Hollywood, Stop It!

I have come to the point in my life where I no longer want to see my favorite comic books or movies made into major Hollywood pictures.  I have been burnt too many times.  I think the problem is two fold. 

First, screenwriters are often given the daunting task of turning a 300 page plus novel into a 2 hour movie.  I am sorry, but there is no way that you can do that.  Maybe you should ask the original writer for a novella treatment on their work, instead of thinking you can rewrite it better.  You can’t, that is why the novel sold millions of copies and you are writing screenplays and no one has ever heard of you.  Maybe if they approached the project with a little humility or reverence.  I think for some adaptations they don’t even read said book but just ask someone who did what it was about and who the characters were.  I am serious. 

Secondly, directors feel the need to make everything bigger and brighter.  This causes movies to go over the top.  Big name actors are attached and their contracts say that certain things can’t or have to happen to their characters.  They also want to leave the ending open so that they can have a sequel, should the original adaptation become successful.  What you end up with is a larger than life depiction of everyday scenes that have been changed so that Tom Cruise doesn’t die and gets the girl, and then changed again so that there is a possibility of a sequel.  Oh crap we cast Johnny Depp as a secondary character and his contract requires this amount of screen time, so lets rewrite these scenes and put him in. 

These are two of the reasons why movies from film generally suck.  The occasional exception approaches the film from a place of great respect and humbleness, not to mention excitement.  Please, someone in Hollywood read this before another beloved book or character is forever marred by a crappy adaptation.