Theft of Swords
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Should this be made into a movie?
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Elizabeth
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rated it 5 stars
Jun 28, 2012 01:07PM
I love every book of this series that I've read so far and would love to see a movie what does everyone else think?
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I totaly agree with you. If they make it like eragon (Where they got EVERYTHING wrong, I'd be sooooooooooooooooo mad.
Thanks all...I do have a very respected media agent (the head of the book-to-film division of one of the largest agencies in film and television) but the chances are smaller than small. Still hope springs eternal - even if tempered by reality.
I would love to see this as a movie or on HBO! Just as long as they accurately portray Royce and Hadrian and follow the books exactly!
Well there are two very big walls to climb in this regard. 1 - Getting someone to "greenlight" such a project
2 - Having enough clout to be able to have some creative input
Of course I hope for both, but am not expecting either. Thanks though for wanting to see both.
Finally got my hands on this and can't wait to dive in.
With very few exceptions, fantasy movies just do not do too well. You don't want this as HBO either. They would have Arista and her brother in a relationship and Hadrian as an axe murderer.As good as the books are, they just do not have a large enough following for them to get decent actors and a director that would stick closely to the originals. I do NOT want to see this as a low budget scyfy channel movie. Better for it not to be made than resort to that.
@Mary - hope you enjoy@Alan - thanks for the thumbs up
@Neal - I know exactly what you mean...easy to correct we just have to get that larger audience!! I personally enjoyed the Dresden Files when they were on Scify even though the books were better and that did a great deal to launch Butcher, but yes a bad adaptation would be worse than none at all.
Would love to see this as a movie...my only question is who do you think would be the perfect actors for the starring roles?
Many people have made their opinions on this known. I'm so out of touch with the current Hollywood scene that I couldn't venture a guess.
But then again the way that Hollywood ruins a good book when made into a movie....maybe not. There's been many many books that I enjoyed and Hollywood made a mess of.
I think Lord of the Rings has been done well. I even like the production values on GoT...even though I'm not a fan of the base material (too gritty for my taste).
I agree...Lord of the Rings was done really well. I especially like the second one. GoT is not my cup of tea...I have read the first book and seen the HBO series. I just couldn't get into it. The Harry Potter movies were also done exceptionally well. My horrible book to movie examples would be The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons. In the Fantasy genre, Eragon....It was so bad I stopped watching.
Yeah I never saw Eragon, but then again I hadn't read the book either. I saw Davinci Code but didn't think it was either great or terrible. I do know I enjoyed the book more than most seem to. I've not read or seen Angels and Demons.
Ohhh if you enjoyed the Davinci Code, you need to read Angels and Demons. I think it was by far the better book.
I think we went off topic just a tad! :)
I think we went off topic just a tad! :)
If the books were mediocre, I would say go ahead with a series of movies. Unfortunately, these were too good and well beyond mediocre. Hollywood has a horrible track record in making adaptations of books.LOTR was remarkably close to the books.
Percy Jackson: I personally liked the first movie, but it is nothing like the books. Note: I saw the movie before the book. When an author makes a big deal about the eye and hair color of the major female character, you should at least TRY to get those aspects right.
Legend of the Seeker was the Sword of Truth TV adaptation. They butchered the books. They changed way too many of the basic aspects of the story. As a series, it was good. As an adaptation it was horrible.
Eragon's movie changed too many major aspects as well. As a movie, it was good. Again the adaptation sucked.
I can't comment on the Harry Potter ones as I have not read the books.
There is just way too much they can mess up when doing adaptations. If you change major aspects, it loses the appeal of the books.
@neal I too was very disappointed in the Legend of the Seeker series. They screwed it up in the first 5 minutes! And the actor they got to play Richard was not even close to how I envisioned Richard.
Percy Jackson was a good movie...not as good as the book but it was ok. I love all of Rick Riordan's books.
The ideal thing to happen is for Michael to write the screenplay and then we know it would work for a movie. :)
Percy Jackson was a good movie...not as good as the book but it was ok. I love all of Rick Riordan's books.
The ideal thing to happen is for Michael to write the screenplay and then we know it would work for a movie. :)
I have a person writing the screenplay...his only movie credit right now is that his book "Hard Sell" was adapted to the movie "Sex and Other Drugs" staring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. The first pages I saw weren't hitting the mark, so we'll see what he comes back with for a revision.
Oh Michael! that's wonderful news! As long as you're overseeing the process, I'm sure it will be good.
Well don't get too excited - it's still a one in a million shot.
Michael wrote: "Well don't get too excited - it's still a one in a million shot."Michael,
I'd go see it. On opening day. At midnight. And drag the rest of my family. :D
I think the clue here is creative control. Keeping it may mean losing a movie deal but preventing a horrid adaptation. I think (and correct me if I am wrong) that you are very attached to your characters and do not want to see them portrayed less than accurately on any movie screen. This is why we love you. You are faithful to the works you have provided.
That being said. I'd go see it. On opening day. At midnight. And drag the rest of my family. :D
Yes I am very attached to my characters and to my story...but...I have no power. Now if the books sell exceeding well...that's another story altogether. So it's all up to you guys, I've done my part and wrote the books, now we just need 1,000,000 people to read them and then I would have some clout.
I agree, I don't care "who" plays the roles from a "name" perspective. I'm far more concerned with the script and "good" actors.
I agree with Alan. Sometimes "name" actors aren't fit for the role they're playing, but are hired just for the box-office draw. That's not to say that name actors can't do an excellent job. But with the script from these books, there is no need for a "name" actor.
I appreciate everyone's belief in the ability of the story to carry a good movie.
Totally agree. I sincerely, hope to see these novels put on film. Main stream cinemas would sell tickets like crazy!
Yes, yes, yes! This book would make an incredible movie (I imagine it like the way they did The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings). I sincerely hope it becomes a movie!
I loved these books and I do think that the plot and action would translate well into a movie format but as many have said it would have to be done well like the LOTR and the Hobbit...With good actors and well written script, other wise it might end up like another failed Fantasy movie...
It's always great seeing people excited about a possible movie or television adaptation of Riyria. When I wrote the book the plot played out in my mind like a movie...so I definitely thinking along those lines. It's interesting that Hollywood seems more interested in putting out re-releases of past movies or yet another sequel in a franchise more than original material. I guess I understand, they are concentrating on what will sell (a known quantity) but I can't help but lament the loss of new material.
If you get William Goldman to write the script, nothing can go wrong. He could definitely pull off the humor of the story... if he could still write that well at such an age (83). Peter Jackson is visually a good director. On the other hand, Rob Reiner can capture the feels of a book (if only he could try epic fantasy).
Hey LIezl - I so agree with all you say...and will throw in Joss Weadon as another potential choice to direct/produce Riyria in film/television. He could handle the humor aspects well.
When reading the book I always imagined Ray Stevenson From his role in Rome as Hadrian, and a dark haired Kevin Mckidd also from the Rome TV show to play Royce. I thought they played well off each other and they seemed a lot like Hadrian and Royce as I read the book.
Hey Marcus - When I saw Rome -- many many moons after writing Riyria (obviously), I thought - hey these two guys could play them! So yeas I agree. Two good choices for the movie adaptation for Theft of Swords.
When I read I often place actors in my head acting out as I read. Usually as the characters grow the actor changes. However I started the series with the crown tower and from the first time on the boat till now (halfway through theft of swords) Hadrian has been played by Ben Foster from 3:10 to Yuma. However my feeling is this world you created needs the flexibility of a tv series in order to properly depict the characters we all love and to do that I think you would have to have some relatively unknown actors. A lot like the series supernatural did. I also agree that HBO is not the right fit AMC and BBC in my mind are the two networks that keep the creative integrity and display that on film.
The books definately played out in my mind like a movie. And if they follow the books they would make amazing movies without any shadow of a doubt. But I think you need lesser known actors who can act and a good script. Big names bring their own personality to the characters they play, and not so much the authors vision of the character. And the bigger the name they more input they have to mess up the script, or scene, their ego defines moments sometimes. And minor changes can make massive overall changes to the tone or plot or story. Compare the Bourne identity book and movie totally different endings. Stalones take on Judge Dredd, and too many more to mention. The bigger the star the more influence and the more changes they can insist on.
@Steven - I'm down with all that...you wanna set up a meeting with my people and the network people? Oh, wait, I don't have any people. There may be a basic flaw in that plan.
@Grimnir - I think you are correct...Fortunately, I don't think I'll have to be worried about that. Lack of choice and control can be liberarting ;-)
Michael, I see this was last commented on over a year ago. Has there been any movement on a movie since then? I'm on the last book nearing the end and I'm going to be very sad when it's over...would love to see the characters on the big screen.
I think this would be epic as a series. I would have prefered it over Shannara.My cast would be:
Hadrian: Anson Mount
Royce: Jamie Bell
Arista: Sarah Bolger
Alric: Gregg Sulkin
Thrace: Halston Sage
Amelia: Eleanor Tomlinson
Esrahaddon: Ben Kingsley
Gwen: Hannah John-Kamen
Travis Fimmel- Hadrian
Royce- Donnie YenHadrian- Travis Fimmell
I see these guys as being an odd couple; two people you would not normally expect to be partners.
Also Royce's character is incredibly lithe, athletic so a martial artist or gymnast would hold himself in a believable way.
I listened to the Audiobook recorded by Tim Gerard Reynold who gave Hadrian a lower class British accent - not Cockney- I don't know how to describe it.
Royce had no accent- could be played by an American, Asian, Native American active etc.
Wow, Travis is a great suggestion for Hadrian. I didn't even think about him. I'm not sure who Donnie Yen is but I like the comparisons you made. I also listened to the Audio book and loved it.
I'm almost done with the fourth book in the series and I'm already sad I don't want it to end. I would be so happy if they made a movie but I know they would ruin it. These books are so good I can't stand it. I want everyone to see this amazing story on the big screen!! What has to happen to get this made into a movie??
Only, ONLY, if they don't mess up Royce, Hadrian, Gwen, Arista, and Thrace. Even when LOTR was made into a (very excellent) series of movies, they changed Faramir's character so much that it felt like they slandered him. Riyria's characters are, IMHO, what make story as great as it is. They should only make this a movie if Michael S. is given as much control over characters as JK Rowling had in the Harry Potter movies.
I want these to be made into a movie so badly. I've been doing more audiobooks and less reading in the last few years, and even though I love LOTR these books are more enjoyable to revisit, they just never get old. I have re-listened to the entire series, including The Rose and the Thorn, The Crown Tower, and Age of Myth each 2 to 3 times, and will again. It's turning into an annual event like Christmas story or Dracula. I'm hopeful for a movie After seeing that the very first result from a google search of "riyira series movie" reveals that 7 of the 9 books are in the top 100 for fantasy!!! I agree there are movies that make it big without big name actors, but I think if the actor/actress could LISTEN NOT READ (because Tim Reynolds delivers them in such an amazing way) the actor/actress would be excited about delivering them the way they were intended and be more inclined to keep to the original story line. I will be excited when this happens cause I know you will make sure this doesn't turn into one of those low budget disasters. My extremely persuasive wife almost wasn't able to talk me into reading "sword of truth" (which was a great book) after watching the first couple episodes in that tv series because it was so horrendous. Keep at least writing stuff Michael. I love love love your work!
Throughout the series I kept telling myself "I'd love to see this scene on film". I won't give away parts/scenes of the books as examples in case some people here haven't read all of the books, but there are so many characters and scenes that I think would be amazing to watch. Independent film actors would probably work best, we don't need any hot shot names trying to put their own spin on the characters' personality. On another note, any chance you'll be writing sequels? I'm going to read the prequels "Chronicles" soon, but I'm almost sad to start because I know Arista won't be in them. She surprisingly turned into one of my favorite characters. Also, the way the series ended, I feel like I'm not the only one who wants to actually SEE (or, mentally see since we'd be reading) the new King and Empress in action.
I honestly would love movie or tv series, but I think that a tv series would be better. There are just so many scenes it would be almost impossible to do well without making the movie horrible or doing 6 movies. The only book series I remember movie companies making so many movies about was Harry Potter
DEFINITELY! These books are absolutely begging to be a movie. Especially "The Crown Tower". :-)
Maybe they should wait making a movie.Wait until all chronicles are here...
Then do a series of all the chronicles, and make a trilogy for the revelations :).
I don't like travis fimmel for hadrian though, he's not big enough. Maybe Armie Hammer...
As for royce, that's really difficult... jonathan rhys meyers maybe?
I can't think of one that I'd be totally happy with...
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