5 authors who hated cult films based on their books

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is known that Stanislav Lem was so dissatisfied with the work of Andrei Tarkovsky that he called "Solaris" in his interpretation "Crime and Punishment". In addition, we will never see the adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye, since Salinger was burned in this matter back in the late 40s and forever forbade directors to touch their books, and Anthony Burgess was ready to renounce A Clockwork Orange - a novel, which brought him fame - because of what happened to that in the cinema. Practice shows that film adaptation of a book is a delicate matter.

Pamela Travers, Mary Poppins, 1964

Unfortunately, it is not known for sure whether the English writer liked the Russian film version of her fairy tale (Travers lived to a very respectable age and died at 96). She met the translation of "Mary Poppins" into Russian extremely unfriendly and spoke about it with undisguised irritation:. The writer can be understood, because the translation in the USSR was made in violation of all conceivable copyright. Regarding the wonderful Russian musical, she was also unlikely to ask permission, but for 14 years Walt Disney persuaded the capricious authors, bombarded her with lucrative offers, offering to sell the rights to film adaptation to the film studio.

As a result, Travers received 100 thousand dollars and another 5% of the profit - conditions fabulous for those times, and was extremely unhappy with the picture: she did not like the animated inserts and the too soft image of the main character. At the premiere, the writer cried, and not with joy. These twists and turns even formed the basis of the feature film "Saving Mr. Banks", in which the role of Disney was played by Tom Hanks.

Winston Groom, Forrest Gump, 1994

The film about the fate of a strange, but very positive and charming person received six Oscars at once. It is strange that none of the thanksgiving speeches from the stage mentioned the author of the book. Perhaps this was a consequence of the contradictions between the film crew and Forrest's "literary dad". The writer did not like the fact that the plot of the novel itself was pretty softened in the film - no obscene expressions and bold bed scenes, the main character played by Tom Hanks came out much more innocent. In addition, Winston Groom was forced to go to court to claim his promised 3% of the profits under the contract. The contract - the producers argued that the film was almost unprofitable, and the author was not paid any money.

Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975

Another Oscar-winning film did not impress the author of the literary source. Kesey claimed for a long time that he hadn't even seen the painting. The main dissatisfaction of the writer was caused by the fact that the “focus” of the narrative had changed - in the book the story is being told on behalf of the “Leader” Bromden. However, later the author's heart, apparently, softened, the writer's wife reported about this.

Roald Dahl, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1971

Even after the release of the new film adaptation of the fairy tale (directed by Tim Burton), many viewers continue to love and revise the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder, and a frame from this film still serves as a popular Internet meme. However, the author in the distant 70s simply poured curses: the adaptation of his book came out “muddy”, the director did not have “talent or taste,” and Willy Wonka turned out to be “ostentatious” and “empty”. It is for this reason that the sequel to the tale never made it to the big screens - Roald Dahl vowed that as long as he lives, Hollywood will never get its hands on his new book to ruin it.

Stephen King, The Shining, 1980

In this case, the writer has spoken so much about Stanley Kubrick's creation that it is better to leave the floor to himself:

He did not like the film so much that King in 1997, together with director Mick Harris, created another version of his famous book: the mini-series The Shining. This film did not receive much publicity, although it was filmed in the interiors of the Stanley Hotel, which inspired King to write the novel. Not surprisingly, Mike Flanagan, the director of the recent sequel, was very much afraid of disappointing the author. However, King liked the new film Doctor Sleep so much that, in his opinion, he even corrected everything that was unsuccessful in Kubrick's The Shining.

Stanley Kubrick can be considered the record holder for the dissatisfaction of the authors, but the American filmmaker is today considered a recognized classic. Few people know that he started his career as a simple photographer. Today we can admire Retro Street photography, from which the career of a brilliant director began.