In the second part of The Hobbit series, The Desolation of Smaug, Peter Jackson introduces new elf character, ‘Tauriel’, played by Lost’s Evangeline Lilly.
It raises the question: is it acceptable to meddle with book plots or should all films be faithful to the source material?
Ed Smith chatted to Matt Cooper about the subject on The Last Word:
Three films that bear little, if any, resemblance to the original book:
The Lawnmower Man – the film is named after Stephen King’s novel but bears no resemblance to it aside from a single scene. King successfully sued the producers for attaching his name to the film.
The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Again, the film is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name but there are significant changes. Variety was critical in its review: "With everything to work with,...Kubrick has teamed with jumpy Jack Nicholson to destroy all that was so terrifying about Stephen King's bestseller."
Bonfire of the Vanities – a film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. Significant changes included the addition of a subplot involving a minor character, Judge Leonard White
Sometimes the film adaptations are better than the books:
Blade Runner – loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick –the author admitted that the film was better than his book:
Stand By Me – adaptation of novella The Body by Stephen King. On the special features of the 25th anniversary Blu-ray set, King suggested that the film was the first successful adaptation of any of his books to film:
Jaws - directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel. Spielberg removed many of Benchley's subplots, including an affair between Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper:
