Novels meant to be filmed, and a fanfic rec

[selenak]

fannish5: Five books that could be great movies:


Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. My favourite novel about Hatshepsut, the most remarkable of Egypt's female rulers (yes, that includes Cleopatra). Could be adapted without falling into the traps of biopics (i.e. too many characters, events just name-checked), and offers several great roles.

Wilde West by Walter Sattherwaite. Which is many things at once - a mystery with young Oscar W. - during his tour through the American West - as one of the detectives, with your proverbial alcoholic sheriff being the other one - and a play with archetypes, Western and detective ones alike. Doc Holiday shows up as one of the suspects and is suitably enigmatic. I think the biggest stumbling block for the audience would be that Oscar Wilde has a love affair with a woman here, which will undoubtedly result in cries of "no way", but he did have several het affairs in his youth, and him figuring out he might be interested in other directions is a minor subplot of the novel. You have sparkling dialogues, suspense, great characters and a length that's easy to adapt.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. A challenge to the scriptwriter because of the gigantic cast which would have to be trimmed, true, but at its heart a road movie, and I so want Ron Rifkin to play Mr. Wednesday, aka Odin. That is his role, I tell you. Born for it. Much as I'm not a fan of his celeb antics, Russell Crowe could be Shadow.

Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly. Perfect tongue-in-cheek mystery thriller set in the 1920s, a deliberate homage to the old film serials and Universal horror movies, and has two great female roles in the form of the silent picture film star who gets a Manchu necklace that pledges her to the Rat God of the title from her evil producer, and her sensible English sister in law. The best thing is the way all the clichés are avoided: both women are sympathetic and allies - Christine embraces the shallow and loves her film star luxury, her booze and her boy toys, but she's not condemmed for it, and Nora, our point of view character and future script writer who is the intellectual quiet type, isn't transformed into a fashion queen by love but remains her geeky self.

The Beerkeeper's Daughter by Gillian Bradshaw. Byzantium at its peak, with a great take on Theodora who comes across as a captivating, three dimensional character, through the eyes of her illegitimate son Johannes. It has romance, politics and a limited time frame, and a director should be able to indulge in cinematic opulence. Also, given the universal domination of father-son relationships, mother-son should be a refreshing alternative...
***


And a fanfic rec: Hell Is Where You Meet The Person You Could Have Been by stoney321 is described by her as "four bible stories with a Jossian twist - Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Connor" - short and incredibly powerful.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Much as I'm not a fan of his celeb antics, Russell Crowe could be Shadow.

Hmmm. I've read in several places that Gaiman intends Shadow to be black.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read that anywhere, but if that's the case, I'm voting for Djimon Hounsou who just proved he can project the necessary quiet strength and angst in Blood Diamond, and fits a physically big man, too.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

And yes about how good "Wilde West" is. I picked it up expecting light celebrity comedy and was really quite wowed.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Me too. I hadn't read anything by Sattherwaite before, but I did after!

[gentilhomme.livejournal.com]

Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. My favourite novel about Hatshepsut, the most remarkable of Egypt's female rulers (yes, that includes Cleopatra). Could be adapted without falling into the traps of biopics (i.e. too many characters, events just name-checked), and offers several great roles.

I'd love a Hatshepsut movie, so long as it had excellent actors for her and Senmut.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. A challenge to the scriptwriter because of the gigantic cast which would have to be trimmed, true, but at its heart a road movie, and I so want Ron Rifkin to play Mr. Wednesday, aka Odin. That is his role, I tell you. Born for it. Much as I'm not a fan of his celeb antics, Russell Crowe could be Shadow.

I'm sure it would make a watchable movie, but the problem is the subtle references and Gaiman's actual literal words-on-a-page prose are much of the book appeal for me.

That said, Naomi and I have been trying to decide who to cast for Wednesday, Low-Key and Shadow (who I think is not actually black but Native, yes?) -- Rifkin was one of the people we thought about for Wednesday, but he's just not big enough physically, I think. Wednesday is a big man. Garber's closer to my mental image (huge surprise, eh?) but not quite right. Naomi favors Stellan Skarsgård for Wednesday, IIRC, but I'm sure there's a perfect actor out there that I just haven't come across.

Adam Beach is my closest choice for Shadow, if he were a little older and somewhat bulkier.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'd love a Hatshepsut movie, so long as it had excellent actors for her and Senmut.

And Thutmosis III. Don't forget the young villain! He needs to be three-dimensional (and one of the reasons why Gedge's novel is so good is that she resists the temptation of making him just the boo-hiss sort and makes his feelings for Hatshepsut a very interesting love/hate thing), as every heroine needs a worthy foil.

Rifkin was one of the people we thought about for Wednesday, but he's just not big enough physically, I think. Wednesday is a big man. Garber's closer to my mental image (huge surprise, eh?) but not quite right

*g* See, I don't think that Wednesday being a big man, physically, is as important to this characterisation as it is for Shadow's. Visually speaking, Rifkin providing a contrast by being small and thin might even work better - and sell the original "I need a bodyguard" pitch before the viewer figure out who he really is. Also, while the great Victor would undoubtedly be splendid as well, I still vote for Rifkin for having the proven ability of making you believe he cares even when sacrificing his offspring. Garber just proved he can make people believe he cares while sacrificing other people for his offspring! veg)

[gentilhomme.livejournal.com]

and sell the original "I need a bodyguard" pitch before the viewer figure out who he really is.

But part of what intrigued me was that Wednesday didn't exactly seem to need a bodyguard -- I mean, yes, he was the aging one in the nice suit, but he was described as physically imposing to some degree. I will concede that Rifkin would be excellent for a film version, but he just isn't my mental image of Wednesday, you know?

I still vote for Rifkin for having the proven ability of making you believe he cares even when sacrificing his offspring. Garber just proved he can make people believe he cares while sacrificing other people for his offspring!

*snerks* Touche. ;)

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Shadow as Native American works as well, especially given Gaiman's idea in the novel about America being bad for gods because the Native Americans were uniquely un-worshipful towards their deities (which I have no idea of the accuracy of, anthropologically speaking).

I got longwinded. Sorry.

[gentilhomme.livejournal.com]

*nods* I seem to recall some reference in the book to Shadow being wholly or partly Native -- IIRC, someone asks him if he's got African blood and I think he demurs. And (here I will be irritatingly stereotypical for a moment) it's less likely for some white kid to get a name like 'Shadow Moon' unless they're one of Frank Zappa's.

Perhaps I've come at the book from a different perspective, but I didn't think the premise was so much that America was bad for gods because the Am. Indians weren't unworshipful*, but because America is the 'New World'. Most of the deities mentioned in the book aren't Native and the 'old gods' of Europe haven't got centuries or millennia of history binding them to the land and the people here. Furthermore, there's just not the same sort of population density, so -- especially with the huge amount of long-distance driving in the book -- I got the feeling that whatever the old gods were getting, it wasn't quite enough because it was so dissipated. There seems to be an 'old gods belong to their original land' aspect to it -- Wednesday/Odin leaves America, but there's still at least one aspect of him still present in Iceland. If you read the book as a Ragnarok scenario (which is plausible), it gets even more interesting in that direction. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me more like 'gods die because the cultures that bore them forget them' and 'America is a new world for new gods' (Media, the Internet, &c.).

Anthropologically speaking, the Native American tribes I've encountered don't really 'worship' their gods in the way that, say, Europeans do. It's more of a familial relationship than a boss/worker relationship or tiny supplicant/BIG SCARY GOD relationship. You learn from them, you tell stories about them (Coyote and his shit babies are one of my favorite themes), you try to learn to embody the best parts. They're more like a parent or an older cousin or sibling than I AM GOD HEAR ME ROAR. As far as I understand it, that is.

[muffinmonster.livejournal.com]

I always thought that Gene Hackman would make a great Mr. Wednesday. He certainly is able to pull off the needed mischievousness ;)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Gene Hackman! You're right, he'd be another good choice!

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat. I'm definitely going to pick up Child of the Morning.

I've been looking for Egyptian fiction ever since watching a Discovery Channel espisode about how Moses might have been Ramses' child--a shunned prince...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's a great novel.

Re: Moses: and then there are the theories, from Freud onwards, that he's connected to Anchenaton. Judith Tarr wrote a novel, Pillar of Fire, in which he's actually the heretical pharao himself...

[counteragent.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, NEAT! I knew there had to be Moses-was-really-Egyptian fiction. The stories are too good not to explore. I will check that out, too, time permitting.

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

A thousand times yes on American Gods. I could also see Sir Ian McKellen as Mr. Wednesday.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Who could say no to Sir Ian?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Oddly, just a few days ago I was talking to a friend about film possibilities once the Potter books are out of the way and he suggested that Hambley in general, and Bride of the Rat God in particular, would make excellent cinema.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

He's right, and I'm always glad to hear of other Hambley fans, especially for her less well-known books...