From Books to Movies

Everyone I'm sure can agree that when you find yourself a book you love you don't want it to end.  Saying goodbye (even knowing you can revisit these pages) to the unique worlds, wonderful characters, etc... is tough.  So I always worry that things will be changed, it can't do the original justice, the castings are never who I pictured, and the list goes on and on.  That's what goes through my head when I hear a favorite book of mine is going to hit the big screen.  But the bottom line though is that its another chance to visit a favorite book and hold on a little big longer.  The book will always win out, but I'm not going to complain about all the YA novels recently picked up for possible movie and TV transitions.  Are you?  Check out some of the potentials I'm looking forward to and let me know what you're counting down to hit the move theaters or TV screens.

Divergent

 

The first in Veronica Roth's trilogy is tentatively scheduled for release on March 21, 2014 so we've got less than a year to go!  Summit Entertainment picked this winner up and put Neil Burger in the director's seat.  He can take credit for films such as Limitless, The Lucky Ones, and The Illusionist for the director's role.  Filming was scheduled to start in April and to last around 60 days, most of which would be in the great city of Chicago.  Fans can look forward to Shailene Woodley as Tris, Theo James as Four, Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews, Jai Courtney as Eric and Maggie Q as Tori.  I'm still working out how I feel about the cast and trying to picture it all together, but I'll get there.  If you're not already, start following the movie on Instagram for sneak peek scenes from shooting and more posters like the Dauntless one at the right!

Ender's Game

 

This release will hit the big screens on November 1st in order to take advantage of the holiday ramp up, Summit Entertainment looks to have another potentially huge hit on their hands.  With Gavin Hood directing, you'll know him for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I was super excited.  Asa Butterfield from Hugo, Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine and Harrison Ford...need I say more?  I've got my fingers crossed for some awesome visual effects, and with all the action going on throughout these pages, there's a huge potential for this film to be just out of this world...pun intended.  I know I'm also glad that while November might not be right around the corner it gives me plenty of time to FINALLY read this book.  I've been meaning to for so long and for one reason or another I kept pushing it to the side.  Now I have no more excuses left...I hate seeing a movie based on a book before I've ever read the book...bad form in my opinion.  I know I'll want to see this movie as soon as it comes out, so I've got a few months to bump it up on my TBR list and get cracking!  I mean how cool does this movie poster alone look?

 

 

Vampire Academy

 

With a title like Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters I wasn't sure what to think, and decided to hold off on judgement.  We can hope to see this release on Valentine's Day next year thanks to The Weinstein Co. who bought the U.S. rights.  They're more well known for movies with adult themes, like Silver Linings Playbook, but hopefully they're attempting to widen their repertoire and reach the highly popular teen audiences and the rest of us who devour these types of books.  Mark Waters will direct (you might know him from Mean Girls and 500 Days of Summer) and his brother Daniel Waters wrote alongside.  I've been a fan of his work from Heathers and can only hope he hasn't lost his magic touch.  Zoey Deutch, best known for Beautiful Creatures and Ringer will play Rose Hathaway, Danila Kozlovsky is set to play Dimitri Belikov, and Lucy Fry the sweet Lissa Dragomir.  I completely unfamiliar with Danila and Lucy, but the pictures I've seen haven't been far off what I've always pictured in my head so for now I'll hope for the best.  Either way I'm excited to see how this one transitions to the screen since it's been one of my favorite series for a long time.

 



If I Stay

 

How to describe how I feel about this one being made into a movie...it's too hard to put into words.  This is a book that was so moving and haunting that even after finishing the last pages I knew it would stay with me for a long time to come.  So while I know this one has been in and out of production since 2009, I'm still undecided if I'm excited to see it happen for real, or am I okay if it doesn't end up making the cut.  Dakota Fanning was originally slated to play Mia, but now it's said that Chloe Grace Moretz is rumored to have taken the role.  I enjoyed her in Dark Shadows and look forward to her playing Carrie...although I don't think anyone can hold a candle to Sissy Spacek in that role.  I'm hopeful that if R.J. Cutler (from the September Issue) will be in the director's chair that it's got potential...I hope.  I'd be even more optimistic if Gayle Forman herself would be put in a VERY big role as far as contributing to the screen play, etc...because than at least I'd feel some reassurance that they wouldn't stray too far from the masterpiece that she put together.

 

 

Incarceron

 

Amber Entertainment snagged the rights to Catherine Fischer's YA series and is helping to put this movie into motion.  Unfortunately after Fox 2000 dropped the rights to this film in 2012 there hasn't been much new information other than it being picked up and hopefully revamped shortly by Amber Entertainment.  There were rumors that Taylor Lautner and Emma Watson were going to be filling in the roles for the main characters, but those can now be classified as just that...rumors...or at least for the time being.  I've got no problem with Lautner, but honestly I can't see him in the role of Finn, so part of me hopes that whoever ends up playing this part will feel more right to fit the mold of the character I've got pictured in my head.  Only time will tell.

 



 

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

 





If the cast and the screenplay turn out as good as they've got the potential to, I think all the fans out there for this YA mega hit will be pleased.  With Stuart Beattie in the driver's seat of this screenplay after Universal picked up the rights, I got excited.  He's done great work with Collateral, and 30 Days of Night...a little dark, but I think a book like this will need someone who can tap into material like that.  And to top it all off we've got Joe Roth producing as of right now.  If you guys haven't seen Snow White and the Huntsman, or The Great and Powerful Oz, both of which are two of his masterpieces, get on that immediately.  I've got to admit that I'm feeling optimistic when it comes to this book hitting the big screen.  For some reason or another I can actually picture what it could be like, I can see the potential and hopefully with a great team, which they've already started putting together, a great cast will soon follow!

The Selection

 

Now we've ventured into the TV screens with this one.  Kiera Cass' hit series seems to know no bounds.  With the recent release of this series' sequel, The Elite, fans just can't seem to get enough.  The CW has a pilot for this series set to come out this year, still not sure when, but you know what that means....we've got no guarantees that it will keep coming back until the pilot and maybe the first couple episodes (if we're lucky) do well.  Only after receiving great ratings and all that other jazz that goes into deciding whether or not to keep a show gets factored in will we know if we'll see this baby stick around.  I took a look at the cast they have on IMDB.com and I'll admit that I'm wary.  I'm not sure how I feel about the people listed so far, all I can say is that just from their head shots...they're not at all what I was picturing for the characters they're slated to play...like....at all!  But they've got Alex Graves directing, and one of my favorite shows ever, The West Wing, is on his resume and that's all the endorsement I needed to put my absolute faith that he'll work his magic and do the best that can be done!

The Mortal Instruments

 

There was no way I was leaving this one off the list, but of course I wanted to save it for last.  With this baby hitting the big screen next month, I know everyone is just on the edge of their seat to see what awesomeness will translate into the movie theaters across the country.  The trailers alone just put a smile on my face because honestly, from what I've seen so far...they're nailing it!  At least all except for the casting of Jace...I'm not saying he won't do a great job, he's just not at all what I had pictured in my head...but that's my problem, lol.  With this being the first in the world-wide bestselling series, there's a ton of pressure on just about every aspect of this film, but I'm rooting for everyone to pull it off!  By leaps and bounds, so far my favorite casting decisions were found with Magnus Bane and Valentine Morgenstern...perfection in my opinion!  Perfection!