[Closed] Best Film Never Made/Unmakeable films

Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' & 'American Gods'.

HBO are apparently doing American Gods as a multi season series. Seems fairly definite based on this:
[url= http://hbowatch.com/what-is-american-gods-all-about-anyway/ ]http://hbowatch.com/what-is-american-gods-all-about-anyway/[/url]

The Flying Ox - Member

I'm sensing a lot of money to be made by Iain Banks here. I reckon his fiction, rather than his science-fiction (Culture) stuff, would translate easier to film. I'm thinking Guillermo del Torro is about the only person able to do any of his work justice though.

Complicity was moderately succesful... And the Crow Road TV series was bloomin excellent

Vurt is one that I'd love. Noon has been doing it for a decade iirc.

Personal favourite would be Rendezvous with Rama.

Culture film can't be too long off, Use of Weapons please 🙂 Or the one with Fassin Taak which isn't culture but would look great.

Use of Weapons please

Complicity was moderately succesful... And the Crow Road TV series was bloomin excellent

Give Banks the silver screen and I think he'd be screenwriting king of Hollywood.

Addendum. I had no idea "Pan's Labyrinth" was on tonight. I looked up from submitting my previous comment and had to stand up so I could sit down again.

Thinking about it, the 2 biggest SF franchises of recent times are on the wane. A series of Culture films could fill that gap rather nicely.

I'd love to see Altered Carbon

[url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2261227/plotsummary ]Linky[/url]

I think it's in the planning, should be a fairly easy one to do, more film noir than space opera.

Halo

I still cling desperately to the hope that someone will pick it back up...

Even having suggested it a culture series terrifies me. The potential is huge but songs the danger. All I can see is ja ja binks. That and I can't see anyone agreeing on pronunciation.

I'd love to see Altered Carbon + the rest of the Kovacs books done. Morgan's style in Market Forces is also very filmable, not surprising as he wrote with it as a screenplay in mind.

I think it's in the planning, should be a fairly easy one to do, more film noir than space opera.

I'd love to see altered carbon as a film, it was bought by warner brothers (i think) within month of the book being published - hense HB 1st editions being worth £100's. It'll be hard though, with multipul celeb actors required to play the same role.

Market forces is a terrible book imo, i'd make a better film, but in a crap 80's si-fi way.

I'd also love to see the Rama series by A C Clarke made into a film series.

Cougar - Member
Hollow chocolate bunnies of the appocolypse+1Plus, there's scope for a sequel.
Dunno about Pixar; I was thinking more of a CG / live action mix, like Ted recently

I was thinking of the opposite, start all live action then only the boy in a CGI world.

There a Tom Holt book where all the old gods are in a retirement home and they break out on a stream engine they've been building in their spare time. Could be bonkers take most of the older expendables cast and make then doddery old gods bumming around.

Plants vs Zombies.

[url= http://sciencefictionworld.com/films/science-fiction-films/470-new-iain-m-banks-culture-movie.html ]A Gift From The Culture?[/url]

Still not in production 3 years on though...

I would love to see an A.B.C Warriors (from 2000AD) movie. For those that don't know, think big, mean, mercenary robots with style and attitude.

[img] [/img]

Over 20 years ago, I did a uni project (ABC video game) and had the idea of using basketball players in cossies. But it would have looked crap. With today's CGI, it would be easier and betterer (plenty of nice toys to sell off the back of it - someone do it).

The Illuminatus Trilogy directed by Tarantino, please.

A decent H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, say ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. A cyclopean sprawling alien landscape in Antarctica would require a whopping big budget though.

Can't see why people are naming Blood Meridian here. It's just a western.

It would be difficult to watch due to the graphic violence and some film makers might shy away from this but there is nothing in the narrative structure of the book to make it 'unfilmable'.

Good point - bit like Wodehouse really, a lot of the joy is in the writing itself.

There's a new Wodehouse adaptation of Blandings starting on the BBC tonight. I await with baited breath.

Wodehouse fans, have you read this: [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mortdecai-Trilogy-Kyril-Bonfiglioli/dp/0141003774 ]The Mortdecai Trilogy[/url] ?

I'd love to see a film version of it.

I was thinking of the opposite, start all live action then only the boy in a CGI world.

Aren't we in danger of seguing into Who Framed Roger Rabbit territory though?

There a Tom Holt book where all the old gods are in a retirement home and they break out on a stream engine they've been building in their spare time. Could be bonkers take most of the older expendables cast and make then doddery old gods bumming around.

Speaking of Tom Holt, the J.W.Wells series would make great movies.

Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

The first would have to be a CGI fest just to get all the cold war action in, the second, I'm not sure they could do justice to the whole vibe.

The film I keep coming back to is The Fifth Element, I've watched it so many times now that its hard to think of a scene that could be improved and also it could not be remade, it's just too good.

I remember reading The Chrisalyds by John Wyndham when I was younger and always thought it would makea great film.

Finnegan Wakes.

"Loud, heap miseries upon us yet entwine our arts with laughters low!"

I think there was a version made in the 60's. Similarly there have been versions of Ullyses but they're a bit of a cop out, relying on a lot of narration. I'd have thought we're used to a more broken and non-linear film making now and a bit of Joyce would work. With Joyce theres a lot about how a words look on the page and how the sentence sounds to the ear and the layers of meaning that creates - seeing 'guineas is good for you' but hearing 'guinness is good for you' and all the history and politics tied up in that pun. But how do you achieve that without creating a sort of powerpoint presentation

I'm really surprised that the Third Policeman (why would that spring to mind) has never made it to the screen. The only reason I've seen for it having not done so is that it doesn't fit into the three act structure of typical movie. That doesn't seem unsurmountable though.

There was a rumour about 'Stray Toasters' getting a cinema release, but that was nearly a decade ago- they were always about a release as if a film was already in production. Similarly, around the same time there was talk about a live action Mr Benn.

Can't see why people are naming Blood Meridian here. It's just a western.

It would be difficult to watch due to the graphic violence and some film makers might shy away from this but there is nothing in the narrative structure of the book to make it 'unfilmable'.

Whilst I agree there is nothing in the basic narrative of the book to make it unfilmable, the fact that the violence is so intrinsic to the nature and meaning of the book that to film it without would be to miss the point, and very essence, of the book.

I, for one, would not be interested in seeing a "watered down" version of the book, and it would not do the source material justice.

Conversely, it would also take a very deft hand to bring out the atmosphere and imagery of the book, and the majority of modern directors seem to have difficulty balancing violence with subtlety and beauty.

I did wonder if the Coen Brothers may be a good choice: The way they did No Country for Old Men was impressive, and showed signs that they may be able to take on Blood Meridian. I doubt it will happen though.

Euro - Member

I would love to see an A.B.C Warriors (from 2000AD) movie

Cinergi Pictures already have their Hammerstein special effect sat in a box somewhere. Mekquake might need a bigger box.

Watchmen. That has yet be made successfully into a film.

Halo

I still cling desperately to the hope that someone will pick it back up...

I'm about 99% certain it has been picked up again. I'll need to retrace my steps to find where I found that out to 100% though.

fervouredimage - Member

Watchmen. That has yet be made successfully into a film.

Say what now? They changed the ending so it made more sense, but other than that it was very loyal. Unless you really miss the barely-relevant-pirates

I'm really surprised that the Third Policeman (why would that spring to mind) has never made it to the screen. The only reason I've seen for it having not done so is that it doesn't fit into the three act structure of typical movie. That doesn't seem unsurmountable though.

Yes, could be ace but easy to make a hash of. Now I'm wondering whether anyone's had a serious attempt at filming anything Borges wrote.

Did Borges write anything long enough to turn into a film?

I'd like to see Peter F Hamilton's Nights Dawn Trilogy in film, but as each book is so massive, not sure it would transfer.

Now I'm wondering whether anyone's had a serious attempt at filming anything Borges wrote.

A quick google reveals this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116061/

@jon1973 - yes, Wyndham's "The Chrysalids" would be excellent - would love to see how they handle the post-apocalyptic landscapes and mutations.

Also good IMO would be his "The Kraken Wakes" - could put some climate change spin on it too with rising sea levels.

A decent H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, say ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. A cyclopean sprawling alien landscape in Antarctica would require a whopping big budget though.

fervouredimage - Member
Watchmen. That has yet be made successfully into a film.

The Passage by Justin Cronin. Nothing intrinsically difficult but I can't see a film maker being able to avoid just going look vampires.

Northwind - Member

Cinergi Pictures already have their Hammerstein special effect sat in a box somewhere. Mekquake might need a bigger box.

Big Jobs!

The leftover ABC from the old Dredd movie? I had a little google search on the subject and it seems i'm not alone in thinking it'd be a decent movie. Also found a little homemade promo for Slaine: The Horned God.

I think you lot are missing the point of "unfilmable".

How about a novel where most of the dialogue takes place between the curator of a botanical glasshouse and the plants in his care (or between the plants themselves)?

http://www.jdhp.net/#!/work/griefwork

As a novel it's utterly compelling. As a film it would make me want to slit my wrists.

f

No one's considered starting an Iain Banks series with something a little more simpler like "Player of Games" or "Use of Weapons"? Both would get people interested and would be far easier to film.

Unfilmable? The Night's Dawn trilogy. Too big. Hell, I only managed to read the first one and a half books before admitting defeat.

Lance, A true story.

I went to a Iain Banks book signing when I was a student and we talked about filming the Culture novels and he himself said that he though Consider Phlebas was the one they should start with.

Though you'd struggle to fit any of his novels into a 2 hour film.

I'd like to see Alien 3 remade more in line with some of the original concept scripts - I think there was something about it being set on a monastery spaceship rather than a prison planet which sounded a lot more interesting.

I'd like to see Alien 3 remade more in line with some of the original concept scripts

I'd like to see Billy Elliot remade with Sylvester Stallone in the title roll.

I'd like to see Alien 3 remade more in line with some of the original concept scripts

I'd like to see Alien 3 where they kill off Ripley, make a grown-up Newt the main protagonist, and impregnate Jonesy.