25 books that should have never been made into films, from His Dark Materials to The Girl on the Train

Jacob Stolworthy,Ellie Harrison,Adam White and Roisin O'Connor
·2 min read
25 books that should have never been made into films, from His Dark Materials to The Girl on the Train

It makes sense for Hollywood to look to the written word for inspiration when it comes to producing new films. But, the sad truth is there's become an over-reliance on using pre-existing material to either find the next big franchise or to capitalise on the success of a bestseller. It's fair enough – these adaptations will always be guaranteed large box office takings thanks to the book's readers merely showing up to see how the film has translated certain parts to the screen.

While there are solid examples of successful big-screen adaptations – The Lord of the Rings, stray Harry Potter films, Gone Girl – there have more than likely been a larger number of botch jobs. Nothing is more disappointing than seeing a film version of your favourite book and realising minutes in that the director has misjudged the novel's spirit or two actors have been cast in the wrong roles and have no chemistry whatsoever.

This week sees the release of A Million Little Pieces, an addiction drama from Sam Taylor-Wood that follows an alcoholic and drug abuser's rehabilitation. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the lead role. it's based on the semi-fictional book by James Frey – the author who originally presented the novel as a memoir before it was later revealed many of its events hadn't happened. The film's reviews have been middling, with many questioning why the book was adapted in the first place. Maybe these writers should merely take inspiration and create their own original stories?

Below, we rank the 25 books that should have been left alone and never made into films. Click through the gallery to see what made the list.

25 books that should have never been made into films

(Warner Bros Pictures/Universal Pictures/New Line Cinema)
(Warner Bros Pictures/Universal Pictures/New Line Cinema)
Dune (1984): Dune was never going to be an easy book to turn into a two-hour action movie – and David Lynch’s attempt is proof that it should be best left alone. The director's adaptation is a nonsensical, deeply convoluted disaster that wastes an enjoyably oddball cast. It's the only one of Lynch's films the director has publicly disowned. Still, hopes are high that next year’s version from Arrival director Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, will somehow be better. (Universal Pictures)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990): Fresh off the success of bestselling novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, Warner Bros bought the rights from Tom Wolfe for a staggering $750,000. Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffiths were both (mis)cast in the lead roles after director Brian De Palma's preferred choices turned him down. The filmmaker himself struggled to spin the 1990 production's many plates amid reports of rising on-set troubles that were all witnessed and documented in Julie Salmon's follow-up book, The Devil's Candy. (Warner Bros)
Billy Bathgate (1991): 1991 gangster film Billy Bathgate, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman, did no justice to EL Doctorow's beloved 1989 novel. With the efforts of Oscar-winning Kramer vs Kramer director Robert Benton and a script by Tom Stoppard, the film had all the ingredients to become as good as The Godfather, Scarface, and Goodfellas. Instead, it was a hollow adaptation, largely because all the magic was lost with the absence of the central character's narration – a huge reason behind the novel's success. (Buena Vista Pictures)
The Scarlet Letter (1995): The Scarlet Letter (1995) is ranked as one of the worst book adaptations ever made and for good reason. Described by DH Lawrence as “a perfect work of the American imagination,
The Scarlet Letter (1995): The Scarlet Letter (1995) is ranked as one of the worst book adaptations ever made and for good reason. Described by DH Lawrence as “a perfect work of the American imagination,
Battlefield Earth (2000): To be fair, few would be able to turn L Ron Hubbard’s allegedly Scientology-inspired Battlefield Earth (2000) into something decent. This John Travolta-with-dreadlocks epic has since gone down in “Worst Movies Ever” infamy, effectively ending Travolta’s mainstream movie career and destroying Barry Pepper’s before it even started. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001): Louis de Bernières's Captain Corelli's Mandolin was one of the biggest literary successes of the 1990s, but the 2001 film version – from the same British company that made Notting Hill – lost all traces of the novel's heart and soul. The dialogue is disastrous and lead stars Nicolas Cage (Captain Corelli) and Penélope Cruz (Pelagia) lack any chemistry. It may look pretty, but this adaptation was a complete mistake. (Miramax Films)
The Time Machine (2002): The beauty of HG Wells’s 1895 science fiction novella The Time Machine was lost amid all the CGI in this insipid 2002 adaptation, which was directed by Wells's great-grandson, Simon. Everything featured, including Guy Pearce's lead performance, is wooden apart from the copper time travel contraption at the heart of the story. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Dreamcatcher (2003): There have been just as many disappointing Stephen King adaptations as there have been successful ones, but Dreamcatcher sits at the bottom of that list. The talent was present (Damian Lewis! Morgan Freeman! Timothy Olyphant!), but the end product never once correlates to anything at all decent. The film's late-stage swerve into monster movie territory is nothing short of dreadful. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Enduring Love (2004): Before he took on the role of 007, Daniel Craig starred in this adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel about people whose lives become entangled after witnessing a deadly accident. While Craig’s performance as college lecturer Joe, along with Rhys Ifans as Jed – the man who becomes obsessed with him – are convincing, the film allows little time for character development and suffers because of it. (Pathé Distribution)
The Perfect Catch (2005): Nick Hornby adaptations don’t inherently need to be set in the UK (the John Cusack-starring High Fidelity, if you like that sort of thing, is something of a classic, after all), but they do need to translate the fussy, infuriating male neuroses of his novels. The Perfect Catch is the 2005 US adaptation of Hornby’s Fever Pitch, released a decade after Colin Firth starred in his own British adaptation, and transforms the source material into a more throwaway and uninteresting big-city romcom. Drew Barrymore, in a 'girlfriend’ role significantly beefed up in comparison to Hornby’s novel, is great, but watching her try and source chemistry with a shrill and unappealing Jimmy Fallon (in one of his rare, pre-talk show acting roles) is harrowing. (20th Century Fox)

A Million Little Pieces is in cinemas now – and you can read our review here.