Should We Be Wary Of Book-To-Screen Adaptations?

Book-to-screen adaptations have existed forever. From Gone with the Wind to Hunt for the Red October, there are so many out there that it is hard to keep track. However, what happens when a book series becomes so beloved that it gets adapted into an Emmy Award-winning series so popular that the final season leaves a sour taste in one's mouth?

Yes, book fans we're talking about George R.R. Martin's beloved A Song of Ice and Fire series. While this writer hasn't read them as of yet but has read the Targaryen history book, Fire and Blood, it felt appropriate to jump on the book-to-screen adaptation for a short while, at least.

House Of The Dragon Criticisms

In early September 2024, George R.R. Martin criticized the second season of House of the Dragon, the television adaptation of a large portion of Fire and Blood, which recaps the Targaryen Civil War known commonly as 'The Dance of the Dragons.'

As per The Guardian, GRRM said that storylines being simpler on screen did not mean it was better storytelling. He explained that he argued against the removal of King Aegon II and Queen Helaena's youngest son, Maelor, and the changes to the season caused toxicity behind the scenes. He went further in a blog post he published on his website that he would one day explain every change that was made. It has also opened a can of worms, so to speak, of how many authors feel about their books being adapted to screen.

George's frustrations are warned as he is also involved in the creative process as an executive producer on House of the Dragon. As per the Game of Thrones Fandom site, GRRM also serves, alongside Ryan Condal, as a creator. He is not the only author to have issues with book-to-screen adaptations of his novels.

The Percy Jackson Error That Was Corrected With The Television Series

Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan was deeply unhappy with the two film adaptations of his first two books in his beloved middle-grade novel series. In 2020, it was announced that the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series would be adapted to television.

As per Entertainment Weekly at this time, Riordan admitted that he had never seen the films. He even added on Twitter that he hated the movies as they were nowhere close to his life's work, which has expanded to over 25 books in the 20 years since he published The Lightning Thief. There was also a ton of creative differences, which were highlighted in a 2023 TVLine article.

According to TVLine, Riordan sent notes to the producers of the first film in 2009 (The Lightning Thief film was released in 2010) saying the script was terrible and that the aged-up characters were swearing unnecessarily while Grover was overly sexual. Rick commented on Twitter years later that the cast who were in the movies shouldn't be blamed for the creative decisions that were made. They were merely hired to do what was required of them.

When the chance for a do-over with the television series was offered, Rick and his wife, Becky (credited in the show's credits as Rebecca Riordan) took it. They wanted to ensure that Percy's story was told as accurately as possible. The couple serve as executive producers on the show and a large amount of creative control as their production company, Mythomagic, is involved.

Moreover, Rick has written several episodes for the show. He also agreed with the casting of the child actors in the roles of his beloved characters. He had even had to defend Leah Sava Jeffries, the African-American actress playing Annabeth Chase, explaining on a website post (which has since been removed), that it was advised that diverse casting be undertaken to add more diversity to the cast. In the book, the character is white with blonde hair and grey eyes.

Riordan admitted that if he had thought of adding more ethnic characters when he was writing Lightning Thief, he would have. He has since made up for it by approving Leah's casting as Annabeth. Rick has also said that what mattered to him was that the actors embody the characters they play and that it doesn't matter what they look like.

The Rare Case Of Creative Control - Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

Believe it or not, Roald Dahl, hated the film adaptation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which was a book-to-screen adaptation of his book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What makes this interesting, is he wrote the screenplay for the movie, yet, according to Buzzfeed, he wasn't satisfied with it.

To add insult to injury, Dahl believed that Gene Wilder wasn't the right actor to play the role of Willy Wonka. He was also insulted by the changes that were made to his screenplay. Ouch!

She Hated (Almost) Everything - P.L. Travers and Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is one of the most well-known live-action films that has ever been produced by Disney. It was anything but smooth sailing for Walt Disney himself to get the rights to the book of the same name from Australian-British author, P.L Travers.

The Buzzfeed article above mentions that P.L. Travers hated almost everything about the film. She hated how the titular character was portrayed and the animated sequences. Moreover, the author thought the movie was so bad that she cried during the premiere.

A dramatized version of what happened was depicted in the film Saving Mr. Banks.

Has Book-To-Screen Adaptations A Bad Thing?

To end this article we need to talk about whether Book-to-Screen Adaptations are a bad thing.

The simple answer to this question is no, it's not. Some books are either to adapt to the screen than others. Percy Jackson, for example, is simple enough to adapt and still has a massive following.

Another example would be Lord of the Rings. Before Peter Jackson got the rights to adapt his three films and The Hobbit to create a prequel trilogy, the story created by J.R.R. Tolkien was dubbed 'unfilmable' because of the high fantasy elements. There were also fears that the messaging from the books wouldn't translate that well to film.

The assumption was proven wrong with The Lord of the Rings' financial success and multiple award wins.

Adapting a book to screen is tricky and it needs the right person to push it in the right direction. Sometimes an adaptation works, at other times it doesn't. It's similar to reboots or spin-offs. It has to be done right to succeed. It is also important that the person who acquires the rights isn't doing it just because the IP is popular and would get a lot of money just by creating something with that recognizable name.