I have already confessed that my husband and I are addicts - movie addicts. We enjoy watching movies at home, stalking the $5 movie bin at WalMart and browsing the free Netflix on-demand movies every night, hoping that a new one has been added.
But, I am also a book addict. Every night, before I go to bed, I open a book and try to read a couple of pages. It allows me to drift off into my own imaginary land, forgetting about the woes of the day. I used to be a part of an informal book club, more of a book 'swap' really. My friend would read a bunch of chick lit, I would read a bunch of chick lit and we would swap books with our own editorials attached to each one.
My favorite author is Jodi Picoult. But, there are many authors who are fabulous manipulators of words. Descriptions so precise that I can live in their moment, visualize their story, their characters, their scenery. And the wonderful thing about books? They're FREE -- if you go to the library.
I used to get excited when a book I loved made it to the big time and the big screen. Lately, I've been more disappointed than anything. It's a shame when Hollywood takes the hardwork of a single author, tweaks it into a screenplay and pays hundreds of people to ruin it.
Cases in point:
Marley and Me - Hated the adaptation so much that my husband and I lasted 15 minutes before we both proclaimed - "That is NOT how it happened in the book." And the book was a true story...why ruin it?
My Sister's Keeper - The Cardinal sin in my world is to defacate on the creative genius that Jodi Picoult exhibits. First of all, Cameron Diaz as a mother? Really? What casting director (who actually read the book) would pick the 'I-have-to-shake-my-booty-in-every-movie' actress for the role of a MOTHER? A mother of a dying little girl? Top the poor casting with slightly manipulated storylines and you got one pissed off Jodi Picoult fan.
The Lovely Bones - I liked the book so much, I read it twice. Needless to say, I was more than excited when I saw a movie version was coming out...with Mark Wahlberg...and Stanley Tucci. So, when I saw the glorious red envelope in my mailbox announcing to the world that the movie had arrived for my viewing pleasure...I demanded that we watch it. And my husband obliged. He ended up liking it (he didn't read the book). I ended up, once again, being disappointed. Too artsy fartsy to me.
The moral of my tirade is that it's okay to be a movie addict AND a book addict. But in the battle of creativity, I would cheer on books every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
With books, YOU have free creative license. You get to be the casting director. The producer. Set designer. Make-up artist. You get to be the Steven Spielberg of any and all books you read. No need to run 30 takes before a look is 'just right'. No need to spend millions of dollars on 'key grips', 'sound technicians', pillow fluffer, etc.
If you don't really have what it takes to be a novelist, try your hand at being a take-someone-else's-story-and-tweak-it-a-bit-and-make-lots-of-money writer. It's called a screenplay and people make mucho dinero doing it. Then someone gets paid to develop and show THEIR version of the novelist's vision.
If you're going to write a screenplay 'based on a book by...' do me a favor and respect the author. Don't desecrate their work. If you think your stuff is better and movie-worthy, write your own stuff!
In the battle of creativity, I side with the books. Because I like what I see when I read books. I'm the best director I know. Where's my Oscar?
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