Some of the best films both in recent times and in the past have come from 'reimaginations' of successful books: Atonement, Jurassic Park, The Kite Runner... the list is fairly endless.
But, what makes a good book into a good film?
I always thought that if the storyline of the book was good enough, it didn't matter what you did with the transformation, it would still be make a great film. But then along came Dan Brown and that idea was thrown completely out of window.
Then I thought that perhaps its down to the actors and actresses that are cast into the roles. Perhaps if they fit into how you imagined the character yourself, then maybe they make the film successful - at least for you.
Certainly that was true of The Kite Runner and the casting of Zekeria Ebrahimi and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada as the two young boys, Amir and Hassan respectively. But that film was not only good because of the actors.
Then finally I realised what it was (probably). If I see the film first and then read the book, I think they are both great. But if I read the book first and then find the film makes some significant deviations on the storyline, for example in The Last King of Scotland, then I find I don't like it.
In that vein, let's hope that the new motion picture of The Picture of Dorian Gray does not make any major deviations in plot line. Hopefully that will convince more people to revisit Wilde's brilliant and extensive works.
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