In the hands of Denis Villeneuve, the upcoming Dune could join these three great films based on ‘unfilmable’ novels.
Without doubt the cinematic highlight of this lockdown week was seeing the first images from Denis Villeneuve’s new Dune adaptation, which looks as promising as you would expect from the man behind Blade Runner 2049, Arrival and Enemy.
They inspired me to rewatch David Lynch’s infamous ‘84 interpretation of the convoluted sci-fi novel. I can confirm it is still gloriously awful. (Although it did make me long for the days when even long-winded epics were just two hours long.)
But here are three other adaptations of ‘unfilmable’ novels I actually can recommend:
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CLASSIC – LOST IN LA MANCHA (2002)
There’s never a bad time to rewatch Christian Bale’s cult breakout performance in the adaptation of American Psycho. But this wonderful dochas the edge, as it shows how Terry Gilliam’s attempt at a Don Quixote epic became literally unfilmable – production was abandoned after an astonishing string of disasters. An adaptation famously eluded even the great Orson Welles; Gilliam did complete his film 16 years later.
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CROWDPLEASER – ADAPTATION (2002)
Being John Malkovich screenwriter Charlie Kaufman proved his twisted genius again with the ultra-meta Adaptation. Battling writer’s block as he tried to adapt a non-fiction novel, he instead wrote a wildly original script about his very struggle, blending into it elements of the book and nutty fictional turns. The resulting film, with Nic Cage playing both Kaufman and his made-up twin brother, is brilliant, weird and defies description.
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WILDCARD – HIGH RISE (2015)
Where an average filmmaker says “unfilmable”, David Cronenberg says “hold my beer”. But even Cosmopolis, the most engaging of his surreal adaptations, is impenetrable. So try High Rise, Ben Wheatley’s delirious take on the tricky JG Ballard novel that had stumped three previous directors. One critic (this one) called it “a challenging but fascinating descent into anarchy and class war in a gorgeous and brutal retro-futuristic building that’s as much of a star as the magnetic cast.”
MS