What novel have you ever read that you think could be easily made into a great screen play and movie?

I submit "The Ice Limit" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I hope the not yet released "Ender's Game" will do justice to that superb book.

Hmmm...the sticking point would be "easily".

One I would like to see would be "A Canticle For Liebowitz":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz

But Hollywood would just try to condense it and mess it up kinda like they did "Dune".

And don't get me started on "I Robot". :laugh:

If a Peter Jackson could get hold of one of the great SF novels...

Well not so much a novel, but I'd like to see a good depiction of WW1 put onto the big screen. It's a great interest of mine and I've read many books on the subject and visited Ypres last year. Some photos I took if anyones interested

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinsta303/8396885659/in/photostream/

Spielberg went some way with Warhorse but it never really captured the full horrors or the war and the tragic loss. I think a good story would be the pals battalions that joined up and went on to fight at the battle of the Somme. They were unique in that a whole town or working companions joined together and served together. The problem was that as in the case of the Somme they were wiped out in minutes meaning whole communites were devastated when the men of the town never returned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pals_battalion

The best movie about WW1 in my opinion is Gallipoli which touches on the points I mentioned to some degree. I'd recommend anybody who hasn't watched it to do so.

On a side note I think Spielberg really coped out making War of the Worlds the way he did. I wish he had stuck to the original story.

I would love to watch a movie of 'The Mote In God's Eye' - Jerry Pournelle/Larry Niven. Described as the ultimate in 'first contact' stories, this book combines known technologies with two sci-fi inventions, hyper-drive and field protection, to provide plausable ships for humans. First Contact comes in the form of a humanoid race with vastly superiour abilities but limited space-faring technology which prevents them leaving their system.

If you are a sci-fi nut like me, Mote is a must-read. If it comes out as a movie, expect to see me at the head of the queue at the premier.........

"The Mote in God's Eye" is a very good book indeed.  

I agree with tjohn on Hollywood's knack at spoiling a good thing.  Remember their pitiful make of "Starship Trooper"?

Not to mention "When Androids Dream Electric Sheep"

"Footfall" Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle

"Rendez Vous with Rama" Arthur C. Clarke

"Footfall" was not one of my favorites.  "Rendezvous with Rama" was better of the two in my opinion.  

Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" remains my favorite sci-fi novel of all times but I'm not sure how it would play out on the big screen.  

It's too bad that Arthur C. Clarke died in 2008. Perhaps he could have expanded his short story "The Sentinel" into a feature film in collaboration with a director - someone like Stanley Kubrick, for instance. Oh wait, he did! :biggrin:

Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL? 
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you. 
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. 
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. 
Dave Bowman: What's the problem? 
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. 
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL? 
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. 
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL. 
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen. 
Dave Bowman: [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL? 
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move. 
Dave Bowman: Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock. 
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult. 
Dave Bowman: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors! 
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye. 

I would like to see Clarke's novella "Waldo" made into a film.

Bobby? They did that already - it was renamed 'Bladerunner'.

Quote - I would like to see Clarke's novella "Waldo" made into a film.

Sheesh, I'm getting old! I meant Robert Heinlein's "Waldo", of course. (much grumbling in beard)

Must be an entirely different group of Brycers nowadays.  In years past a discussion as this would have been pages long.  

Guy's and Gal's 

I am reading "The Wheel of Time "by Robert Jordan for the tenth time,12 books .

this is my style of book that I read most.

I do not read fiction.  It is only stories that people make up inside their heads.

Interesting comment, Dan, but without these stories from inside people's heads we would not have the technological advances that make our lives what they are today.....

here here.Oz and such to leave this mortal plane in books,with would be a bore.

I will stick with non-fiction.  It fills my brain up right.  Like Campbells chunky soup.

Quote - Bobby? They did that already - it was renamed 'Bladerunner'.

Yep.  And after reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" I concluded the movie is a rare instance of being better than the book.

Saw the preview of "Ender's Game".  Ummm wow?  So many oscar nominees and a winner or two for one... and it does look stellar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SRizeR4MmU

A few books I'd be interested in seeing on the big screen:

the "Sten" Series by Chris Bunch and Alan Cole

The "War Against the Chtorr" series by David Gerrold

"Bio of a Space Tyrannt" by Piers Anthony

and of course "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber.  (face it, the whole Honor Harrington Series, IMHO for at least the first 8 books is pretty good for cinema.

Quote - Must be an entirely different group of Brycers nowadays.  In years past a discussion as this would have been pages long.  

I seem to remember the same.  I can finally get back into this stuff now that I've upgraded my hardware and participate again.  Then again, this forum used to be a much more active place, but everything has it's season I guess.

You realize that Uncle Sam is fictional, right? :b_confused:

And that everything you've posted in your gallery that isn't a photograph (and arguably, even the photos) are the result of something that you made up inside your head?

And that all non-fiction: history, biography, political and scientific discourse, etc, by nature cannot be written without the author's point of view and personal agenda being involved in some way, thereby making the work not merely factual?

I didn't respond to your original post in here because I was sure that you were joking, Dan.

I'm still not convinced you're not. And non-fictionally speaking, a brainful of Campbells chunky soup would result in near-instantaneous death.

Just sayin'. 

BTW, Dan, all your gallery work is spectacular. I especially enjoy your warplane renders.

tjohn thanks.  I am only semi-serious, but I do shy away from reading fiction.  Sometimes I will get suckered into reading a fiction work, but it is very rare.  The Exhorcist was the last fiction I read.  It is easier these days for me to use audio books rather than reading them.