13 Famous Authors Who Hated The Movie Versions Of Their Books

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.

1 Stephen King – The Shining (1980)

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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2 P.L.Travers-Mary Poppins (1964)

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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3 Gore Vidal-Myra Breckinridge (1970)

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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