If You were a Hollywood Mogul

[BinkieBaumont]

What Book or Movie would you make/remake, only the other day I was thinking about "Auntie Mame", no, not my Auntie Mame, but the book, by Patrick Denis, made into a film with Rosalind Russel in the 50's then as a musical with "LUCY" = "MAME" in the mid 70's

I'm thinking something true to the book with Dame Diana Rigg in the lead and the boy from "Billy Elliot"

I'll get my people to speak to Dame Diana's person

 

[Norumbega]

Relatively easy pick for me. The movie would be based on James D. Hornfischer's stupendous book, "Ship of Ghosts." It would rival one of my favorite movies, "Bridge on the River Kwai," tying in nicely.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

What Book or Movie would you make/remake, only the other day I was thinking about "Auntie Mame", no, not my Auntie Mame, but the book, by Patrick Denis, made into a film with Rosalind Russel in the 50's then as a musical with "LUCY" = "MAME" in the mid 70's

I'm thinking something true to the book with Dame Diana Rigg in the lead and the boy from "Billy Elliot"

I'll get my people to speak to Dame Diana's person

Three major problems with that idea. Diana Rigg and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott) are far too old for the roles. Bell's now 23 (Patrick ages, mainly from 7-8 to 22) and Rigg is 70. Mame's supposed to be late 20s, early 30s max when the story begins.

And the worst problem to overcome - Babs Streisand holds the option on the rights and she's had a version of her own tied up in preproduction for somewhere between 5-10 years. At least she finally realized the folly of herself as the lead...

Well...there really is one more huge problem. Studios hire screenwriters. Who are screenwriters? Writers who couldn't make it on their own and are then hired to "adapt." But in most cases, they don't adapt - they try working their failed plots & characters into someone else's stories, instead of just doing what they were hired to do - adapt the story to the screen. That doesn't mean introducing a multitude of new plot lines that go nowhere, nor do you introduce new characters who didn't exist before, nor do you completely change the story so that it bears no resemblance to the original.

Case in point - the recent Brideshead Revisted or one of our favorites here at the Lounge, The Black Dahlia among others. Compare the movies to the original books and you'll see why Hollywood no longer has a clue how to make a movie from a great or even good book. Or they just use the title and fabricate a brand new story (Cheaper by the Dozen with Dennis Quaid leaps to mind).