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Writer's Block: Book based
Apr. 27th, 2010 10:38 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, was turned into a movie in 1997 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120004/). The book was very interesting and thought provoking, and the authors had obviously done a great deal of research to make the story as believable as possible.
Preston and Child sold the rights to the book to a Hollywood studio, who hired independent screenwriters to do the script. Neither Preston nor Child wrote any part of the screenplay. The opening credits of the film state only that the movie was "based on" the book.
Unfortunately, the finished product bore about as much resemblance to the original book as a silkscreen tshirt bears to the original Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre. The screenwriters literally omitted the central character in the book, because "they couldn't figure out who to cast in the role" (I heard that from Douglas Preston himself, when he was in town recently for a book signing). You might as well try to write the Bible without mentioning God.
I couldn't even finish the movie. I stuck it out till about the last half hour, because I kept hoping the awful, B-movie horror flick I was watching would somehow turn into the well-written, engrossing tale I'd stayed up until 3am to finish. Alas, it was not to be.
It's also worth noting here that, at about the same time "Relic" was released in the theatres, Preston and Child had also optioned the rights to another novel of theirs, Riptide. I saw promotional trailers for that movie in the theatres, but never heard another word about it. At the recent Douglas Preston book signing I attended, someone asked him about that. Apparently Preston and Child were (whodathunk) so disgusted with what had been done to Relic, they decided to forgo making Riptide into a movie unless they were granted complete creative control, and they couldn't find a studio willing to let them keep those rights.
Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, was turned into a movie in 1997 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120004/). The book was very interesting and thought provoking, and the authors had obviously done a great deal of research to make the story as believable as possible.
Preston and Child sold the rights to the book to a Hollywood studio, who hired independent screenwriters to do the script. Neither Preston nor Child wrote any part of the screenplay. The opening credits of the film state only that the movie was "based on" the book.
Unfortunately, the finished product bore about as much resemblance to the original book as a silkscreen tshirt bears to the original Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre. The screenwriters literally omitted the central character in the book, because "they couldn't figure out who to cast in the role" (I heard that from Douglas Preston himself, when he was in town recently for a book signing). You might as well try to write the Bible without mentioning God.
I couldn't even finish the movie. I stuck it out till about the last half hour, because I kept hoping the awful, B-movie horror flick I was watching would somehow turn into the well-written, engrossing tale I'd stayed up until 3am to finish. Alas, it was not to be.
It's also worth noting here that, at about the same time "Relic" was released in the theatres, Preston and Child had also optioned the rights to another novel of theirs, Riptide. I saw promotional trailers for that movie in the theatres, but never heard another word about it. At the recent Douglas Preston book signing I attended, someone asked him about that. Apparently Preston and Child were (whodathunk) so disgusted with what had been done to Relic, they decided to forgo making Riptide into a movie unless they were granted complete creative control, and they couldn't find a studio willing to let them keep those rights.
