Authors Who Hated the Film Adaptations of Their Books

While we’re on the topic of books, let’s talk about the films that the authors themselves DID NOT LIKE

All readers know that most books are better than movies made on them and we suspect authors agree, despite some being contractually obliged to praise their book being butchered on screen. Though there are exceptions, most screen adaptations disappoint (except the ones in my last blog post).

It could be that a different medium can’t always convey what a book can but mostly because of the creative license movie makers take with the original material. Though most authors understand this, sometimes they voice dissatisfaction. Here are some adaptations even authors didn’t like and what they had to say:

‘Percy Jackson’ series by Rick Riordan

The author, who is active on Twitter, has never been subtle about his dislike for the Percy Jackson movie adaptations and sometimes joined fans in ridiculing it when they tweet something on it, much to their delight. Recently when one fan asked him why a certain scene was censored on their streaming platform, he replied saying, “I don’t know, but clearly it’s a mistake. They should censor the entire thing. Just two hours of blank screen”.

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ by Lois Duncan

Though many have watched this slasher film, it’s not commonly known that it’s based on a book. Lois Duncan said she was kept far from the production and when she saw the movie, it was a shock. “Heads flew off, blood spurted, the audience screamed, I SCREAMED — I was so horrified I couldn’t even open my popcorn. The first thing I did when I staggered out of the theater was phone my married daughter, Kerry, and tell her, “Don’t let my grandchildren see it!”

‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess is best known for his novella, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, but found the screen adaptation so bad, he seems to be questioning his decision to have written the book at all. “The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me until I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation”

‘The Shining’ by Stephen King

Stephen King is openly vocal about his dislike of the movie interpretation of The Shining. He had written a screenplay which was closer to the books but unfortunately rejected. He said in an interview with Rolling Stone, “In the book, there’s an actual arc, where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he’s crazy. And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene.”