Five Good Books That Should Be Great Movies

Great novels that are due and overdue for a leap to the big screen.

Ignatius Reilly, the poster child for Development Hell

Books, as we’ve said before, are like movies that play in your head. Good books are movies you don’t mind watching over and over again on the screen in your mind. The film industry has appropriated all kinds of books virtually since its inception, taking material from the best fiction and nonfiction as well as from the lowest genre potboilers. There’s just no way of predicting how a book will translate: Hollywood has made masterpieces out of humble paperbacks but also made garbage of bona fide classics. Films and movies aren’t exactly alike, but they’re close enough in structure and pacing that it’s sometimes hard to believe filmmakers could screw up excellent source material. But they manage.

We were excited by recent news announcing that Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars novels are headed for filming soon, at last bringing two classics of science fiction into cinema. The following is five additional examples of worthy books we’d like to see on the screen, if only so that cinema’s much wider audience can take notice of their superb stories. Just for the sake of variety, we’ve tried to include samples of literature of many different styles and periods.

Life During Wartime, by Lucius Shepard (1987) Shepard’s Cold War thriller is part horror tale, part allegory and part military war epic, forming a mosaic of genres typical of his strange genius. Set amid a U.S.-led guerrilla war in Central America, the story follows infantryman David Mingolla as he joins an elite cadre of psychic tacticians but finds his fledgling abilities much much vaster than he realized, allowing him to bend reality to his will and challenge the other psychics manipulating world events. Suggested cast: We imagine Jeremy Renner (The Unusuals) playing Mingolla, with Vinessa Shaw (Two Lovers) as his adversary and kindred spirit Deborah. Imagine the film as: A cross between Scanners, Apocalypse Now, and The Matrix. Ideal director: David Cronenberg.

The Big Nowhere, by James Ellroy (1988) A homophobic sheriff’s deputy, a mafia thug and an anguished investigator desperately pursue a brutal serial killer through McCarthy-era Los Angeles while communists, gangsters and politicians jockey for power. The second and arguably the darkest of Ellroy’s “L.A. Quartet” cycle of novels, it’s similar in tone and structure to L.A. Confidential but even bleaker and more cynical. And its ending, for better or worse, is anything but “Hollywood.” Suggested cast: Ryan Gosling (Fracture) stars as the self-loathing Deputy Danny Upshaw, alongside Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica) as repentant enforcer Buzz Meeks and Dean Winters (Oz) as weary crusader Mal Considine. No one on Earth should be allowed to play the monumentally evil Dudley Smith except James Cromwell, who nailed the same role in L.A. Confidential. Imagine the film as: Chinatown, Body Double and Manhunter combined. Ideal director: James Gray.

Five Skies, by Ron Carlson (2007) Three men – a petty criminal, a recent widower, and a Hollywood construction foreman – work at building a stunt ramp beside a gorge in the Idaho wilderness, all so that a female stunt driver (think Danica Patrick) can jump the ravine on Pay Per View. The three men confront their past as the ramp slowly takes shape and form. Suggested cast: Damian Lewis (Life) stars as the guilt-ridden foreman Arthur Key, alongside Chris Pine (Star Trek) as thief Ronnie Panelli and Sam Elliott as the heartbroken Darwin Gallegos. Imagine the film as: The Wages of Fear and Tender Mercies merged with Days of Heaven. Ideal director: Terrence Malick.

The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford  (1927) Easy to visualize as a costume drama with an edgy anger to it - an antidote to the huffing and puffing Oscarbait of recent years – Ford’s Victorian Era novel swirls around two married couples spending weeks together over twenty years at a German spa. The titular good soldier, Edward Ashburnham, is a perfect English gentleman except for his almost compulsive need to seduce women – including his friend’s wife. Long praised as an influential work both for its structure and style, the book was previously a 1981 telepic, so its time has easily come round again. Suggested cast: Liev Shreiber (Defiance) and Cate Blanchett (Bandits) play Ashburnham and his lover Florence Dowell; Robert Downey, Jr. costars as the cuckolded John Dowell alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight) as Leonora Ashurnham. Imagine the film as: A mix of Last Year At Marienbad, The Ice Storm, and The English Patient. Ideal director: Michael Winterbottom.

Night Train, by Martin Amis (1997) Amis’ critically-lauded 1997 fling with the hardboiled detective genre features an alcoholic, emotionally crippled police detective trying to solve the apparent suicide of a beautiful scientist with every reason to live. The investigation takes a turn for the darkly existential, and Amis twists conventions further by making the troubled detective a woman, too. The novel’s abrupt ending is like two fingers joliting out of the page, poking you in the eyes. Suggested cast: Laura Linney (Breach) plays the self-destructive Detective Mike Hoolihan, Amy Adams (Enchanted) plays the deceased Jennifer Rockwell, and Paul Schneider (Away We Go) co-stars as Rockwell’s lover and suspected killer Trader Faulkner. Imagine the film as: The Pledge, Prime Suspect and Laura compressed into a brainy whodunnit. Ideal director: John Dahl.

- Michael Kabel
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And Let Us Also Praise Former Leading Women

Seven women we wish still ruled the Hollywood landscape.

Last week we posted a long blog entry about leading men of the 80s and 90s who, although still working, seem to have undeservedly slipped somewhat from the top of the movie industry hierarchy. That only got us thinking two things: 1. We really need to watch Johnny Dangerously again but more importantly 2. For every actor that we miss seeing lead movies there’s at least one actress who also deserves a return to the center spotlight.

It’s an open, dirty secret that film careers for women have a much shorter half-life than those of their male co-stars, so the talent pool for an article like this is possibly both broader and deeper. The following list shows only the actresses we miss seeing lead big-budget productions that draw the kind of acclaim we think they deserve. As with its companion article, for each star we’ve included film clips showing some of their best work as well as recognition of an “unsung” performance that maybe didn’t get the attention it deserved.

1. Rene Russo: Former model Russo worked her way up in standard wife/girlfriend roles in films such as Major League (1989) and One Good Cop (1991) before breaking through with winning turns holding her own opposite Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Clint Eastwood in In The Line of Fire (1993). Best unsung performance: As Trudy Lintz, a Jazz Age eccentric raising a gorilla as her son in the based-on-fact family film Buddy (1997). Possible career tipping point: Playing Natasha in 2000′s little-loved The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was bad enough. Her projects since, including turkeys like Showtime (2002) and Two For the Money (2005), have further estranged her from public recognition. Career advice: find a role that displays the effortless confidence and poise shown in 1999′s Thomas Crown Affair; follow Glenn Close and Holly Hunter’s lead and find a cable project tailor-made to her strengths.

2. Ashley Judd: The girl next door with an edgy sexuality, Judd seemed a meteoric success in the mid-90s following the indie darling Ruby In Paradise (1993) and showcase parts in Heat (1995) and A Time To Kill (1996). For a while, she was sort of the female George Clooney, desired by the opposite sex but equally admired by her own. Best unsung performance: Though she has a bevy of indie roles weaving in and around her big-studio work, we’re partial to her turn as a griefstruck serial killer in 1999′s Eye of the Beholder. Possible career tipping point: Rumored bouts with depression kept her off the Hollywood radar for several years, and since coming “back” with 2006′s weird horror flick Bug she’s mostly kept to low-profile parts or roles in ensemble dramas, including this year’s Crossing Over. Career advice: The odd romcom or two notwithstanding, Judd’s filmography is unusually dark. Find a lighter project that shows her range and ability to connect with an audience. Something with the Coen brothers, maybe?

3. Michelle Pfeiffer: Not to put too fine a point on it, but for Gen X’ers the name Michelle Pfeiffer is pretty much synonymous with “beauty” and “movie star” alike. Films like The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and Tequila Sunrise (1988) were milestones in our introduction to adult drama. Best unsung performance: As a jewel thief on the run from Irani hitmen in 1985′s darkly comic romp Into The Night. Possible career tipping point: Pfeiffer spent much of the 90s trying to work against her glamorous screen persona, with roles including Frankie and Johnny (1991) and Dangerous Minds (1995). The public didn’t buy it. Nevertheless she’s remained undaunted, heading both fantasy films like Stardust (2007) and complicated dramas such as White Oleander (2002). Career advice: It’s difficult to criticize an actress who consistently picks challenging roles, but Ms. Pfeiffer should consider a historical drama that would get the Academy’s attention. Alternately, take on an indie film that feels deliberately less polished than most of her screen work.

4. Carrie-Anne Moss: The screen goddess of tomorrow at the turning of the Millennium, Carrie-Anne Moss was the elegantly cool center of The Matrix trilogy while also appearing in the indie sensation Memento (2000). Best unsung performance: Her understated, brainy-sexy performance is actually the only reason to watch the otherwise staggeringly awful Red Planet (2000). Possible career tipping point: The Matrix trilogy’s utter collapse couldn’t have helped, but later appearances in genre tripe like Suspect Zero (2004) didn’t do her any favors either. Career advice: Moss has a face born for neo-noir, so getting projects that expand her range is probably difficult. Still, moving away from films in which she’s some kind of agent – like the upcoming Unthinkable – will prove an important first step.

5. Tea Leoni: A white-hot screen presence throughout the 90s after roles in films like Bad Boys (1995) and Deep Impact (1998) and on television in the sitcoms Flying Blind (1992) and The Naked Truth(1995), Leoni was as smart as she was sexy – though audiences were sometimes slow to recognize her sly comic agility. Best unsung performance: As the sexiest child adoption case worker ever in David O. Russell’s hilarious Flirting With Disaster (1996). Possible career tipping point: Leoni seems to only work every now and then, most often in lower-profile indie fare like House of D (2004) and You Kill Me (2007). And her higher-profile work, like Spanglish (2004) and Fun With Dick and Jane (2005), is often terrible. Career advice: Get in on a project opposite a leading man that can keep up with her, as she did with Sir Ben Kingsley in You Kill Me. Alternately, take the historical-drama route or find the right flat-out screwball comedy.

6. Anjelica Huston: Even though she’s among the best examples of Hollywood royalty, Huston’s string of virtually flawless performances in films such as Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and The Grifters (1990) established her as a creative force in her own right. Best unsung performance: Though it amounts to a pre-fame walk on part, the future Oscar winner unveiled the band’s 18-inch tall Stonehenge monument in 1984′s This Is Spinal Tap. Possible career tipping point: We can understand playing Morticia Addams once, but twice? Career advice: Linking up with indie auteurs like Wes Anderson, with whom she’s worked three times now, is the right idea. Tackling higher-brow work, as she did for her father with 1987′s The Dead, might also re-establish her in the public eye as a prestige actress synonymous with quality film.

7. Mira Sorvino: Gifted with the face of an angel, Sorvino’s screen persona nevertheless hinted at a heartbreaking fragility. Roles in Beautiful Girls (1996) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995), for which she won Best Supporting Actress, showed that versatility to its best effect. Best unsung performance: Playing against that persona, as a tough-as-nails document forger in 1998′s The Replacement Killers. Possible career tipping point: Her Oscar win is often used to support the “Best Supporing Actress = Kiss of Career Death” theory. It’s more likely that attemps to build mainstream box office bankability, for example with the romantic weepie At First Sight (1999), failed to click with audiences. Career advice: Like Pfeiffer, Sorvino continually challenges herself with high-risk turns in projects including a remake of The Great Gatsby (2000) and downbeat indie efforts like Reservation Road (2007). Like Marisa Tomei, it’s probably only a matter of time before she’s accepted as an actor’s actor.

- Michael Kabel

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