Earlier this week musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross gave us a teaser of the soundtrack to the upcoming Gone Girl. So far, things sound promising.
I have to say that ever since their collaboration on the soundtrack for The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I have been totally in love with this duo’s collaboration on soundtracks.
But back to the topic at hand. Gone Girl promises to be pretty awesome, not only for the music but also for the story itself, at least as long as David Fincher does a good job of adapting Gillian Flynn’s book.
I had fallen in love with the book from the very first chapter. The twist, when it happened – and I’m not revealing anything by saying there’s a twist, because everyone, everywhere has been going on about it – was like a kick to the stomach.
I pretty much read the book in one sitting, on the beach, forgetting everything else around me – including the reapplication of sunblock, most unfortunately.
I’m sure I have written about this before, but I usually run a mile when a book I love gets turned into a film. Or rather, I used to.
My reservations still hold, of course. No-one likes to see something they love get butchered. However, nowadays it’s pretty much impossible to avoid the films that started out as movies.
Before, they were the exceptions rather than the rule. Nowadays it seems to be the rule. If the book is successful, it will be turned into a Hollywood blockbuster.
I know that people in the industry will want to have my hide for this, but it does make you wonder whether scriptwriting in the old-fashioned sense of the word is still a popular profession.
Gone Girl promises to be pretty awesome not only for the music
Maybe we should start calling it book-adaptation, instead. Just look at most of the biggest films produced nowadays and compare the amount that started life as a book. The percentage is much higher than it used to be.
There is almost no way that someone will invent a character like Indiana Jones for film today. Or an epic tale like that of Star Wars. Well, not unless a book author or graphic novel artist/writer does the job first.
If it wasn’t on the Top 10 list at Foyles or at a Comic-Con, then it just doesn’t go on the big screen. Just this year, we’ve had The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 (because, you know, we have to stretch it out as much as possible), The Fault in Our Stars, Captain America (graphic novels count as books, yes), X-Men: Days of Future Past, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (at the cinemas right now); Guardians of the Galaxy ...
What do all these have in common? That’s right. They started out in print.
Even Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was born of the Planet of the Apes franchise, that was in turn born of Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La Planète des Singes.
Completely original material for the big screen has become rare. The only good thing about this? The books then enjoy a resurgence in popularity, particularly when the actors are splashed all over the cover.
ramona.depares@timesofmalta.com