Mort's Reviews > Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

This is going to be a different kind of review.
While we all know that the book is better than the movie - no, this is not a debatable statement...while I strongly feel that everybody is entitled to their opinion, you are wrong if you don't agree and it's time somebody is brutally honest with you - we tend to forget that adapting a book into a screenplay is a writing art of its own.

The writer of the screenplay will always be at a disadvantage when adapting a book, especially when it is a popular story already. Here are some of the disadvantages:
* Time - In the movie industry, one page roughly translates to one minute on screen. This means that most producers of movies, unless it is a well established writer to begin with, will not even consider a script of more than 120 pages, and they prefer 90 - 100 pages. To condense any book down that much usually means some things has to be sacrificed, already taking away some of the magic of the story.
* Control - Once a screenplay is sold to a movie studio, in most cases, all control of the story and the written word is given up. The director can chop and change anything to make the vision he/she has of the movie into a reality. Sometimes it is practical reasons - the budget doesn't allow it, the correct location couldn't be found, the weather is not working along, etc. - and sometimes it's just a silly expression of art, but the story can be...ahem, excuse the crudeness..."whored down" for whatever reason. And, to top it all off, the powers that be can decide that the ending needs to be more "viewer friendly" and insist on a change - Great respect to Brad Pitt who threatened to withdraw from the movie SE7EN if they changed the ending, and therefor ensuring one of the best movies ever was released! .
* Ego - Ah, yes, the thing that makes Hollywood go round...I think a lot of people will be shocked if they found out how many times lines had to be changed to make it "funnier" or to make the best-paid actor look better on screen. How horrific...

Right, so the reason I chose this book to write the review on is because I have great respect for the man who adapted this brilliant Stephen King novella for the screen - Frank Darabont.
This is, in my opinion, one of the best adaptations out there. Darabont was also the director of the movie, which helped with the control. And throw Morgan Freeman in the cast, you know it has to be, at the very least, a good movie.

This was also the first "dollar-deal" - and I haven't researched this, only read about it many years ago, so correct me if I'm wrong. Stephen King made a deal with some aspiring screenplay writers that he would sell the rights to some of his stories to be adapted into screenplays for a dollar. Don't misunderstand, it's a dollar and they had the right to adapt the screenplays, not the rights to the entire story. I'm pretty sure he made a decent amount of money from the movies.
Anyway, Darabont adopted this story into THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and it impressed King enough to allow him to try and sell it. And the rest is history - this is a brilliant story (thank you Mr. King) told brilliantly on screen (thank you Mr. Darabont).

Darabont would make two further "dollar-deals" with King, maybe you've heard of them:
THE MIST will be the lesser known of the two. I absolutely LLLLOOOOOVVVVEEEEDDDD the end of that movie.
THE GREEN MILE...need I say more.

Darabont will also be the one who will bring THE WALKING DEAD to the small screen - and I'm going to leave it at that because they fired him during the second season and everything went to shit from there.

What's the best adaptation you've seen?