When considering what books you would have converted into a feature film, you naturally have to think about what makes for a good movie. The following question must be answered: Are the events described within its pages something that even the world’s greatest cinematographer could pull off? Another thing to consider is, will there be enough of either drama and/or action to hold the audience’s attention for two hours?
There are so many great books I would love to see made into a movie and shown on the silver screen. There are also a great number of directors that could do a bang-up job of molding these stories into an excellent film. If you’ve read my list of top ten libertarian novels, you will see a common theme to the books I’ve chosen to nominate for movie status.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein’s great work highlights the tragedies of imperialism and problems with a heavy-handed colonial mentality. The Lunar colonists resist the Earth ‘authorities’. They get help from a artificially-intelligent computer called Mike. With a great comedic note, Mike thinks that the entire revolt is a game. Maybe Kevin Spacey could do the voice acting as he did a great job as the computer in 2009’s Moon.
Also, In his classically unconventional style, Heinlein creates a polygamous clan-style marriage arrangement in this book that alone would get people in theater seats. The film would also include a number of dramatic intrigues and action sequences that would translate well in to the screen. Because of his work in other films like the dystopian Escape from New York, I think John Carpenter could work out a good production from Heinlein’s work.
Snow Crash
This cyberpunk-style novel by Neal Stephenson depicts a tongue-in-cheek vision of the future in ‘America’. The book opens with a scene that shows a pizza delivery driver that works for a mafia-run pizza company where a late delivery may earn to some concrete shoes. Though this film would need to do some type of explanation for the uninitiated in revealing the ‘burbclave’ concept in the book. I think it would be well worth it. The main character, Hiro Protagonist (no, really that’s his name) would be well-played by Lee Jung-jae.
This film could be filled with all kinds of fun new technologies that will really appeal to Sci-Fi lovers and techno-geeks. From the fully-interactive VR internet to EM powered rail guns, there is something for everyone when it comes to cool gadgets and technologies that scale up to the big screen with well-placed Computer Graphic animation. I really like Castle’s Molly C. Quinn for YT (for Yours Truly); She needs to look sweet an innocent in one scene, than like a bad-ass icon of girl-power in the next. Quinn is a perfect feit for this. Hands down, Joss Whedon would be my number one choice to direct because of his excellent use of humor.
Freedom Engineering~ An Online Anarcho-Capitalist Adventure Series
The first thing I like about this book is that you can read it for free online. This may novel may need a little tweaking to make it something the average movie-goer will get into. This is not for a lack of action or great new ideas regarding technology and the social changes that arise from them. The basic premise for the work is to make heroes of characters that for some will not seem heroic at all. In fact, many would see these folks as criminals, (though I don’t share this sentiment) just as those that shot at the Red-coated Brits during the American Revolution were considered criminal by the Tories living in the Colonies. It is this tension, drama and extreme ideas that I think may draw folks into the theater to see what all the fuss is about. As far a direction, I know of no other director that could do this justice other than Gardner Goldsmith, who hasn’t directed a feature film but is totally up to the challenge.
