Three Books that Ought to Be Films

Books, novels in particular, are frequent fodder for film. Some adaptations of novels are well known, the Harry Potter series and Twilight series, for example. Others aren't as well known as adaptations. Die Hard comes to mind as an adaptation not well known as such. Still, there are some novels that have yet to be adapted into films. Some are newer and some have been around for quite awhile.

Following are three books that should be made into films. Each would have its own difficulties to overcome as a film in content, theme, or just in the cost inherent in the book's scope.

Crooked Little Vein
By Warren Ellis

The first prose novel by prolific comic and graphic novel writer Warren Ellis would make for an odd film noir road film. The novel follows Mike McGill as he travels America in search of the secret United States Constitution lost by Richard Nixon in the 1950s. Accompanied by Trix, a young woman he encounters while in pursuit of the document, McGill explores the sexual eccentricities of modern America. The book is to a degree an exploration of what is normal in our internet era of access to just about anything conceivable.

Any faithful adaptation of the novel would be bound to an R rating in the United States and likely banned in a few other countries. The story isn't violent but the sexual material and references may be difficult for ratings boards to handle. While mostly comedic in tone the story would be ill-served by a film focused on crude or simplistic humor. Mary Harron brought Bret Easton Ellis' novel American Psycho to life on the big screen and might have the sensibilities necessary to bring Crooked Little Vein to life.

There are three key roles in Crooked Little Vein: Detective Mike McGill, his assistant Trix, and his employer the White House Chief of Staff. Matt Dillon bringing the same sort of rumpled aloofness he brought to Henry Chinaski in Brent Hamer's Factotum would be excellent as the down on his luck and magnet for weirdness Mike McGill. Kat Dennings would bring a certain charm to the ever curious assistant Trix. Matt Frewer, formerly 80s icon Max Headroom more recently seen as the horseman Plague on the TV series "Supernatural," could bring life to the emaciated and disturbing White House Chief of Staff.

My Name is Red
By Orhan Pamuk

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's postmodern murder mystery historical romance would make for a challenging film. The novel concerns the murder of Master Elegant Effendi a miniaturist in 16th Century Turkey. The story is told from many perspectives including the murderer, the three suspects of the murder, the corpse, paintings of Satan and a dog, and the color red. In addition to the murder the story explores the relationship between recently returned from Persia miniaturist Black and his cousin Shekure. The novel presents a view of the significance of art and its relation to religion, specifically Islam.

The novel is quite dense and its shifting and often unconventional narrators would make for difficult adaptation. The easy thing to do would be to get rid of the narrators and present a simplified story but that would sacrifice an opportunity to really explore themes of art and life. An adaptation would best serve the story by plucking the most visually interesting of these unusual perspectives from the novel and weaving the story that way. Darren Aronofsky might be able to pull it off in a fashion similar to the more surreal scenes of his film Requiem for a Dream.

The key figures in the story are Black, Shekure, and the victim Master Elegant Effendi. There is some difficulty in selecting actors appropriate for a film like this. There are few roles for Middle Eastern actors in American cinema that offer much range. I would offer two current cast members of the show "Lost": Naveen Andrews and Zuleikha Robinson for Black and Shekure. As Effendi is dead his voice would be important. Alfred Molina has a certain power to his voice that would lend itself to the corpse providing his testimony on his murder. Beyond casting recognizable faces for these roles little known or previously unknown, to American audiences, Turkish and Middle Eastern actors should fill out the cast.

The Stars My Destination
By Alfred Bester

Bester's third novel, published in 1956, has seen a BBC Radio 4 adaptation and a graphic novel adaptation but has yet to see a film or television adaptation. Considered an early precursor to the 1980s cyberpunk movement the novel follows the unambitious, savage Gully Foyle as he remakes himself in the pursuit of revenge. Gully Foyle inhabits a science fiction world where teleportation, called Jaunting, through force of will has completely reshaped transportation and society. Man has colonized the solar system and space travel is common.

A film would be a challenge as there are quite a lot of changes of fortune for Gully Foyle. It could be long and prohibitively expensive and it would be very easy to fall into trying to make it a simplistic sci-fi action film. Duncan Jones, director of 2009's Moon, would be an excellent director to handle the film. Moon had beautiful visuals but focused on presenting story over special effects. A similar approach to The Stars My Destination would help keep the cost down and stay true to the story.

The two key characters to have cast are Gully Foyle and his antagonist the head of the wealthy clan Presteign, himself known only as Presteign. The character of Gully Foyle is rough even when he has learned how to navigate polite society. Tom Hardy's recent work in Nicolas Refn's Bronson showed he can quickly alternate between oddly charming and menacing. Presteign requires a certain inherent class and menace. Christopher Lee, Saruman in The Lord of The Rings trilogy and recently a staple of Tim Burton's films, would fill this roll quite well. In addition to Foyle and Presteign the supporting characters for the film could be rounded out with: Rosario Dawson as Foyle's unwilling teacher and companion Robin Wednesbury; Catherine Hendricks as Foyle's fellow prisoner and brief companion Jisbella McQueen; Amanda Seyfried as Olivia, Presteign's albino daughter with the ability to see infrared; and Sam Rockwell as the radioactive investigator Saul Dagenham.