- Enoch Oyedibu
- Unfilmable Movies
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Movies like Gerald’s Game and Cloud Atlas have managed to do the impossible by adapting a story previously deemed ‘unfilmable.’
In popular culture, there are never-ending discussions about whether a movie can ever surpass the book on which it is based. Nonetheless, the controversy surrounding certain films is not limited to the book’s ardent readers. At times, the plot and themes are judged “unfilmable” due to their complexity.
Recently, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, adapted from Lin Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem, sparked reactions on the ineptly screened history, succinctly detailed by Cixin. This brings to mind memories of some old movies that shouldn’t have made it to the screen, but eventually they did.
10. Midnight’s Children (2012)
Long-running Indian-British novel Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie has a plot that spans years of Indian politics and history and an unreliable narrator. Despite being hailed as an epic masterpiece and a poignant family drama, the book is frequently regarded as challenging to read due to its wide scope, which makes it challenging to adapt for the big screen.
Deepa Mehta spent years developing the screenplay for this passion project, but the result fell short of the ground-breaking original work. Mehta’s decision to adapt this literary phenomenon for the big screen was praised by some critics. But a lot of people thought that Midnight’s Children fell short of making the intricate tale into a cogent and interesting movie.
9. Lolita (1962)
The challenging subject matter of Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita centres on the strange and inappropriate relationship between a middle-aged professor and his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Despite being written as an ironic satire, many people view the book as erotic, which has led to its controversial story being outlawed in a number of nations.
Therefore, this novel was considered unfilmable for the difficult subject rather than the source material’s structure or range. However, Stanley Kubrick tackled the movie adaptation only seven years after the novel’s release. Though the movie was an overall success and was praised for communicating the novel’s humorous tone, it didn’t quite match the source material.
8. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen, is a novel written in the 18th century by Laurence Sterne. This long and odd novel is a meandering series of tangents that acts as an autobiography of the titular character. The befuddling source material was considered untranslatable, which the film embraced instead of challenging.
William Winterbottom’s postmodern film Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bully Story is a film about the achievement of turning this novel into a motion picture. Though far from a literal adaption of the source material, the movie successfully highlighted the novel’s unconventional quality in a humorously meta way.
7. Cloud Atlas (2012)
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, is one of the most seemingly unfilmable novels, following six storylines and spanning hundreds of years while capturing the past and future in different atmospheric stories. However, the material was tackled for adaption in 2012 with impressive and admirable results.
Cloud Atlas is considered an underrated movie that didn’t get the attention the unique storyline deserved. Though this film adaption’s ambitious attempt to tackle this complex narrative was difficult for many viewers to invest in, many critics found this adaptation a triumph in consideration of the massive feat the source material was.
6. Catch-22 (1970)
Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by Joseph Heller that was considered unfilmable due to the non-chronological storyline and omniscient point-of-view that follows several different characters. However, the novel has been adapted twice, first into a movie in 1970 and again in a miniseries in 2019.
Though the cynical nature of this war satire was too much for some viewers to stomach, the 1970s Catch-22 was considered a great homage to the ridiculous and chaotic novel. The movie’s strangeness was fascinating, though it was a slightly muddled reworking of the seemingly untranslatable story.
5. Watchmen (2009)
Alan Moore’s DC comic book maxiseries Watchmen, later compiled in a collection in the 1980s, had a wide scope that focused on several original characters. Not only was the source material complex to adapt but the massive fanbase the stories had required a creator to take special care in honoring the source material.
Despite this movie’s undertaking, many fans thought Watchmen was a success that even improved the storyline from the comics. However, despite the cinematic success of Zack Snyder’s adaptation, the movie’s complexity was largely confusing to those unfamiliar with the graphic novel.
4. American Psycho (2000)
American Psycho is an edgy early 2000s horror movie that has developed a dedicated cult following. However, few viewers know that this icon was originally a novel that was so controversial it was banned upon its release. American Psycho was considered unfilmable due to the structure focusing on Bateman’s stream of consciousness and the graphic sexual and violent content.
Despite the controversy, American Psycho is one of the few movies exactly like the book. The success of this adaptation was likely due to the novelist, Bret Easton Ellis, having a part in writing the screenplay.
3. Life Of Pi (2012)
The phenomenally successful book Life of Pi by Yann Martel. However, despite the huge following of the novel, it was largely considered too complex of a project to tackle for the big screen. Many thought the religious and spiritual themes were a huge feat for a movie, let alone figuring out how to develop a movie about a boy and a tiger stranded at sea.
However, Ang Lee’s adaptation of Life of Pi was a major success that astonished viewers and critics alike. With a year spent perfecting the screenplay and good CGI to bring the tiger to life, Lee managed to pull off the “impossible” and create a wonderful film with masterful visuals.
2. Gerald’s Game (2017)
Gerald’s Game, though not one of Stephen King’s most well-known works, was considered unfilmable because the storyline is mainly set inside the mind of Jessie. To make this movie a reality, the creator would have to find a way to capture Jessie’s character and self-reflection without diminishing the psychological intrigue of the story.
Horror master Mike Flanagan did just that, managing to adapt Gerald’s Game into another movie that scared viewers to death. By having Jessie envision her dead husband and another version of herself, this character was able to express her thoughts aloud without diminishing the quality of this psychological thriller.
1. Dune (2021)
Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune is considered one of the most unfilmable novels of all time. With a storyline that focused heavily on complex and philosophical ideas, and reliant on internal dialogue, a Dune adaptation would require a twist to the structure that would still honor the source material.
Though David Lynch’s 1984 Dune fell short of honoring the source material, Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune was a far more successful adaptation. Despite falling short of Herbert’s novel’s masterful storytelling, this film won over audiences with its grand scale and striking aesthetic appeal.
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Enoch Oyedibu
I am a writer and investigative journalist who specialises in literary criticism and underrepresented narratives. Among other publications, I have been featured in Business Day Nigeria, TheICIR, Platform Times and Daily Nigerian. Right now, I work as a full-time staff writer for Unconventional Magazine.
