Lolita: The Book of the Film

by Stephen Schiff

Foreword by Jeremy Irons, preface by Adrian Lyne. Based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, Schiff tells the astounding story behind the most controversial movie of our time. 75 movie stills.



“Like Nabokov's novel, it is an eloquent tragedy laced with wit and a serious, disturbing work of art...” – The New York Times

Genres: Film

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for anyone who is a fan of either the 1997 movie or of the original novel itself. Although I wish the parts written by Jeremy Irons and Adrian Lyne were longer (and it would have been awesome if Dominique Swain got to write something about playing such a famous character!), I think the book was very informative and entertaining. It was fun to see what they took from the movie and what the actors ad libbed.

[Julian Darius · Rating 4 out of 5]

About as close to a perfect adaptation of LOLITA as possible. Impressive work, and much more faithful than Nabokov's own adaptation (which Kubrick loosely adapted and which remains in print in book form).

[Kristín · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read film manuscripts but this was an interesting read; both the intros and the original text. I saw the movie many years ago and I don't think many of the explicit scenes made it into the film, for reasons explained in the forewords, but I wonder how I would have reacted had I actually realised clearer the nature of this twisted relationship.

[Bonnie Fazio]

I didn't read THIS edition, obviously, because it was published in 2000. But the edition I must have read wasn't an option here. I think I may have interviewed Stephen Schiff after having seen the Jeremy Irons film (for Citysearch). But possibly not. (Note to self: Check printouts of old articles for CS.)

I'm pretty sure the edition I read didn't have photographs from the film, or at least not many.

[Maritza Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my absolute favorite classics detailed in script verse...a true treat! Stephen Schiff is a genius; I applaud at his expertise for bringing this classic to life. This script was exactly what I expected, if not more!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a sad and hard story to read, this book described the movie

[Jessica Rae (Secret World of Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very interesting read. The book includes relationships, low key sex, a big age gap and tragedy.

The only negative is if you want this book in English it is only available in film script version. There are pictures of the film scenes throughout the book and I actually skipped to the end to see what happened... (don’t do that!)