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argylespy
2013-08-28 08:01 pm UTC (link)

Two words: Stephen King.

Everything I've heard and read about him, he's never really that upset over people disliking his movie adaptations and understands that some of his work isn't great -- or even necessarily good -- and that some of it is really hard to adapt to the screen anyway.

Also, despite it's commercial success and heralding as one of the best adaptations to date, he loathed Kubrick's "The Shining" so much that a couple of decades later he hired a director who had worked on adaptations of his books that King liked and remade The Shining into a miniseries.

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luxshine
2013-08-28 11:28 pm UTC (link)

This.

Also, when he took control of a book adaptation on his own, the horrible movie Maximum Overdrive, he took responsibility for the movie's failure and never directed again.

The only time when he has said that the movie is horrible and has no resemblance to his own word was with the Lawnmower man. And to be honest, the only parts of his short story that appear in the novel could have been deleted and not affect the whole movie at all.

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	argylespy 2013-08-29 06:54 am UTC (link)
	Oh man, I am so glad to hear both of those things, but mostly about Lawnmower Man because I just watched that for the first time not long ago (I haven't read it) and I think that was one of the most awful -- both hilariously and horrifyingly -- King adaptation I've ever seen. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	luxshine 2013-08-30 12:06 am UTC (link)
	Let me put it this way... Do you remember that scene where a lawnmower kills a man and the cops say that 'what's left of him' is in the bird bath? THAT's King's story. That little scene, and nothing more. Everything else came from who knows where, and that's why King insisted that his name was taken off the posters of the movie. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

msmanna
2013-08-30 06:17 pm UTC (link)

I could never even fathom the idea of making a film out of that story. I mean, it isn't even long enough for a whole episode of Tales of the Unexpected. I guess it's just the ability to slap Stephen King's name on it and hope no one notices it's a terrible film. But even given that, there had to be some more plausibly film-length short stories that hadn't been adapted, yet.

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vorpal_blade
2013-08-28 11:46 pm UTC (link)

When you're as prolific as King and so many of your books or stories have been filmed, there are bound to be both hits and misses. Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Stand by Me, Carrie, The Green Mile--all very well-regarded. I couldn't believe the mind-boggling stupidity of the miniseries "It", though. For me, whether a film is supposed to be good or not is more important to me than who wrote the book, who's directing, who's starring, and all that. Loads of people whose work I like have done crap projects I don't want to waste my time on. Not every film or book can be a home run.

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	nevadafighter 2013-08-29 04:37 am UTC (link)
	Considering how cosmic the end of that novel is, back in 1989/1990 a TV miniseries budget just didn't have the resources to do it right, hence the cheesy mechanical spider. But you have to admit Tim Curry was fucking scary--he gave me nightmares after that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cyndra_falin 2013-08-30 11:24 pm UTC (link)
	He gave EVERYBODY nightmares after that. My nephew hates clowns to this day because of IT. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nevadafighter 2013-08-31 12:33 am UTC (link)
	Between IT and Killer Klowns from Outer Space I can't stand clowns either (and the clown eps on Supernatural just helped to reinforce that). (Reply to this)(Parent)

	argylespy 2013-08-29 07:06 am UTC (link)
	"It" was awesome for me because I got to see Martha Kent save Talia Al Ghul from Nigel Thornberry. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cyndra_falin 2013-08-30 11:26 pm UTC (link)
	My teenage crush Jonathan Brandis in IT too. Ah youth. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nevadafighter 2013-08-31 01:06 am UTC (link)
	"It" was awesome for me because I got to see Judge Harry Stone and Jack Tripper punch the crap out of a spider. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ninwhore 2013-08-29 05:32 am UTC (link)
	My dad told me that when The Shining was in theaters he actually took off of work to go see it and was super excited about it. He left the theater about 15 minutes in. Telling me this story he ranted for about 10 minutes about what they got wrong. So I guess I can see how King wouldn't like it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	argylespy 2013-08-29 06:37 am UTC (link)
	I liked it the first time I saw it. But then I saw it again and thought about it a little more and read about the kind of shit that Kubrick pulled on set and read the book. And yeah. I can see exactly why he hated that movie. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sandglass 2013-08-29 06:22 am UTC (link)
	Stephen King sounds like such a class act. I really wish I could get into his books. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

argylespy
2013-08-29 06:50 am UTC (link)

Man, I totally understand why you can't. My biggest issue with his writing is how long it takes him to actually get into the story, though I think he's gotten better at that more recently.

My go-to recommendation for people who don't go in for the usual King stuff, though, is the Dark Tower series, if you haven't checked it out already. It's epic fantasy (translated through Stephen King) with four main characters, one of whom is a disabled woman of color who kicks everyone's ass, with a backstory that's Post-Apocalyptic King Arthur And The Cowboys Of The Round Table. There's seven novels (plus a bonus one that's just kind of eh), but if you want to get a little taste without that kind of commitment, there's also a bunch of prequel comics that Marvel's still working with King to put out.

/SHAMELESS PLUGGING
/MORE DARK TOWER FANS
/MOOOORE

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	franzen 2013-08-29 09:10 am UTC (link)
	Congrats, you have a convert. I tried to read a King book as a tween -- I think it was one of those 4.99USD copies of The Green Mile -- but gave up. This sounds much more interesting. I'll add it to the to-read bucket. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	argylespy 2013-08-29 09:28 am UTC (link)
	I should also point out that there are multiverse shenanigans! And King does a fantastic job of weaving characters from some of his other books in and out without making you feel like you're missing part of the story, but adding an extra interesting layer if you have/do read the other books. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ladylauren 2013-09-02 03:39 pm UTC (link)
	YES THIS. DARK TOWER IS LOVE. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2013-08-29 07:42 am UTC (link)
	Have you tried reading The Gunslinger series? The first book isn't that long, and the first three books are really good. In my opinion, the books after the first three aren't nearly as good, though. (Reply to this)(Parent)

dunmurderin
2013-08-31 04:41 am UTC (link)

I'd also recommend his short-story collections, especially Night Shift and Skeleton Crew. The story "The Boogeyman" gave me the screaming heebie-jeebies and "The Mist" still makes me more than a little nervous on foggy days.

As far as novels, I recommend Carrie and Eyes of the Dragon, which was a fantasy novel he wrote for his daughter (iirc). These are also shorter works and when King is writing shorter pieces, he seems to have better focus on the story than he does in some of his longer works (though, that said, the expanded version of The Stand really did add something to the story).

I'm also pretty fond of Christine and Talisman

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	rhiannonmr 2013-08-31 08:20 am UTC (link)
	The ONE book I always recommend by King is The Stand. That book set the bar on apocolyptic plagues for me. The miniseries was pretty much just okay. I read the long version of it and the one thing that jarred a bit was some of the 70s references like Captain Trips and such, but otherwise? Excellent book. (Reply to this)(Parent)

jedi_miki
2013-08-29 07:11 pm UTC (link)

Stephen King is such an awesome guy. My Mom's a big fan, and I wish I was. The only book of his that I've ever read was Carrie. I want to attempt the Mist, though I know my reason for it is completely ass backwards (I loved the ending of the movie, which I know isn't the same in the book, but I'd still love to give the book a read).

My Mom got to see him on his promotional run for 11/22/63, where he read a couple of chapters. Wish I could've gone, they had this fun little event where you payed your admission by buying the book, and while doing so you had a chance of getting an autographed copy when you went to pick it up.

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	argylespy 2013-08-29 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	For what it's worth, King apparently liked the movie ending better. Also that's completely awesome and I'm really jealous of your mom! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	quantumreality 2013-08-30 12:03 am UTC (link)
	I've read The Stand and it's the only King book I've read; that said, holy bejeebers shudders Nightmare Fuel in that thing! But for all that it's a doorstopper of a book it does manage to hold my attention when I re-read it occasionally. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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