Anita Blake movie?

[mhalachai]

So, apparently at the Wolf Howl last night, LKH told the audience that everything's signed and on the go to make a movie out of Guilty Pleasures.

I, um... Not quite sure what to think of that. Okay.

Comments

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Uh. Could be good, could be supremely wretched. It's a tossup.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

It's the second option that has me so worried.

[taligator.livejournal.com]

I think your icon sums it up nicely .. but ..

I also think that the earliest books could be made into movies without too much difficulty. They aren't as complex (in characters) and there is more plot to deal with.

Now, if they tried to make NiC into a movie, they'd have to label it XXX and sell it in skanky little shops but GP should be OK.

:)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

You're probably right. I just tend to worry about these things.

I guess this will help us answer the question of who should play Anita...

[taligator.livejournal.com]

Just another comment, Charlaine Harris has options for movies on the Sookie Stackhouse books and I have mixed reservations about that. I think that they would work better as movies than AB but I still don't want them to be ruined either.

I keep seeing an Underworld type movie when I think of an AB movie and we know that went over like a lead balloon in the theatres.

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Well, some of us loved Underworld, actually. Though I agree with you- didn't have great commercial success.

[cissasghost.livejournal.com]

I liked 'Underworld' . . but yeah. I think most critics, and apparently a large percentage of the audience, stop looking for psychological subtlety when they see too many flashing fangs. Selene was absolutely fascinatingly fucked-up, really a great character, but I think what the average viewer got out of it was that she was a kick-ass babe in lots of leather. I tend to think the Anita Blake books might go that way too. I cringe at the thought of what they'll do with Jean-Claude.

-Sonya

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I think to make the AB books work as movies, they need to keep that air of "this is just a normal world and oh by the way we have vampires" to make it work. One can always hope, right?

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

Actually, Underworld did so well the sequel is underway. It also had some very Anita moments.

[cissasghost.livejournal.com]

. . I think I sort of don't want to see it. Guilty Pleasures was not my favorite of the books, and . . I sorta can't picture how you're going to translate it to the screen without it coming out really, really corny. What makes the books not so corny - well, most of the time - is Anita's internal dialogue, her dry sense of humor and her continuous angst, the fact that she KNOWS her life is vaguely ridiculous. I'm really not sure how much of that could possibly be conveyed through even very skilled acting, especially considering that in some of the moments where the readers are privy to her thoughts, the character would NOT want to be giving those thoughts away on her face, and in fact, doing so would probably get her killed. So . . yeah. Really not sure on this.

-Sonya

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. THe charm, to me, of the books, is seeing the world through Anita's eyes. That will be very difficult without internal narration and that style of filmaking, while appropriate for Ferris Buller's Day Off may not work so well here.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

. What makes the books not so corny - well, most of the time - is Anita's internal dialogue, her dry sense of humor and her continuous angst, the fact that she KNOWS her life is vaguely ridiculous

I know... but it's been done before, the making of a 1st person POV book into a good movie. Examples escape me, but I'm sure it can work.

[tthjinni.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not sure if I'm excited or terribly frightened.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I'm both. I know I'll see it, even if it's cringe-worthy, but I may have to wear a hoodie pulled up tight so no one sees me go into the theatre.

[child-labor.livejournal.com]

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Queen of the Damned

That was the name of the movie I was trying to remember, thank you.

Everything you say, I agree with. I'm hoping really hard this comes off in a good way.

[wolfseer.livejournal.com]

Right. Okay. This could either be really good or the greatest disaster since Matrix: Revolutions left audiences wondering, 'How did Neo get über-powers outside the Matrix, again?'.

[cissasghost.livejournal.com]

Actually, Matrix: Revolutions "(was that the final one? I mean the final one, movie #3) left me thinking "Huh. SciFi channel did a better adaptation of 'Children of Dune'."

-Sonya

[goddessvicky.livejournal.com]

Ok. So I totally want to write a screenplay that would keep it in the world. I fear what people who have never appreciated the story as true fans would do to it.

I was lucky with HP in the fact that I saw the movie before I read the books, so I already had the looks and voices of the characters in my head. With AB, I already know the characters so personally that this may be bad.

Of course, I will go and recruit everyone I can so that L.K. gets all the money she deserves.

Q: Why don't they just put Guilty Pleasures and The Laughing Corpse together? It'd make a much better movie with two plots.

Two plots are ALWAYS better than one.

And, also. I don't think anyone out there right now should play Anita. I know they were petitioning for Salma Hayek, but she's TOO mexican and has an accent. I think they need a total unknown.

Probably for ALL of the roles, actually.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

No, please not Selma Hayek. I'd rather have Eliza Dushku, and in spite of my icons, I really don't think that's a good idea, either.

[(Anonymous)]

You know, it would only take a good film cast, crew, director and screenwriter to make the movie work. It could be very film noir, the old type detective film, except in the 90's and add more of a natural element and vampires who don't smile. If they made it a movie that actually complimented the books, instead of solely following the book's story line, maybe adding the story of how Anita feels about that ex-cop, vampire barman and Willie, the movie could call home some of the major themes of the book.

A movie would also present a huge playground of possibility for special effects and computer animation. How would they present the magic of Anita's world? In the books, only the magical or the psychic can actually 'feel' or 'see' the magic. Everyone else can see the effects but not the magic itself. I think that it would be very difficult to make this a low budget production.

When I first read Guilty Pleasures, I was impressed by that book alone, by the novel ideas and by the very personal first-person plot. I knew next to nothing of the series, except what I'd read in Inevitable. The whole book was novel and exciting. I think that the uniqueness of LKH's ideas could easily be conveyed by the big screen. But many of our concerns are similar to those presented by Mr. Orson Scott Card on the subject of making his wonderful books into films.

If they make this a movie, they'd better pay attention to the characters and the relationships, both friends and family, 'cause that's the best part of all the books, that's what keeps us waiting for the next book (and reading Mhalachai's fanfiction in the mean time(at least until Mhalachai tells us where the original stuff is.))

Through the course of each of these wonderful books, we witness developments and changes in Anita's worldview and life. It would be extremely dissapointing if they downplayed this even the tiniest fraction in a movie.

E.A.V.

ps-That little profile icon, in the top righ-hand corner with Voldemort saying 'all your base are belong to us,' is hillarious! teeheehaw! I'd like to know the name of the song it comes from...I can remember not.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this, and as introductory books go, GP was pretty good. There was a villian to kill, a mystery to solve, a sort-of love interest, creepy crawly things, and zombies. Talk about a movie chock-full of stuff.

I know the icon from an internet meme a while ago... the all your base are belong to us. I loved that. SO BAD.

[penyn-1600.livejournal.com]

Really? Are there any other details? Cause, depending on the director and the producer, etc., it could be either bad or good.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

No more details yet. Trust me, I'll keep everyone informed.

[iamabee-buzz.livejournal.com]

I think if everyone commenting here got together and collaborated on the screenplay, it could turn out to be wonderful. Sadly, though, my realistic expectation is somewhat more pessimistic than that.
I don't think there has ever been a movie made from a book (when I was already familiar with the book) that I actually really liked, if only because they're never completely faithful to my personal vision - and really, how could it be?
I'll go see it no matter how bad it is...and possibly drag my sister with me if no one else will go, seeing as she actually likes horribly tacky vampire movies.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Lord of the Rings? I think that's about it.. unless you count the upcoming Narnia films.

Also seeing it... ah, tacky vamp films. I'm there.

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

I think one of the key questions is really what does it mean that everything is signed. Does it mean that the book has been optioned? Plenty of books are optioned and nothing ever comes of it. Whose going to write the script? That has me more worried than the casting.

But honestly, I don't want to see it made into a movie. No one is going to portray these characters the way I see them in my head.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

If i tell you that Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame is attached to the production somehow, will that scare you even more?

I really wish they'd put a note up on her site or something. She can't have thought that telling the Wolf Howl people wouldn't generate this kind of internet speculation. Or, maybe they didn't think of that. Hrm.

[silver-venus42.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that would bug me the most is who they get to play Anita and Jean-Claude. LKH has put A LOT of description into them. If the actor who played Jean-Claude wasn't Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. and Anita wasn't short, ect... I think it would scew the whole thing because how they look has shaped much of who they are.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I think they can find a short woman in Hollywood... But the hard part will be getting someone who can play abrasive and arrogant like Anita without falling into the total bitch category.