The 10 worst book-to-movie adaptations
Since the dawn of cinema, book adaptations have been a feature of the industry. Perhaps the most famous early example is F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent German Expressionist horror Nosferatu, an unofficial and unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 masterpiece, Dracula. Of course, another iconic book adaptation came 20 years before Murnau’s, one that arrived in the form of Georges Méliès’ 1902 project A Trip to the Moon. The plot is loosely based on Jules Verne’s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon and its 1870 sequel, Around the Moon.
Throughout its expansive history, a number of stellar adaptations of books in cinema have impressed both critically and commercially, including Peter Jackson’s big-budget adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the culturally significant eight titles squeezed out of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories. Other notable examples that spring to mind are A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting, Schindler’s List and Trainspotting, and countless others.
However, for every notable attempt at bringing a book to life on the big screen, there are innumerable terrible takes. Whether horror, science-fiction, or otherwise, some of the most lauded novels in history have been violated by studios, directors and a flailing cast that had no right to be anywhere near them.
Duly, we’ve listed the ten worst book-to-movie adaptations in history, and there are some real clangers out there. Expect to be sick in your mouth.
The 10 worst book-to-movie adaptations:
10. The Rum Diary (Bruce Robinson, 2011)
To adapt the outlandish and vivid work of the late Hunter S. Thompson is a Herculean task for any filmmaker, with it a miracle that Terry Gilliam did such an impressive job at Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, despite some criticisms correctly pointed in its direction. However, a much less agreeable account applies to Bruce Robinson’s adaptation of The Rum Diary.
Casting Depp as the Thompson-like author Paul Kemp – similar to the actor’s rendition of his pseudonym Raoul in Fear and Loathing – this film is not worth anyone’s time. Despite a cast featuring the likes of Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, and Giovanni Ribisi, ultimately, it tries too hard to bring Thompson’s authentic cool to life. It was also what kicked off the entire Depp-Heard debacle. Get it in the bin.
9. The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009)
Just because Peter Jackson killed it when bringing Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to life, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t royally fail in other areas. This becomes apparent when revisiting his adaption of Alice Sebold’s profound 2002 novel The Lovely Bones. Famously, this wouldn’t be Jackson’s only misfire, with the disaster of The Hobbit trilogy just around the corner.
It’s a shame that The Lovely Bones was such a flop as, on paper, it had all the makings of a classic. Alongside the eminent director, the cast boasts the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci, with a score being provided by the brilliant Brian Eno. The plot follows a teenage girl who was murdered by her serial killer neighbour. The girl then gets trapped in ‘the in-between’, a place neither heaven nor earth, where she looks over her family that continues to grapple with her death.
Whilst the book is a completely refreshing take on family, innocence and suburbia, the film missed all its vital aspects and is uncomfortable and weird, like a bad acid trip. Some of the scenes in ‘the in-between’ are hilariously poor.
8. Billy Bathgate (Robert Benton, 1991)
There’s no surprise that 1991’s Billy Bathgate has been forgotten to the vast pile of Hollywood failures. Acclaimed British writer Tom Stoppard adapted the biographical gangster movie from E.L. Doctorow’s 1989 work of the same name, which would make anyone think they might be in for a thrill. Adding to this great expectation, the book received many plaudits and was even the runner-up in the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. However, the movie received no such praise.
Starring Loren Dean as the title character, it makes sense that his career did not take off as he probably would have hoped after release. Elsewhere, the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi star, which makes the scope of this movie’s failures a real head-scratcher. In fact, it was so horrific that Doctorow even distanced himself from it, as there are a variety of egregious deviations from his work. It grossed just $15.5million at the box office against its $48million budget. Ouch.
7. The Time Machine (Simon Wells, 2002)
The “father of science fiction”, H.G. Wells, has had many of his works adapted into movies – to wildly varying effects. This 2002 adaptation of 1895’s The Time Machine is probably the worst, even pipping Steven Spielberg’s 2005 Tom Cruise-starring The War of the Worlds. Loosely adapted by John Logan from the novel and David Duncan’s iconic 1960 film of the same name, there’s much to loathe here.
Stars Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons are terrible, as are the likes of Samantha Mumba, Orlando Jones and Mark Addy. Annoyingly set in New York City instead of London – which instantly causes it to lose authenticity – the movie contains a number of new and unwelcome story elements. These include the sickeningly romantic narrative, a fresh tale about civilisation’s destruction, and daft original characters like Irons’ antagonist, the Über-Morlock, and the AI hologram. The only slightly interesting saving grace is the cameo by Alan Young, who appeared in the much, much better 1960 film.
6. Kill Your Friends (Owen Harris, 2015)
Another movie that really should have been better. Kill Your Friends is confounding because the screenplay was written by John Niven, based on his own 2008 novel. A satirical black comedy-cum-crime thriller, the project stars Nicholas Hoult, Craig Roberts, Tom Riley and Georgia King. Set against the backdrop of Britpop’s musical boom in the 1990s, the book is a sharp account of the era, inspired by Niven’s brief stint in A&R, during which he passed up the opportunity to sign Coldplay and Muse.
However, the film misses the book’s magic. With Blur and Oasis reigning supreme, Hoult plays psychopathic 27-year-old A&R man Steven Stelfox. On a diet of greed and plenty of narcotics, Stelfox’s hits gradually dry up, taking the concept of “killer tunes” to a murderously real level as he desperately tries to rescue his career. It sounds juicy on paper, but the movie is dull and tries too hard to be the British American Psycho.
5. The Bonfire of the Vanities (Brian De Palma, 1990)
Brian De Palma has made a number of incredible movies in his time, but he’s also made his fair share of duds, with The Bonfire of the Vanities widely named as the worst picture he’s released. The film is based on the bestselling and influential 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe and was adapted for the screen by the Pulitzer-winning Michael Cristofer. This meant many had high hopes for the movie.
A strong cast of Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Kim Cattrall, Melanie Griffith and Morgan Freeman made this failure one of the most notorious in cinema. Instead of talking too much about its various abuses of the subject matter, I’ll let Tom Hanks deliver his own scathing account. “It’s one of the crappiest movies ever made,” Hanks said in 2001. An ill-thought-out picture; there’s no surprise that everyone connected to it hangs their heads in shame when reminded of it.
4. The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the most multifaceted bodies of work in literature. In one part, a retelling of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, in another a compelling fantasy, and elsewhere a brilliant religious critique, there’s a lot to analyse. As a result, very few were overly shocked in 2007 when Chris Weitz’s attempt at the first instalment, The Golden Compass, was a complete failure. It’s one of the worst movies of the 2000s.
Starring Dakota Blue Richards as the protagonist Lyra Belacqua alongside Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Ian McKellen, Eva Green and Sam Elliott, it misses the point of Pullman’s work and feels devoid of any purpose. One of New Line Cinema’s most expensive films at the time, with a budget of $180million, it was an immense critical flop. The potential of the rest of the trilogy getting movies immediately fell apart after release.
3. The Dark Tower (Nikolaj Arcel, 2017)
You’d think a movie based on a celebrated work by Stephen King, starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, would at least be decent, but not in this case. 2017’s The Dark Tower was a total flop on every level. The reception must really hurt all those involved, given it had a girthy budget of $66million.
Mistakenly attempting to tell an abridged, PG-13 version of King’s winding and graphically violent tale, Nikolaj Arcel’s film was destined to be a disaster before the cameras started rolling, as the script failed to capture the tone of King’s extensive series of novels. After the movie’s failure, the author told Vulture in 2017: “The major challenge was to do a film based on a series of books that’s really long, about 3,000 pages. The other part of it was the decision to do a PG-13 feature adaptation of books that are extremely violent and deal with violent behaviour in a fairly graphic way”.
2. The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann, 2013)
I don’t care what anyone says, including the Academy, I’ve always thought Baz Luhrmann is one of the most overrated filmmakers. The likes of William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! are so bad, it’s not even laughable. However, the Australian’s most odious title has to be the tacky 2013 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s era-defining 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby.
Arriving with a cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and many more, what Luhrmann attempted to do to the subject material was beyond the pale. Trying to force a gritty hip-hop angle into the roaring 1920s might have been an interesting idea, but it was too much and fell flat because of it. Incredibly cheesy and lacking the profundity and self-awareness of Fitzgerald’s book, it is the antithesis to the 1974 adaptation starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, which is near-perfect.
1. Battlefield Earth (Roger Christian, 2000)
Potentially the worst movie ever made, there’s a strong argument that John Travolta ruined his career with Battlefield Earth. Based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, this comedic masterclass stars Travolta alongside Forest Whitaker and Barry Pepper. A really out-there title, it follows a human rebellion against the giant humanoid aliens, the Psychlos, who have ruled the earth for over 1,000 years.
Travolta, one of the most prominent Scientologists, began adapting Battlefield Earth in the mid-1990s. However, he could not acquire the significant funding needed due to the widespread concerns surrounding the quality of the script and its connections to Scientology. Eventually, though, in 1998, indie production house Franchise Pictures picked it up, with filming starting in 1999.
Whilst most of the funding came from German distributors Intertainment AG, Travolta, who acted as co-producer, also contributed millions of his own money. The actor had penned it as the first of a duo of films adapted from the book, as it only covers half of the story. However, it was a critical and commercial disaster. Battlefield Earth received eight Golden Raspberry Awards, which was the most for a single movie until 2012. It also won ‘Worst Picture of the Decade’ at the Razzies in 2010.
A genuinely appalling adaptation. If you’re looking to delve into L. Ron Hubbard’s distinctive world, I suggest picking up one of his books instead. However, if you want a barrel full of laughs, stick to Battlefield Earth.
