"It's Shockingly Bad, And Should Never Have Been Made" – 12 Author's Who Can't Stand The Film Adaptations Of Their Work

"All of these characters have been stolen from their original creators, all of them."

When talking about the pressure of adapting a book into a film, we normally consider the expectations of fans, and what gets forgotten is pleasing the author, too.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Oftentimes, authors really don't like what becomes of their books on screen. Here are 12 book-to-film adaptations that left the authors scathing:

1. Sahara

Paramount Pictures

Bestselling author Clive Cussler was NOT happy with the film adaptation of his book, Sahara. His comments on the 2005 film adaptation were damning, saying that the production company "tore the heart out of" his book and "ruined the film." 

Moviegoers clearly agreed with him, since the film lost out at the box office and recouped under half of its budget. Clive was so angry with the production company that he attempted to sue Crusader Entertainment for breaching their contract agreement and changing the screenplay radically. 

The production company in turn sued the author for being uncooperative and criticising the film before its release. It's safe to say this whole film project was lose-lose. 

You can see the trailer here:

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2. The Shining

Warner Bros.

Even film adaptations that are generally well-regarded and iconic don't always get the approval of the author. It's no secret that Stephen King disliked the film adaptation of The Shining; he criticised it for years – and the reason was largely due to Stanley Kubrick's differing vision, and lack of cooperation. 

 Of the adaptation and what he found wrong with it, Stephen had this to say: 

“That’s what’s wrong with [Stanley Kubrick’s] The Shining, basically…the movie has no heart; there’s no centre to the picture. I wrote the book as a tragedy, and if it was a tragedy, it was because all the people loved each other. Here, it seems there’s no tragedy because there’s nothing to be lost.”

Watch the trailer:

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3. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

United Artists

Author Ken Kesey's issues with the adaptation began well before the film was even released, and he ended up refusing to watch it. It all stemmed from a falling out with producers, with Ken feeling like he should have had more control over the project. He was also irritated about the changing of the character Chief Bromden, who was the narrator in the book, but not the film. 

From then, things spiralled, and ultimately Ken's irritation with the whole film grew to irreconcilable levels, resulting in Ken's refusal to even watch the adaptation.

Here's the trailer:

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4. American Psycho

Lionsgate

Author Bret Easton Ellis didn't hate the movie adaptation, he said that, as a film, it was "fine." His issues lay with the fact that he thought the novel was "unadaptable." He believed it was written to be experienced as a novel, and no film adaptation could replicate that: 

“How do you have that experience be the same as an experience that was conceived as a book? You’re getting a watered-down, second-hand version of it, in a way. If you’ve written a novel, you’ve written a novel because it is a novel.”

Here's the trailer:

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5. A Clockwork Orange

Warner Bros.

Anthony Burgess's iconic and controversial novel was, of course, adapted by Stanley Kubrick into a movie that became even more controversial than the book. The film, which was banned in the UK by Kubrick himself, was also despised by Burgess, who said that his book had been "knocked off for money in three weeks." 

Burgess went on to say that the film is easily misinterpreted from what the novel was supposed to be, so much so that he expressed regret of writing it:

"The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation."

This is the trailer:

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6. Watchmen

Warner Bros. Pictures

Alan Moore doesn't just dislike the adaptations of his own work, he disagrees with superhero adaptations from comics altogether. According to him, these movies "have blighted cinema, and also blighted culture to a degree." 

He also stopped writing comics altogether, in part because "most people equate comics with superhero movies now.” In his eyes, taking these characters and adapting them into superhero movies is akin to theft: "All of these characters have been stolen from their original creators, all of them."

Watch the trailer here:

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7. Charlotte's Web

Paramount Pictures

E.B White's disdain for the adaptation of his classic children's novel has multiple layers. First were the interactions he had with the animation company, Hanna-Barberra. Of the whole process of negotiation and making the film, he said:

"The whole episode, the attempt to make a film of Charlotte's Web, is one of my nightmares. The only good thing to come out of it for me was that I learned never to try anything like that again..."

On the actual movie itself, his wife wrote in a letter to Gene Deitch, who had also proposed a version of the film, that she'd have preferred his initial ideas to what got made: 

"We have never ceased to regret that your version of Charlotte's Web  never got made. The Hanna-Barberra version has never pleased either of us... a travesty... "

Have a look here:

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8. Agatha Christie, various adaptations.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Agatha disliked the many adaptations of her work so much that she regretted selling the rights to MGM. She was horrified by Margaret Rutherford’s depiction of Miss Marple, which made her feel "sick" and "ashamed." She also revealed that she was not allowed to see the 1965 version of The Alphabet Murders, saying: “My friends and publishers told me the agony would be too great.”

Seeing and hearing about the butchering of her work made her express real sadness about selling the rights. Writing to her agent, she made her regrets clear: “One does things for money and one is wrong to do so – since one parts with one’s literary integrity.”

Here's The Alphabet Murders trailer:

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9. Queen of the Damned

Warner Bros. Pictures

Anne Rice, author of The Vampire Chronicles, had worked with the studio for the first film adaptation, Interview With A Vampire. After this, she intended to help them adapt the second book, The Vampire Lestat, with the same director. However, Warner Bros. decided to take elements of The Vampire Lestat and mix them in with the third book, The Queen of the Damned, which they would release as one film.

Anne was not pleased about this or the choice of a new young director, and thought the project was a bad idea:

"I felt snubbed and hurt and have not bothered to approach them since. The young director is supposed to be developing The Queen of the Damned, which I think is a bad idea, and basically a doomed project."

While Anne did come around somewhat to the movie, and had high praise for Aaliyah's performance, in the end, she was dissapointed with how they used her work: 

“The movie was not really based on my work, they used the characters, but they replaced original material they had written for them by a scriptwriter. It was a great disappointment to most of my readers.”

You can watch the trailer here:

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10. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Paramount Pictures

While the film became a huge hit and was loved by fans, author Roald Dahl was unhappy with a number of aspects of the movie. First of all, he apparently thought the director, Mel Stuart, had no talent. It didn't just stop at the director though; Dahl also didn't think Gene Wilder was right for WIlly Wonka, as Dahl's friend, Donald Sturrock, said: 

"Gene Wilder was rather too soft and didn’t have a sufficient edge. His voice is very light and he’s got that rather cherubic, sweet face. I think [Roald] felt…there was something wrong with [Wonka’s] soul in the movie – it just wasn’t how he imagined the lines being spoken." 

There was also the name change, which didn't sit right with Roald – he believed that the film focused too much on Wonka, and not enough on Charlie, who was the lead character in the book after all. 

Have a look here:

youtube.com

11. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

20th Century Studios

Rick Riordan, creator of the Percy Jackson books, never even saw the film adaptations of his work, mainly due to his disgust at the scripts. His problem wasn't with the actors, but how the scriptwriters had, in his words, put his life's work "through a meatgrinder." Of the movies, or the scripts for them at least, he said: 

"I judge them from having read the scripts because I care most about the story. I certainly have nothing against the very talented actors. Not their fault. I'm just sorry they got dragged into that mess."

Here's the trailer:

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12. Hellraiser: Inferno

Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Novelist Clive Barker, who'd had creative involvement in the previous Hellraiser films, made his opinions on Hellraiser: Inferno very clear. He wrote that the studio wanted him to be involved, but after reading the script he thought it wouldn't work, and they made it anyway. 

On his website, he wrote what he thought of the film:

"It is just an abomination. I want to actively go on record as saying I warn people away from the movie. It's really terrible and it's shockingly bad, and should never have been made."

Here's the trailer:

youtube.com

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below!