Movie Adaptations

I learned last night that The Fault in Our Stars is being adapted into a movie. (My source was none other than John Green himself, too, so I think it's legit. When you stop to think about it, Twitter is amazing.) Green was pretty positive on Twitter and Tumblr, so I'm hopeful that they'll make a movie that lives up to the book.

The news got me thinking about other movie adaptations, especially adaptations of books I read last year (Stephenie Meyer's The Host and Shannon Hale's Austenland). Both The Host and Austenland are set to hit theaters this year, although I don't believe Austenland has a firm release date yet. I adore both of those novels and have been eagerly anticipating the movies from the moment I learned about them. (In fact, news of each film sent me running to my bookshelves so I could re-read the book in question.)

There are differences between them, though. I immediately agreed with the major casting decisions for Austenland because I love Keri Russell and JJ Feild. And who doesn't love Jane Seymour and Jennifer Coolidge? I was less thrilled with the casting of Saoirse Ronan as The Host's protagonists, Wanderer and Melanie. (Yep, one actor is playing two characters. It's intriguing, right?) In her defense, though, I've only ever seen her in Atonement and I strongly dislike her character in that film, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The Host is coming out in just over a month and I am conflicted about it. I'll probably see it because I love the book, but I'm afraid I'm going to dislike the movie. The first and third trailers make it look like an action movie and it really shouldn't be. In particular, the third trailer (which was just released) features an alarming number of car stunts; I don't remember reading anything about a car crash or a high-speed chase in the book (and I've read the book five or six times). So, yeah, I'm worried I won't like the movie but I'll probably see it anyway.

In a way, it's funny that I'm so worried about The Host movie not being faithful to the novel because my favorite Jane Austen adaptations aren't the most faithful. Case in point, I adore the 2005 Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley and don't really like the 1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth. The miniseries taught me that there is such a thing as a movie adaptation that is too faithful to the original novel. (I know that a Janeite slamming the miniseries simply isn't done, but I have to be honest. The thing dragged at times and we need to acknowledge that.) I have always felt that the 2005 film captured the essence of the novel and hit all the high points even if the clothes were from the wrong period and the last scene was kind of dumb. And that's my concern with The Host; the trailers make me worry that they didn't capture the essence of the novel at all.

I will be sure to share my thoughts on the film version of The Host if when I see it.