Little did he know... (Stranger Than Fiction)

What is the deal with Hollywood writers/producers. Why has the internal cog of the movie machine completely bollocksing up the transition of source material to a viable film. Meaning they're totally screwing up the book stories when they make the movies.

Now that's obviously not news. Hollywood has been destroying book stories for generations. It's very disconcerting that even today the stories are just shadows of the original materials. Of the movies I've seen that I've read the books before or after the movie, The Sum of All Fears starring Ben Affleck has been one of the worst adaptations. They changed a lot of the major components of the story. Horrible. Might as well made a "Jump to Conclusion" game.

I know it's difficult to pare down a 300-page, 500-page or more book to a 1.5-2hr movie. But here's the deal- the story is already written. Cut out what doesn't fit or mesh with the story. That's okay. I gloss over a lot of storylines in Tom Clancy novels. Most times it's extraneous story that I'm not too concerned with. Overly detailed. Sometimes I do the same with Michael Crichton story.

Another movie I detest because of the changes from the book- Congo. I had so high hopes for that movie only to be severely disappointed with the changes in the characters (Bruce Campbell notwithstanding).

Which brings me the catalyst for my rant. World War Z. The book was done as a collection of interviews of survivors of a zombie outbreak/war. It was done from a retrospective perspective. The movie, starring Brad Pitt, is now apparently placing the writer/interviewer in the zombie battles. Changing the origin of the character as a basic narrator, recording the experiences of survivors, to an active participant dropped into the zombie events is unimaginative and a poor decision.

The book clearly outlines stories of horrific experiences and there is no real main character. To make a compelling movie, it doesn't need a central character that spans the rewritten/consolidated experiences. A retrospective storytelling can be accomplished. Spy Game and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt movies coincidentally) are both told in snippets covering the past.

Each story from the book doesn't need to be told, some can be consolidated, stronger characters could be featured more. Multiple storylines is very possible as well, just looking at British movies. Love Actually featured many different storylines.

So looking at World War Z, it looks completely disastrous compared to the original story. They should have just called it a different name, because it's hardly the same story. LAME.

I won't go see this, even though I thought the book was pretty good.