When books inspired movies
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Was the book better than the movie? The only way to know for sure is to read before/after you watch and that’s what we’re helping you do this week.
Consider yourself forewarned – from Martin Scorcese’s 23-year-project to Jennifer Lawrence’s next role, here are a few upcoming films that owe their existence to a book.
The Lost City of Z by David Grann: That fact can be stranger than fiction is illustrated by Grann’s book about the British explorer Percy Fawcett.
Fawcett who disappeared in 1925 in the Amazon was obsessed with finding an ancient lost city –his fate is unknown. His search fascinated the world – as many as 100 people perished or disappeared searching for Fawcett over the years.
To write this book, Grann made his own journey into the Amazon, journeying into that ‘green hell’ to reveal that the fabled City of Z may have actually existed.
Optioned by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures, the book is to be adapted into a film starring Charlie Hunnam as Percy Fawcett, Sienna Miller as Fawcett’s wife, and Robert Pattinson as Henry Costin.
Silence by Shusaku Endo: Martin Scorcese returns to the director’s chair with this film, based on a book described as one of the finest of the 20th century.
The book tells the story of a Jesuit missionary sent to Japan in the 17th century. The missionaries must face persecution in the time of KakureKirishitan (“Hidden Christians”) that followed the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion.
The book is written mostly in the form of a letter, and it’s going to be interesting to see how screenwriter Jay Cocks will adapt it for film.
In April 2013, Scorsese stated he would begin production on Silence in 2014, after a reputed 23-year wait (he began developing it in 1991). The movie stars Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, and Ciarán Hinds and was shot in Taiwan.
It’s What I Do by LynseyAddario: Jennifer Lawrence is set to play LynseyAddario, one of the most extraordinary female photojournalists of her generation.
In the book, Addariowrites about photographing the Afghan people before and after the Taliban reign, the civilian casualties and misunderstood insurgents of the Iraq War, as well as the burned villages and countless dead in Darfur.
She exposes a culture of violence against women in the Congo and tells the riveting story of her headline-making kidnapping by pro-Qaddafi forces in the Libyan civil war. The book inspired a bidding war for the film rights, but Steven Spielberg walked away triumphant.
The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace:This New York Times bestseller tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux – supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson – that sold for $156,000 at auction.
Did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the mouldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? Wallace sets out to solve the mystery of one of the most elaborate cons in recent history.
The rights for the book were sold even before it was published. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, known for writing 3.10 to Yuma and Wanted, are tackling the screenplay and Matthew McConaughey is set to star.
