You might have seen these entire movie adaptations of bestselling novels among which may be some of your favorites too. However, the surprising fact is that there are quite a few authors who actually hated the script and the way the movie turned out. Some even tried purchasing back the movie rights. The reason was the way scriptwriters tweaked scripts and deviated from the main stories of such novels largely to cater to a commercial audience. Take a look at 13 authors who hated the movie versions of their books.
The movie adapted from the creepy psychological bestselling thriller by Stephen King didn’t quite turn out according to King’s liking. It was Stanley Kubrick no less who made the movie but this is what King said about Kubrick’s movie “I'd admired Kubrick for a long time and had great expectations for the project, but I was deeply disappointed in the end result”. The biggest flaw in the movie according to King was that Kubrick could not portray the evil atmosphere of the Overlook Hotel. Instead he focused more on the insanity and evilness of the characters instead.
King was also extremely unhappy with Nicholson’s performance because he wanted the character Jack Torrance to be sane until he stayed at the hotel but instead he felt that Nicholson appeared a crazy character from the beginning.
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We all remember Mary Poppins as one of the most cherished movies of Hollywood but not for author P.L.Travers who just did not like the movie adaptation at all. None of Travers edits were regarded in the script and the author took it as a huge insult. She was disgusted by use of animation in the movie and just did not approve of the fact that Mary Poppins wasn’t the strict nanny character as portrayed in the book. This led to many an argument with Disney who did not even invite Travers to the premier of the movie. Travers cried during the movie and refused to let Disney touch the remainder of the series. The famous incident between Disney and Travers was ultimately made into a movie called “Saving Mr. Banks” starring Tom Hanks as Disney.
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Gore Vidal went on to comment that Myra Breckinridge was one the worst movies he had seen. Vidal’s 1968 bestseller was a critically acclaimed work about a young man who undergoes surgery and becomes a woman. Vidal hated the film for its titillating factor and cited it as the second worst movie he had ever seen. Vidal wasn’t alone in his criticism of the film and many felt the same.
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German author Michael Ende said he was horrified buy the movie adaptation of his fantasy book The Neverending Story. Ende hated the script to the point of wanting to purchase back the rights of the film although he wasn’t successful in doing so. He ultimately had his name removed from the project and referred to the film as a “revolting movie”. According to him the adaptation didn’t understand the movie at all and was made just for making money. He argued that the scriptwriters had changed the entire essence of story.
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For many of us who never ever read the book, we did, of course, love the movie and Tom Hank’s impeccable performance but the author thought differently. Winston Groom says many plot points were omitted as well as much of the language was sanitized in the film. Groom had to sue for the 3% net profits that were due to him but did not receive. The producers argued that the film ran at a loss. Groom was not even mentioned in any of the acceptance speeches of the six academy awards won by cast and crew.
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Although many loved Audrey Hepburn in the main role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the author of the novella Truman Capote hated it. The author wanted Marilyn Monroe in the main role and felt cheated by the casting choice including George Peppard as the leading man whom he wanted to play himself in spite of no acting experience. In his own words “Paramount double-crossed me and cast Audrey. Audrey is an old friend and one of my favorite people, but she was just wrong for the part."
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Clive Cussler sued producers for $38 million after the movie adaptation of Sahara was a certified flop. Made with a budget of $145 million it netted only $68 million at the box office. Cussler blamed the fiasco on the producer who would not give him total script control. Cussler didn’t win the suit and was even asked to repay $13.9 million in legal fees incurred by Sahara Productions. The order, however, was overturned in 2010. In his own words "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me...and I just got fed up with it."
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E.B.White did not like the fact that his book had been turned into a musical. The story of a lovable pig called Wilbur and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte is one of the best children’s stories of all time. White had specifically asked Hanna Barbera not to turn the film into a musical but his request was denied. White said “The story is interrupted every few minutes so that somebody can sing a jolly song. I don't care much for jolly songs, that’s what you get for getting embroiled in Hollywood."
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This is one author who hated the movie version of his short novella and swore he would not allow Hollywood to make future works into films. When J.D. Salinger consented to a movie adaptation of his short story “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut” that would be titled “My Foolish Heart”, he was disgusted at the portrayal of a love story instead. He swore he would never release his other works to Hollywood which is why we have never seen a movie adaptation of his most famous work “Catcher in the Rye.”
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Anthony Burgess detested the movie adaptation of his novella “A Clockwork Orange” and even regretted writing it. He said his novella was instead turned into a glorification of physical tittilation and violence. The reason why he regretted writing the book was because of the movie’s misrepresentation of his work.
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Ronald Dahl said that the movie adaptation of his work “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was “crummy”. He also remarked that Gene Wilder was pretentious and bouncy and said that the director Lacked talent and flair. He also promised that no producer would ever touch the sequel “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator” in his lifetime.
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Even though One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest won every major Academy Award (best actor, best director, best actress and best screenplay), its author Ken Kesey was not in the least impressed. He also left the film two weeks into production because he was annoyed at the fact that the viewpoint of Chief Bromden was not kept in the movie version.
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Among authors who hated movie versions of their films, Richard Matheson had been annoyed with every film version of “I am Legend” right from the start. He felt that Vincent Price was miscast in the 1964 version and the direction was too poor. The Charlton Heston version “The Omega Man” he said was totally removed from the book. In reference to the Will Smith version he said “I don't know why Hollywood is fascinated by my book when they never care to film it as I wrote it.” The last adaptation had in fact completely changed the ending as scriptwriters thought the original version wouldn’t go down well with audiences.
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