Bringing films to book at the London Film Festival
Matthew Cain asks whether a glut of literary adaptations at this year’s London Film Festival could stifle creativity within the film industry.
If a mother doesn’t love her child, how much is she to blame if the child becomes a psychopath?
This is the question asked by We Need to Talk About Kevin, the new film adapted from the best-selling novel, which is one of many adapted films in this year’s London Film Festival.
Ralph Fiennes has filmed Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and updated the setting to the recent conflict in the Balkans. And Trishna is Michael Winterbottom’s take on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles – which he’s set in modern-day India.
Film financing is notoriously insecure, so it stands to reason that in a tough economic climate investors might be more attracted to adapting already successful books and plays than taking a risk on new material.
Read more: London Film Festival goes for literary adaptations book, line and sinker
But the interesting thing is, if you look across town from the London Film Festival, here in the West End, theatre is increasingly looking to film for its inspiration.
Joining Shrek the Musical are shows based on Cool Hand Luke, Ghost and The Wizard of Oz. But some critics are starting to worry that an over-reliance on film could stifle creativity.
Theatre thrives on original thought and original product. Musicals less so because musicals have a tradition of being adapted from other sources. But really we’re in this business to make sense of the world and if you’re making sense of the world through old stories, that’s pretty pointless.
Making a film based on a novel might be seen as less of a risk for investors but director Lynne Ramsay is insistent it doesn’t make the creative process any easier.
“I really have to put my stamp on a piece of work because if you’re literally translating a book, it’s such a different medium,” said Lynne Ramsay, director of We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Fans of the novel will have to wait until this Friday to judge whether the film of We Need to Talk About Kevin is a success. But there is a good sign: author Lionel Shriver has already called it a “brilliant adaptation” of her novel.