For the purposes of the paper, I'm basing success on revenue. The Road didn't even make $2 million after production costs. All the Pretty Horses netted a pretty staggering loss, and No Country made over $100 million. The goal of the paper is to analyze why the one did so well and why McCarthy has been historically hard to translate into successful films.
Two words: Cohen Brothers. Though I imagine you have to go into a little more depth than that. I'd love to check your piece out if you're willing. Are you throwing any of "The Counselor" in there? That movie made me want to hug a teddy bear. The line (and speech) about grief being a useless currency (or something) kept me awake for like a week and a half.
I wish I could include The Counselor, because it was another rough go for McCarthy's history with film, but it doesn't suit the criteria in that he wrote the Screenplay himself. And I don't believe it was an adaptation. And it's so strange that his stories generally aren't well received as films. I'm trying to crack the nut about what these narratives lose as films because McCarthy's work stuns me with its depth and poignancy. But, yeah, I'll send you a PM with the paper when I'm sufficiently happy with it. A few days, probably. I'd love to get some eyes on it that don't belong to me. ETA: (Aside) I once had an English professor tell me McCarthy wasn't part of the American literary canon. (WTF, Mate?)
I am, too. I have a signed Stephen King (Drawing of the Three) and a bunch of first editions that I inherited from my dad. I'd love to start a McCarthy collection.
No doubt. Cormac is a little less, uh, accessible than King, to say the least. I think he's given like four interviews in his life, and when he did Oprah a few years back is was like the Apollo moon landing of the literary world. King lives a few hours up the road from me (and he actually got hit by the van right around the corner from where I live now), and though I doubt I could just knock on his door, I could sure as hell try! And not to answer for @Iain Aschendale, but I can see how some people would have found the No Country movie pointless. I loved it but didn't understand it until I read the book later on. I had no idea what the title meant, but after reading the book I realized that "No Country for Old Men" was Cormac-speak for "This country is no longer a place that old men recognize." Namely that the explosion of easy money and senseless violence that came with the drug wars (the book signposts 1980 while the movie makes no reference to the setting) assailed small town America in a way that nobody could have ever imagined. Small town sheriffs like Bell had no clue what they were dealing with, and honest-working citizens like Moss were ready to bounce with the devil if they were "lucky" enough to find a few million dollars in a briefcase in the desert. The book does an excellent job of putting that all in context while the movie just kind of presents it as western crime thriller, and given the state of cinematic and real-world violence, I think the significance of how drugs changed America got a little lost against the usual Hollywood noise.
That's actually a big chunk of my essay. The loss of theme in translation to film. You're right there's a big chunk that gets lost without the texture of the novel to back it up. And part of what I think translated well about No Country is exactly because the heavy things Bell talks about in his little interludes throughout the novel are gone. It more closely resembles an action flick than The Road. And Moss' car ride with the hitchhiker girl is gone too, which was my favorite part of the book. Spoiler: No Country Spoiler: Read at your own Peril I can't include this in my paper, but I wish the movie would have done Ed Tom Bell a little more justice. I understand why they didn't, but I thought it was brilliant, the kind of misdirection we're given in following Moss, then he just dies "off screen" and we're left to ponder the implications with Bell and his uncle. ETA: I wish I could watch these adaptations without having read the books. It's lame that my view of one is always tainted by the other. One has to come first, and no matter how hard I try, I'll always have preconcieved notions.
Amen to the hitchhiker scene. I will say that the adaptations are pretty faithful to the novels. Maybe too much so. The dialogue is nearly verbatim and I can't really think of a "fresh" scene the movies added to help the viewers along. It's almost like the filmmakers are scared shitless to deviate from the novels. Like in their eyes it would be like adding a car chase to the Bible or something.
That's a common ailment of adaptations. Part of what I think was successful about No Country is they left out the right scenes to make the film more easily consumed. Road is even more faithful and it didn't do well enough on its limited release for them to do a full domestic. I've studied a lot of novel to film adaptations and it's a lose-lose for film makers most of the time, unless the book is either blindingly popular, or so obscure most people don't know it was a novel. Average movie goers don't have any inclination of the arduous task of adaptation. Too much change and you've lost its essence, too little and things that work in novels don't work in films. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is my favorite example fidelity inhibiting the success of a film.
I would love to give a detailed answer to your question, but honestly, it was one of those films that I mostly forgot within a few days of seeing it. I took a look at the Wikipedia summary after making that comment, and honestly, the only scene I really remember is where he's doing the coin toss thing with the old man in the gas station. Other than that, I just remember a man with a bad haircut running around killing people, and have no recollection of who or why. This could be a Coen brothers thing. I know they're regarded as geniuses, but looking through their filmography, I only see one movie that I really enjoyed (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and a bunch that ranged from doing nothing for me to making me feel like I wasted my time and money. No offense intended to those that enjoy their work, but it just doesn't seem to hit the right chords for me. As for Cormac McCarthy, I've seen two movies based on his work (The Road and No Country), and read one and a half-ish of his books. Loved both the book and movie of The Road, and gave up on Blood Meridian because I just didn't care if any of the characters lived, died, or danced naked around a cactus in an effort to summon Mickey Mouse. Just my 2 yen.
TMW you find this thread derailed by a book discussion, and you're OK with that. TMW you wake up at 2:45 am and are in a bit of a sour mood because of it. TMW you steal a glance at what's going on in politics and are reminded why you decided to cut yourself off of politics and just go about your life with the motto: "If it's my fate to die in a nuclear hellfire, so be it. Meanwhile, I'm gonna enjoy life the way I want to."
TMW you're jogging and a young mother passes you on her bicycle, but the child in the seat is babbling in exactly the same cadence and register as a malfunctioning Portal turret.
TMW the sun blinds you just perfectly, so you don't see the idiot speeding out of a parking lot and to the street. Narrowly avoided the crash, but for ffs, that would've seriously ruined my morning.
TMW you've had a few cocktails and realize you've been trying to light a cigarette with your chapstick...
TMW when your puppy learns he can open doors by pushing them instead of waiting for them to magically open, but NOT that doors have locks and latches, so he repeatedly throws himself into the door and can't figure out why it remains closed...
TMW you realize that 'Koridai' would make an excellent fantasy setting but...wasn't that the name of a fantasy setting in a really atrociously bad Zelda CDI game? Hmm...would anyone really care that much by this point?
TMW a friend tells you that while he was in hospital his fiancee stole his credit card and went on a £3k shopping spree Closely followed by TMW you win insensitive arse of the day award by replying "so the wedding's off then ? "
TMW you have to unfriend a coworker because she doesn't know how not to share fucked up, graphic, inflammatory, "Ohmaigah!! Look at this!!" posts. TnMW another coworker serves as a go-between and asks why you unfriended that person, and you explain, then the go-between comes back and relays a message about how uncool it is to unfriend someone because you don't agree with what she posts. (For the record, it's the kind of posts where they show hacked up animals and PETA videos showing slaughter houses, etc. She's one of those people.) T (delicious) MW you tell the go-between "Tell her to go fuck herself. My page; I do whatever the fuck I want."
TMW you learn how to post images from your phone: That was taken a few months ago when I was picking out my Halloween costume