Booking Hollywood's It Girl

Is it me, or is Shailene Woodley the most literary actress around?

This year she has two eagerly anticipated movies coming out based on highly successful YA novels. Divergent releases March 21 and The Fault in our Stars comes out three months later. The trailer for TFIOS has been the subject of many discussions at the school where I work, since pretty much everyone has read the book. Freshmen and sophomores had it for assigned reading over the summer. (Yes, our teachers are awesome that way!)

If you haven't seen the trailer, you must watch it. Now. I'll wait.



Isn't it amazing?
*wipes tears*
Ahem.

So, Shailene.

She also has a third film releasing this year, White Bird in a Blizzard, and guess what? You got it. The movie is based on a 1999 novel by Laura Kasischke.

Her IMDB profile is filled with movies based on books. Last year she starred in The Spectacular Now (novel by Tim Tharp) and in 2011 she was in the George Clooney movie, The Descendents (novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings). In 2005 she starred in Once Upon a Mattress (gotta love your fairy tales) and Felicity, an American Girl adventure. (We own this one since my daughter was obsessed with American Girl books, dolls and movies.) In fact, every film she was worked on has been based on a book.

Her next two movies are already predetermined since she's locked into the Divergent trilogy. But I can't help but wonder what book to movie adaptation will be next for this young actress.

Two more MG/YA novels-to-movies this year: The Giver and The Maze Runner.

Jeff Bridges might need to grow a little more facial hair :)

And in 2015, the one I'm anticipating the most -- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Any book-to-movie adaptations you're looking forward to?

Living with a Peeta-file, Part II

A lot of people feel that The Hunger Games is too brutal. They say the book is nothing more than glorified violence, that real people would never let something that horrific happen.

I respectfully agree. And disagree. Here’s why.

In the early 1960s, the United States increased their support of a war that was already in progress halfway across the globe. We didn’t have nearly enough soldiers to make a difference in that war, so in 1969a televised lottery was held. The draft. (Reaping, anyone?) Many of the young men sent to fight in Vietnam were poor; they had no means to avoid the draft. And according to a popular song from the 80s, the average age of those soldiers was 19.

The Vietnam War was the first televised war. Unlike the newsreels sent home from previous wars, the government didn’t get to edit the footage that was released to the American public. Technology had advanced too far and a growing mistrust of our elected leaders made news services all too eager to exercise their freedom of speech.

But here’s where we differ from the people of Panem. Those nightly images served up with a thawed out tray of mystery meat got to be more than Americans could tolerate. Rather than accept that this was our fate, that we had to send more of our children to die, people started protesting the war and demanding that our soldiers come home. It didn’t take twenty-four years for people to start a Rue Riot. Thank goodness.

I know the parallels aren’t exactly the same. But when people say the Hunger Games is too violent, I wonder if they’ve watched the nightly news. Because those smiling hosts are always happy to dish from the scene of the crime and replay the carnage until we’re numb. When people say that we would never let that happen, I say we already did.

And we still do.

Only these days, no one’s forcing us to watch. And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, or not.

Living with a Peeta-file, Part I

I took my son to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games the day it opened. So many people were wrapped around the building that they had to show it on two screens. In my small community, that’s pretty amazing. But I guess we’re just a reflection of what was going on in the big cities.

A group of smiling girls dragged my son into their part of the line. And while he still claims to hold to the belief that girls are strange, he didn’t fight them too hard.

I was ambivalent going into the movie. Most adaptations fail, in my opinion, to capture the essence of a book. And this book was so very good that the thought of seeing it ruined before my eyes, larger than life, left me with butterflies in my stomach.

When the lights finally went down, people cheered. The spectacle we’d waited so long to see was finally here. As the opening frames lit up the screen, their screams got louder, then died away. And the further we got into the story, the more I felt embarrassed by our exuberance. This wasn’t a rom-com, lighthearted flick. Children die on the screen. It’s not the sort of film you can walk away from without being moved.

Over spring break, Drew tore through the next two books. I warned him that I was depressed for a week after reading Mockingjay. But of course that didn’t stop him. Some things you just have to discover for yourself.

I don’t know if I’ll watch the sequels. I LOVE The Hunger Games. And I think they did an incredible job making it into a movie. I highly recommend it. I enjoyed Catching Fire, though I still have a major hang-up with them returning to the games. But Mockingjay? I don’t know if I could ever read it again, let alone watch it unfold in all its horror onscreen. Though maybe a watered-down theatrical version would leave me less disturbed.

My son and I have had some pretty in-depth conversations because of these stories, about right and wrong, choice and sacrifice. That, I think, is what sets this trilogy apart. All those layers to chew on.

And once we’re done discussing the “heavy” stuff, there’s always the endless debate: Team Gale or Team Peeta? I loved Gale from the opening pages, had my heart torn out by him in the final chapters. My son thinks Peeta is a much better character, (though that might have more to do with projecting himself into Peeta’s role since, y’ know, he winds up with the kick-ass heroine).

Adapting

I've written before about the dangers of having high expectations for movies based on some of my favorite books, but here I am again eagerly anticipating two upcoming releases.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. As a middle schooler and teenager I read it multiple times and when I read the series to my kids, it was still my favorite of the seven. The Narnia movie that came out in 2005 was probably my favorite adaptation of a book EVER. Even though they changed the story a bit, the changes worked and (dare I say it?) even improved on Lewis' original.

So, yeah, my expectations for Dawn Treader may have hit an all time high. I keep trying to reign myself in, certain that I've set myself up for disappointment. But I have to say, the trailer has me excited. See for yourself.


Chronicles Of Narnia 3

And then there's Harry Potter. My son has convinced me that we must go to the midnight showing. I've never gone to a midnight movie, not even for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Yet here I am, ready to sacrifice sleep (and prime NaNo writing time) to go see the movie, knowing that the comfy seats and late hour mean I'll probably be asleep before Harry ever pitches his tent.

Speaking of the boy wizard, Melissa wrote a BRILLIANT post on the Mythical Creatures in Harry Potter. They might might not be as mythical as you think. If you're a Rowling fan, you must read this.

Four more books I loved that are being made into movies: Shiver, The Hunger Games, The Dark Divine and The Great Gatsby. Yes, another adaptation of The Great Gatsby, this time starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as Daisy. The scary part -- Baz Luhrmann will direct. Yeah. Remember what he did with Romeo + Juliet? Much as I love Gatsby, that's one adaptation I'll probably save for Netflix.

Word count for WiP = 14,020

The End -- in Two Parts

This comes out three days after my son turns eleven. He's already made me promise to take him the day it opens.



There are no words to describe the excitement these books and movies have brought to so many kids, including my own. Considering how long the final book was, I'm kind of glad the movie is in two parts.

What about you? Do you think they're milking this cash cow for all it's worth, or are they just trying to get the final episode right?

Books and Hollywood

I can distinctly remember as a senior in high school being asked what I planned to do with my life. I had lots of plans, big plans. And number one on the list: write the great American novel and then the screenplay for the movie. I figured I'd be scooping up my Oscar by 30 at the latest.

Oh, the audacity of youth.

Now that I'm older (and one would assume wiser!) I'm not so sure that's still a goal. Yes, I'd still like to write the great American novel, but I don't know that I want Hollywood to come calling.

Arrogant words for someone who has yet to publish a book? Maybe. But how many book have you seen turned into movies that you actually thought were as good as the book? I've seen two: Presumed Innocent and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (NOT the BBC version, the Walden version that came out in 2005). They were practically perfect in my (not so humble) opinion. I couldn't have done a better job if I'd written the script and directed the movies myself. There are probably five or six more that I could watch more than once without complaining (although don't blame me if I alert everyone around me to how much better the book was, what the movie makers left out, and the parts they should have left in).

Don't get me wrong. I'd be incredibly flattered if someone wanted to make a movie out of my book. But most authors don't get to write the screenplays. (Suzanne Collins already had a background in film or television so she's been given the opportunity to adapt The Hunger Games. I'm excited to see how it turns out!)

The rest of us aren't usually so lucky. So how do you let go of the baby you've spent so much time working on and stand to the side as someone else tears it apart piece by piece? How do you hold on to your artistic integrity if they completely misinterpret your writing? How do you keep your mouth shut when people ask your opinion of the big screen version and you hate it?

My husband says if anyone wants to make a movie out of my books, take the money and run. I can laugh all the way to the bank. Easy for him to say. If the book has been a huge bestseller, and the need to pay off bills is no longer part of the equation, would I sell it off without a backward glance? I don't think so.

Maybe it's just further proof that I am a control freak.

What would you do? What books do you think made a good transition from page to screen?