up for the people. Gwynplaine, of course, grows up knowing nothing of his aristocratic background and instead becomes a clown, traveling throughout the countryside to perform. He even develops a sweet romance with Dea, a blind girl who works with him. But things get complicated when their act reaches London, catches the attention of Queen Anne's court, and Gwynplaine's true past is revealed. The book deals with themes of class division, how theater can be a political tool, what happens to individuals and society if and when we inherit the wounds and battles of those who came before, what does it mean to love, etc. etc, all things Hugo is known for addressing in his work in general. The 2012 film took the bare bones of the story--character names and basic plot elements--and strung just enough muscle tissue on them so they could hobble about as an obvious Twilight knockoff. It's absolute shit.
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MrCaptainA
To be fair to the movie adaptations featured in this list, sometimes an author's feelings about an adaptation of their work can be different from what everyone else feels about them. Stephen King hates Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining, and it's considered a classic horror movie. Roald Dahl hated the 1971 movie version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder, and it's considered a classic family film. P. L. Travers hated Walt Disney's version of Mary Poppins, and it's considered one of Disney's greatest movies EVER. In short, authors aren't always right about the quality of supposedly bad adaptations of their works. Even if an adaptation isn't slavishly faithful to an author's original work, it can still be an excellent, classic movie in its own right.
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To be fair to the movie adaptations featured in this list, sometimes an author's feelings about an adaptation of their work can be different from what everyone else feels about them. Stephen King hates Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining, and it's considered a classic horror movie. Roald Dahl hated the 1971 movie version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder, and it's considered a classic family film. P. L. Travers hated Walt Disney's version of Mary Poppins, and it's considered one of Disney's greatest movies EVER. In short, authors aren't always right about the quality of supposedly bad adaptations of their works. Even if an adaptation isn't slavishly faithful to an author's original work, it can still be an excellent, classic movie in its own right.
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Robinem
1: Only positive thing I have heard about the other Shining adaptation was that it's Jack Torance was more of a 3dimensional version of the character and not just Jack Nicholson being. Well just another crazed Jack Nicholson type character. Actually, it is why. As much as he probably got it right more than most off the other actors to played the role I can not bring myself to call him the best joker, because at least with Ledger or what little of Leto we saw I wasn't just seeing all their other famous characters now slightly more crazy than usual and in clown makeup.
Also Stephen King also gave the OK for an opera adaptation of The Shining with only the book as its basis, went down well from what I've heard but no idea what he thought of it.
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1: Only positive thing I have heard about the other Shining adaptation was that it's Jack Torance was more of a 3dimensional version of the character and not just Jack Nicholson being. Well just another crazed Jack Nicholson type character. Actually, it is why. As much as he probably got it right more than most off the other actors to played the role I can not bring myself to call him the best joker, because at least with Ledger or what little of Leto we saw I wasn't just seeing all their other famous characters now slightly more crazy than usual and in clown makeup.
Also Stephen King also gave the OK for an opera adaptation of The Shining with only the book as its basis, went down well from what I've heard but no idea what he thought of it.
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Catherine
Even as a literature major and a fellow author, many of these (especially Tolkien whose source material is beyond difficult just to get a few pages into) I felt the movies had done there best or even made the original sources more accessible to a large audience. However the moment I agreed was with Stephen king. I read, loved and was terrified by The Shining, which had me afraid to have my feed dangle from the bed or read alone. The movie on the other hand, great in its own right, sat shit next Stephen Kings original creation. And King isnt difficult, with the new ending in The Mist he once said he wishes he had penned that ending.
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Even as a literature major and a fellow author, many of these (especially Tolkien whose source material is beyond difficult just to get a few pages into) I felt the movies had done there best or even made the original sources more accessible to a large audience. However the moment I agreed was with Stephen king. I read, loved and was terrified by The Shining, which had me afraid to have my feed dangle from the bed or read alone. The movie on the other hand, great in its own right, sat shit next Stephen Kings original creation. And King isnt difficult, with the new ending in The Mist he once said he wishes he had penned that ending.
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strawberrysoul
Believe it or not, even when Roald Dahl was less than a year away from his death and The Witches came out, he would stand outside theatres telling people not to see the movie. Since it was actually very accurate, I think it was the change in the ending that really irked him (yeah, I agree on that point. He did, however, like the animated version of The BFG. Who knows what he'd make of the new one - it only really bears a passing resemblance to the book.
As another point, a lot of these movies are good movies. They just might be bad adaptations.
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Believe it or not, even when Roald Dahl was less than a year away from his death and The Witches came out, he would stand outside theatres telling people not to see the movie. Since it was actually very accurate, I think it was the change in the ending that really irked him (yeah, I agree on that point. He did, however, like the animated version of The BFG. Who knows what he'd make of the new one - it only really bears a passing resemblance to the book.
As another point, a lot of these movies are good movies. They just might be bad adaptations.
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PartiallyGeorge
TBH I hate Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as well. Gene Wilder is terrible as Willy Wonka and the only bright spot of the entire film is Peter Ostrum as Charlie.
Fortunately, they did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a truly great film and while Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka is admittedly not everyone's cup of tea, he's FAR better than Gene Wilder (Gene Wilder's characterization of C&CF as 'an abomination' is really disgusting and it tells me he was just jealous.
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TBH I hate Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as well. Gene Wilder is terrible as Willy Wonka and the only bright spot of the entire film is Peter Ostrum as Charlie.
Fortunately, they did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a truly great film and while Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka is admittedly not everyone's cup of tea, he's FAR better than Gene Wilder (Gene Wilder's characterization of C&CF as 'an abomination' is really disgusting and it tells me he was just jealous.
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Oldenweery
I've said it for decades, Hollywood has no respect for authors. How many times have we heard a producer or director rave on about how much much they love the work they're adapting and how they want to faithfully put it on film---then not only make ridiculous changes conforming to _their_ vision (Kubrick was notorious) but allowing actors to change dialog and action because _they_ couldn't see _their_ characters saying and doing what the authors wrote and the readers loved?
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I've said it for decades, Hollywood has no respect for authors. How many times have we heard a producer or director rave on about how much much they love the work they're adapting and how they want to faithfully put it on film---then not only make ridiculous changes conforming to _their_ vision (Kubrick was notorious) but allowing actors to change dialog and action because _they_ couldn't see _their_ characters saying and doing what the authors wrote and the readers loved?
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Processes
Riordan hasnt really stated publicly how he feels about it yet, but the lightning thief was turned into a musical this year, and as far as Im concerned as a reader, its a wonderful adaptation. These songs are well written, pull in jokes and phrases from the story, the actors do a wonderful job, and even if some of the content is different than how Riordan intended, as an audience member I think it captures the soul of the books to me, which I really like.
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Riordan hasnt really stated publicly how he feels about it yet, but the lightning thief was turned into a musical this year, and as far as Im concerned as a reader, its a wonderful adaptation. These songs are well written, pull in jokes and phrases from the story, the actors do a wonderful job, and even if some of the content is different than how Riordan intended, as an audience member I think it captures the soul of the books to me, which I really like.
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AngryAnimeFan
the legacy? it was the only adaptation that brought emotion to the eyes. Tolkien son was just not sure on the effect.
Travers was in my head, a nagging one. Few seems to even be sure on what the book wanted to tell. Tehy only saw one thing she did not, and thats why I have no sympathy for her rage.
And of course the number 1 was him.
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the legacy? it was the only adaptation that brought emotion to the eyes. Tolkien son was just not sure on the effect.
Travers was in my head, a nagging one. Few seems to even be sure on what the book wanted to tell. Tehy only saw one thing she did not, and thats why I have no sympathy for her rage.
And of course the number 1 was him.
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Elizabeth
Another adaptation that was hated by the author is Cassandra Clare hating the tv show adaptation of The Mortal Instruments. Which I get it because it doesn't follow the plot AT ALL. Honestly adaptations shouldn't even be made if they aren't going to stay faithful to the source material as much as possible.
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Another adaptation that was hated by the author is Cassandra Clare hating the tv show adaptation of The Mortal Instruments. Which I get it because it doesn't follow the plot AT ALL. Honestly adaptations shouldn't even be made if they aren't going to stay faithful to the source material as much as possible.
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Ri
I'm a very nice, calm and funny person. The only time i turn into a swearing, screaming monster is when i'm forced to watch the PY movies. Omg i could spend DAYS raging about how awful they are. Love the books so much. HOW COULD THEY SCREW UP SO BAD DID ANYONE OF THE CREW READ A SINGLE PAGE
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I'm a very nice, calm and funny person. The only time i turn into a swearing, screaming monster is when i'm forced to watch the PY movies. Omg i could spend DAYS raging about how awful they are. Love the books so much. HOW COULD THEY SCREW UP SO BAD DID ANYONE OF THE CREW READ A SINGLE PAGE
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Tris
Theyve always done Stephen King dirty in my opinion. Ruining all the major plot points and endings for film. Hes a dark writer and if you cant put that into the film then dont bother trying to adapt it at all. Forever bitter about the train wreck that was Cujo.
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Theyve always done Stephen King dirty in my opinion. Ruining all the major plot points and endings for film. Hes a dark writer and if you cant put that into the film then dont bother trying to adapt it at all. Forever bitter about the train wreck that was Cujo.
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Aidan
I can understand why Rick hates sea of monsters because that movie had terrible portrayal of greek mythology in the modern world. But since I've never read the books I actually like the lightning thief(please don't ask me to read the book it's not gonna happen)
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I can understand why Rick hates sea of monsters because that movie had terrible portrayal of greek mythology in the modern world. But since I've never read the books I actually like the lightning thief(please don't ask me to read the book it's not gonna happen)
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TS
As a kid watching Queen of the damned I didnt realize it was a sequel to interview with a vampire. Yeah I was allowed to watch both as a kid lol. I always liked QOTD especially bc Stewart Townsend in it, but watching it as an adult it's so cringey lol.
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As a kid watching Queen of the damned I didnt realize it was a sequel to interview with a vampire. Yeah I was allowed to watch both as a kid lol. I always liked QOTD especially bc Stewart Townsend in it, but watching it as an adult it's so cringey lol.
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flashinthehole
Bret Ellis didnt HATE 'American Psycho', he said the movie was okay, but that the novel wasnt really adaptable. I disagree tho, I love the movie, I think it was accurate and Christian Bale was everything I wanted in Bateman.
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Bret Ellis didnt HATE 'American Psycho', he said the movie was okay, but that the novel wasnt really adaptable. I disagree tho, I love the movie, I think it was accurate and Christian Bale was everything I wanted in Bateman.
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LucienSabre
Alan Moore may have hated Johnny Depp in From Hell, but hes probably the only one; that movie is objectively one of Depps best performances (also because it was done before Jack Sparrow took over Depps career.
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Alan Moore may have hated Johnny Depp in From Hell, but hes probably the only one; that movie is objectively one of Depps best performances (also because it was done before Jack Sparrow took over Depps career.
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Krista
There's an excellent reason Rice hated the movie version of Queen of the Damned. It. Was. HORRENDOUS! I couldn't even get halfway through it! They combined The Vampire Lestat with Queen and absolutely mangled both.
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There's an excellent reason Rice hated the movie version of Queen of the Damned. It. Was. HORRENDOUS! I couldn't even get halfway through it! They combined The Vampire Lestat with Queen and absolutely mangled both.
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Shaylovespopeye
Stephen king is wrong because that his really life personality I think he forgot he meet him Jack that just Jack you want him to change his personality that really wrong of him that makes no sense
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Stephen king is wrong because that his really life personality I think he forgot he meet him Jack that just Jack you want him to change his personality that really wrong of him that makes no sense
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nat
Tbh if I were an author and my book would be made into a movie I wouldn't let anyone else but myself to dirrect it because knowing that other are gonna change something or maybe everything isn't worth it
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Tbh if I were an author and my book would be made into a movie I wouldn't let anyone else but myself to dirrect it because knowing that other are gonna change something or maybe everything isn't worth it
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AngelSam
Holy hell, I totally didnt know they wanted the Beatles to play the Hobbits in the 60s. I wish theyd done it as a short because I need to see that LSD fuelled lord of the rings for sure!
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Holy hell, I totally didnt know they wanted the Beatles to play the Hobbits in the 60s. I wish theyd done it as a short because I need to see that LSD fuelled lord of the rings for sure!
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violet
Yess, I knew Rick Riordan was going to be on this list. And being ranked as number 2, wow! I am currently reading battle of the labyrinth and I do hope the new t. v. show does better.
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Yess, I knew Rick Riordan was going to be on this list. And being ranked as number 2, wow! I am currently reading battle of the labyrinth and I do hope the new t. v. show does better.
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Andrea
I saw somewhere that P. L Travers and Stephen King change their minds about their hatreds of the adaptations of Mary Poppins and The Shining. I just wanted to point that out. :)
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I saw somewhere that P. L Travers and Stephen King change their minds about their hatreds of the adaptations of Mary Poppins and The Shining. I just wanted to point that out. :)
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Hannah
Even the short clips from the PJO movies make me want to vomit. What disappointments. I remember walking out of the theatre being so upset that my favorite books were ruined.
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Even the short clips from the PJO movies make me want to vomit. What disappointments. I remember walking out of the theatre being so upset that my favorite books were ruined.
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Ewa
I originally liked Kubrick's, The Shining, BUT after reading the book I see how FAR removed from the original source it truly is. I appreciate and love the TV mini series.
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I originally liked Kubrick's, The Shining, BUT after reading the book I see how FAR removed from the original source it truly is. I appreciate and love the TV mini series.
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Errol
Not gonna lie, I would've wanted to see The Beatles star in LOTR and I have faith in Kubrick it will be a good film but I'm not if it will be a faithful adaptation.
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Not gonna lie, I would've wanted to see The Beatles star in LOTR and I have faith in Kubrick it will be a good film but I'm not if it will be a faithful adaptation.
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Ira
Because of how Hollywood messed up Rick Riordan's masterpiece there will never be a Percy Jackson series that could have been just as successful as Harry Potter
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Because of how Hollywood messed up Rick Riordan's masterpiece there will never be a Percy Jackson series that could have been just as successful as Harry Potter
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Hazel
Not gonna lie, I just clicked on this video because I knew Uncle Rick would be on the list Percy Jackson movies are the proof Fox ruins everything good
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Not gonna lie, I just clicked on this video because I knew Uncle Rick would be on the list Percy Jackson movies are the proof Fox ruins everything good
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Cindy
Not gonna lie, I expected Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan to be number one.
Yes. I want a reboot of those movies with a COMPLETELY new team, thank you.
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Not gonna lie, I expected Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan to be number one.
Yes. I want a reboot of those movies with a COMPLETELY new team, thank you.
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Alexandria
Witches had a movie? I just remember reading that and being scared I was gonna get kidnap from my front yard (which happens to a kid in the book)
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Witches had a movie? I just remember reading that and being scared I was gonna get kidnap from my front yard (which happens to a kid in the book)
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Jed
I don't blame the authors. Hollywood does not stay true to the novels, and they screw over the authors. They only do it for the profits, not the passion.
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I don't blame the authors. Hollywood does not stay true to the novels, and they screw over the authors. They only do it for the profits, not the passion.
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