'The Wee Free Men' on film

[Nuala]

Perhaps this is slightly off topic, but what does everyone else think of the fact that Sam Raimi's going to be bringing the aforementioned book to the big screen, with the help of the writer of Corpse Bride?

At the risk of sounding a little ethnocentric, I'm more worried that it's going to be Americanised than anything else.

I know that the Disc technically has no nationalities similar to ours in the first place (if you take the satirical elements out and take it literally), but with the chalk downs, white horses and rolling landscapes full of little old shepherds, the Tiffany books're littered with the iconography of rural England. And I'm not sure how well that'd be recreated.  

[Liltweet_gal]

Well, I hope that they make it really close to the book, and pick GOOD actors. Plus, have a place that looks a lot like the setting! Then it would be good ^_^  

[Empress_Kat]

Noo! Please no? Out of all the authors I've read, the Discworld theory is the least appropriate to film out of all of them. It will be horrible.  

[Sileny]

*sigh*

They'd probably use some form of cheap CG animation for the Wee Free Men. That would just spoil it. And to get the right scenery, they'd probably have to film it in Dover, England.

*Raises head to the sky*

Why must you kill everything good in this world, Hollywood? Why?  

[Mirren]

I haven't read Wee Free Men (whats the title in Dutch anyone?) but I've read discworld. The name Sam Raimi doesn't ring any bells for me. But I think discworld needs your own imagination. I mean how could you know the horrifing smell in Ankh Meurbok (as it is called in Dutch) if you see it on screen. And the beautifull suntrises, your not going to tell me they can make the sunlight go all goo-y and jelly rolling over the set no way. I think Pratched is Pratched, and only in books!  

[dragonfire_kaen]

Hmm... the first I heard of it I squealed, because I'm always uber happy to see a book I like be made into a movie. On second thought, I only end up liking about half the said movies... stare
And I suppose they'll end up making it cheesy, with stupid-looking Nac Mac Feegle and way too much younger-kid humor. I never did get used to Ella Enchanted... xp  

[lavenvi05]

Hey, it will probably be alot better than Ella Enchanted. Why would they make it just a little kid movie? The people most likely to read it would be young adults, adults, and so on.  

[Harbone]

I'd love to see how the first scene with the frying pan plays out. And I hope they do shoot it in the English countryside, at least.

Haha. She used her brother as bait! Ha!  

[DirectedScion]

brother's are excellent bait,
anyway,
I wonder how they are going to to the Queen's world...  

[Harbone]

I'm sure there's lots of approaches. It's just basically two sets, a very simplified winter woodland scene and a life-size replica of a painting by Richard Dadd (which is basically just a set-building problem. )

It's the bit in the lighthouse that might be tricky (the moby d**k and Jolly Sailor bits) but I wasn't as fond of that bit, so I wouldn't mind missing out on it.  

[Sileny]

Then again, the director might decide to scrap the storyline and just piece together bits of the book into something new. I hate that.  

[DirectedScion]

Oh, I SOOO agree with you. I hate it when they "base" the movie on a book, but there are about 10 things that are in the movie that are really in the book! scream
And it would be very frustrating with the Terry Pratchet books especially!!!  

[Harbone]

Yeah, that can be pretty frustrating. But I think one of the things that makes a movie a good adaption is when there are some liberties taken.

Things never translate smoothly and, unlike books, movies are rarely the sole creative output of one person. The director may have a strong vision for the film, but the compromises, new ideas and strange tricks poured into a movie (or a stage play, for that matter) are what makes it worth going to see. If a movie merely copies a book, it's just not as interesting (after all, it's cheaper and easier to just read the book.)

The real fear is that the movie will lose whatever spirit attracted you to the book in the first place. I certainly understand THAT!  

[DirectedScion]

it will be sooo hard to capture the 'spirit' of the terry pratchet books. they're just so........geee.....hmmmm......pratchety?  

[X_Dark _Princess_X]

I absolutely hated that book. I tried and tried to get into it, but I never finished it and it really really sucked in my opinion. I think whoever wants to make it into a movie is insane.