The Daunting Script

This weekend I had a conversation with a few people who were working on adapting a short story.  They're a small production company in Baltimore, and they're issue now is that the initial writer is fussing and fuming about their treatment.  Tough ta-tas, Senor Writer.  That's the glory of selling the rights of your work.  Once it leaves the nest, it is somone else's baby.

Along the same lines, I received my update email from Max Barry (whom I adore and am happy he's a friend of the Authors Speak).  If you're a Barry fan, you'll no doubt know that they're filming one of his right now.  At first the angst of the changes was overwhelming (the protagonist went from being named Six to Three, blonde instead of brunette...) for Barry, but as the cast settled into his words, he was moved and...okay with it.

About a week ago, S.G. Browne had a conversation about Star Wars and the horrible writing associated with that movie.  Why did the Death Star have to go all the way around Yavin, for example, to blow it to smithereens, which offered the Rebels all the time they needed to mount an attack.  It's a fair point, to be sure, and one that got the thought process jumping.

This got the ol' cerebral express thinking about adapted screenplays.  It's both a glorious and daunting thing for a writer to sell their film rights.  It's kind of like sending a child off to college, but knowing there's a very good chance that your child will return with piercings, tats, wicked attitude, and potentially a third arm.  Basically, your imagery, your brain baby, will change.  That's the difference between film and the printed page.

But there are some exceptional adapted screenplays; they are so wonderfully crafted that they showcase loving homage to the original source.  I want to get your suggestions on some of these, because adapting someones work, especially staying true to the original, while making it "pop" for audiences with waning IQ is challenging beyond belief.

Some interesting screenplays of note:

Goodfellas, which was adapted by Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi (who wrote the book it was based on, Wise Guy) manufactured one of the great screenplays of the nineties.  Since Pileggi wrote the book, the transition was a little more natural, but you can see Scorsese's touches - which mainly serve to keep the narrative on track.  It's obvious that Scorsese had a strong love for Pileggi's words and guided the train, while allowing Pileggi to lay the tracks.  If you've not watched this in a bit, I strongly suggest you revisit the thing and listen to the words.  Seriously.

Let's look at a true adapted screenplay, sans writer involvement.  Psycho, Robert Bloch's immortal classic, was adapted by Joseph Stefano for Hitchcock.  Hitch gets most of the credit where the film is concerned (and rightfully so), but seldom do you hear Stefano's name in regard to this cinematic juggernaut.  Bloch's novel was ahead of its time, as was Psycho.  To boldly adapt the story, to set up the scene (without Hitch's gimmicks) was a fairly risque task to begin with.  This, by far, is one of my favorite screenplays...and the AFI agrees.

Sometimes works need to be updated.  In this day, while our intelligence level hovers on the brink and our impatience is rampant, we're not getting as much from the flappers of the roaring twenties...sorry Fitzgerald.  Apparently we can't enjoy Austen without the addition of zombies.  Updates are needed from time to time, and one of the best classic updates is in John Milius' screenplay for Apocalypse Now.  I feel that even Conrad would have been blown away.  Orson Welles tried for years and years to make a loyal adaptation of "Heart of Darkness", to no avail.  Time moved on and Coppola sees the madness of Conrad's work could work exceptionally with the madness of Vietnam.  Good call, kid.  (Watch Heart of Darkness: a Filmmakers Apocalypse, by the way, which documents the entire filming of the movie).

A true homage artist, I always adore Frank Darabont.  Say what you will about the stuff he makes (or the lack of recognition he receives), the man's an artist with a hard-on for Stephen King.  And, he lovingly pours himself into everything he does.  Take The Shawshank Redemption for instance.  This script plays like the short story it is based on.  It opens slightly different (just to set up Dufresne's plight), but the first line of dialogue is ripped straight from the page.  Beautiful poetry.  And Shawshank's not all...Darabont did wonders with The Green Mile and The Mist.

But the man I loathe and love the most has got to be Steve Kloves.  I hate some of the choices that Kloves has made with the Harry Potter films.  That said, Kloves has more of my respect that any other working Hollywoodite.  Why?  Well, it's simple.  The man's been working on the scripts (all of them) since the beginning.  When these started popping out, the books weren't even finished yet.  I'm sure Rowling had an inkling as to where the story was going, but there are many things along the way that prove important - things that were omitted in earlier books.  Imagine the daunting task of adapting a novel: you cut out this one piece because it won't play on the screen, and it's such a minute detail in the third book, so no foul, then the seventh one comes out and it's vital.  Damn.  It's not been easy, I'm sure.  And, I'm sure, that Kloves has had those "Oh Damn" moments as the books have dropped.  I know the viewer surely has.

What are some of your favorite adapted screenplays?  We want to know, so that we can build our summer movie list.