Books that Should Be Made into Feature Films

Summary: Out is a novel about four women who work in a factory in the grittier part of Tokyo, Japan. Each woman has a problem. Masako, the leader of the group, is alienated from her husband and teenage son. Kuniko, an annoying girl, has to deal with loan sharks after her boyfriend leaves her. Yoshie, a single mother of two, struggles to take care of her paralyzed mother-in-law. Yayoi has to deal with leaving her children home alone while she works because her drunken husband with a gambling problem isn't home. Yayoi ends up strangling and killing her husband. The four women work together to dispose and cover up the dead body. This crime novel won Japan's top mystery award.

I'd like Japanese director, Takashi Miike to direct the movie. Takashi Miike is ideal for directing Out because he does a great job with gore and violence in his films. Some of Takashi Miike's movies include: Old Boy and Audition, a movie that deals with a sadistic woman.

I am picking an English-speaking cast for this movie. Lucy Liu is fit for the role of Masako. In the novel, Masako seems like a cold character. Lucy Liu would do a great job as a cold-hearted character like Masako. I haven't seen much of Julia Stiles lately, but I could see her playing the role of Kuniko. Kuniko is described as a chunky girl. Julia Stiles would have to gain some weight for the movie. Amy Adams could play the role of Yoshie. I'd like to see Penélope Cruz play Yayoi, the character that has to strangle her husband with his belt.

Instead of taking place in Tokyo, the movie could take place in the greater Los Angeles area.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fan boy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

The summary is taken from Amazon.com:

On good days, Fanboy is invisible to the students at his high school. On bad ones, he's a target for bullying and violence. When a classmate is cruel to him, Fanboy adds him to The List and moves on. His only real friend, Cal, is a jock who can't be seen with him in public. Their love of comics, though, keeps them close friends outside of school. Reading comics and writing his own graphic novel, Schemata, are the only things that keep him sane. He dreams of showing his work to a famous author at a comic-book convention and being discovered as the next great graphic novelist. When Goth Girl Kyra IMs him with photos of him being beaten up, he's skeptical. Why does she care what happens to him? He learns, though, that she's as much an outsider as he is. The two form a tentative friendship based on hatred of their classmates, particularly jocks, and her interest in Schemata. Fanboy is a rule follower, but Kyra is a rebel with a foul mouth. She teaches him to stand up for himself, and gives him the confidence to do it.

Roger Avery is a great director, and I think he is a good pick to direct the film adaptation of Lyga's novel The Astonishing Adventures of Fan boy and Goth Girl. Roger Avery directed Rules of Attraction.

This movie calls for a young cast. A dark-haired Dakota Fanning would be Kyra/Goth Girl. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who just stared in a comic-based movie, Kick-Ass, would play the main character, Fan Boy.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

This summary is taken from Amazon.com. Dorian Gray is a wealthy Englishman who gradually sinks into a life of dissipation and crime. Despite his unhealthy behavior, his physical appearance remains youthful and unmarked by dissolution. Instead, a portrait of himself catalogues every evil deed by turning his once handsome features into a hideous mask. When Gray destroys the painting, his face turns into a human replica of the portrait, and he dies. Gray's final negation, "ugliness is the only reality," neatly summarizes Wilde's Aestheticism.

Baz Luhrmann, director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, is perfect to direct a film adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I think his trademarks of fast-pace editing would work well with the wittiness of the story.

The main character, Dorian Gray needs to be played by a youthful and handsome actor. I think James Franco would be ideal.

Works Cited:
www.amazon.com