Books adapted to film where they got the casting right

JezWynd

crunchman said:

axisus said:

Seeing the thread where people didn't like the casting in The Dark Tower, I was wondering what films have got the casting right.

For me 100% on the money was Lord of the RIngs. I was very into all that stuff as a teen in the 70s, and the whole ensemble seemed to fit the roles superbly. Also the Hobbit was mostly very good, especially Martin Freeman, although they could have done without Stephen Fry. I don't dislike Fry, but the moment he turned up he was just ... Stephen Fry. It completely threw me out of the story for a bit.

....

The only other one I can think of off the top of my head where I've seen book(s) that I really like put on film is Master and Commander.  Russell Crowe is Russell Crowe, but Jack Aubrey isn't a deep character.  Paul Bettany was good as Maturin.  That worked for me.

Good call. Bettany is always very watchable but he really stepped up in that film and brought Maturin to life. Crowe as Aubrey was also very good. Some of the lesser roles , Bondon comes to mind, weren't so well cast but the actors did a fine job. It's a pity they never revisited the Aubrey novels, there are some great movies in there.

BigBearKris

Pacino, Brando and DeNiro in Godfather. 

Stunning.

bluechargeboy

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, haha just kidding WTF

digitalscream

If we're counting comic books...the 1989 Batman film was pretty much bang-on, but weirdly so was The Dark Knight.

axisus

AlexC said:

Michael Caine as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File and the two sequels. Exactly as Len Deighton wrote that character.

I love those films!

BigBearKris

Luca Brasi in Godfather.

ronnyb

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry. Interestingly though, he only got the part after it was turned down by Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

CabbageCat

HAL9000 said:

Harry Potter, but especially the Alan Rickman character.

He was pretty much the only one. Maggie Smith and Dumbledore were OK I guess. All of the kids were dodgy (Harry and Ron were supposed to be tall, Neville was supposed to be fat). Imelda Staunton as Umbridge was dreadful casting.

Sassafras

Ross Kemp as Grant Mitchell.
Benny Hill as a dirty old man in the original Italian Job.

Jalapeno

Sean Connery in the original Highlander as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez. Which he then played as (the usual) Sean Connery, masterful piss-take

scrumhalf

Timothy Dalton as Bond - closer to Ian Fleming's Bond in the novels.

Rickyd

stimpsonslostson said:

Poirot with David Suchet
Bond with Daniel Craig- blunt instrument etc
LOTR- all well cast. Especially Aragon. Viggo was superb. 

Bad ones:
Keanu, Wynonna & Oldham in Dracula
Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher 
Jennifer Lawrence in Hungergames

I found a Lee Child book when we were on holiday in Sardinia a couple of years ago and subsequently read them all back to back, brilliant books. I've met Lee Child a couple of times at book signings, he's a biggish bloke and just how I pictured Jack Reacher. My daughter bought me the first dvd with Tom Cruise and I cant bring myself to watch it knowing that the little short arse should be so much more. Has anyone seen it?

Jalapeno

Rickyd said:

 My daughter bought me the first dvd with Tom Cruise and I cant bring myself to watch it knowing that the little short arse should be so much more. Has anyone seen it?

It's remarkably good. TC did a good job.

Philly_Q

Rickyd said:
I found a Lee Child book when we were on holiday in Sardinia a couple of years ago and subsequently read them all back to back, brilliant books. I've met Lee Child a couple of times at book signings, he's a biggish bloke and just how I pictured Jack Reacher. My daughter bought me the first dvd with Tom Cruise and I cant bring myself to watch it knowing that the little short arse should be so much more. Has anyone seen it?

For some reason I always imagine Jack Reacher as looking like James Gandolfini from the Sopranos, although I know he's nothing like the description in the books.  You're right that Lee Child himself looks a lot like the description of Reacher, I'm sure that's how he imagined the character.

The first Reacher film was OK though, to be fair.

Sassafras

stimpsonslostson said:

Poirot with David Suchet
Bond with Daniel Craig- blunt instrument etc
LOTR- all well cast. Especially Aragon. Viggo was superb. 

Bad ones:
Keanu, Wynonna & Oldham in Dracula
Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher 
Jennifer Lawrence in Hungergames

Ah yes, I couldn't stop laughing at that, not only at how badly cast he was as Johnathon Harker but also as an actor. How could anyone believe he could be an actor? 

AlexC

Pitt and Norton in Fight Club. Spot on. One of my favourite books and one of my favourite films of all time.

Winny_Pooh

Jalapeno said:

Rickyd said:

 My daughter bought me the first dvd with Tom Cruise and I cant bring myself to watch it knowing that the little short arse should be so much more. Has anyone seen it?

It's remarkably good. TC did a good job.

And Werner Herzog is cast as the bad guy, so brilliant. I could tell it was him before he even came into frame. Having not read the books I found it a good movie

ICBM

scrumhalf said:

Timothy Dalton as Bond - closer to Ian Fleming's Bond in the novels.

Yes, although it's a pity the films were so poor.

But Connery is still the definitive Bond - even Fleming thought so after he'd seen Dr. No, having originally disliked him... so much so that for the last Bond novels, he was rewritten with Scots ancestry.

Craig acts the part well but doesn't look right.

I'm not a big reader of modern fiction usually so most of the choices here don't mean that much to me one way or the other, but I will nominate...

Christopher Lee as Dracula.

Just the right mixture of aristocratic charm and pure evil.

cj73

stimpsonslostson said:

Poirot with David Suchet
Bond with Daniel Craig- blunt instrument etc
LOTR- all well cast. Especially Aragon. Viggo was superb. 

Bad ones:
Keanu, Wynonna & Oldham in Dracula
Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher 
Jennifer Lawrence in Hungergames

And to think it was almost Stuart Townsend..

Philly_Q

ICBM said:
I'm not a big reader of modern fiction usually so most of the choices here don't mean that much to me one way or the other, but I will nominate...

Christopher Lee as Dracula.

Just the right mixture of aristocratic charm and pure evil.

He certainly had the right look, but it pisses me off that in the Hammer films Dracula rarely, if ever, speaks - he just hisses and looks menacing.  I've never understood that choice, Lee was a perfectly capable actor with a terrific speaking voice, they could've given the character a lot more depth.

I know Lee was proud of the 1970 Spanish film, Count Dracula, directed by Jess Franco, because they tried to be a bit more faithful to the book (for example Dracula has a moustache!).  It's not very good, though, it must be said...