My Passions as Films

Two of my favorite books are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Both of these books are being made into films, and I have mixed feelings. I don't mind when other people's favorite books hit the big screen, but I get a little fidgety when Hollywood starts messing with my own. There's always the concern that the cast and the story line will be all wrong or that something will be portrayed *not quite* how I have spent years visualizing it. At the same time, there is something exciting about getting to experience a book in a new way.

Pros and cons, folks.

Pros and cons.

When I heard about The Book Thief, the first thing I did was look up the cast. I was pleasantly surprised - for the most part, they are right. Rosa is a little bit older in my head and Hans is a little bit... uh... fatter, but they casted them well. Max is pretty darn close to what I have always imagined, and for some reason, I've never put a face to Leisl. I've always had a hard time imagining Rudy as a blonde, even though he is described as such in the book (probably because of the Jesse Owens incident), but I can change my ways.

After I became familiar with the cast, I waited for the trailer. When I saw that it was up on Youtube, I had a "this is it" moment where I sat down, held my breathe, and clicked play. My reaction wasn't positive or negative - it was just "huh." Like acceptance, I guess.

But then I worried.

I worried because the narrator in the trailer was Leisl.

Leisl can't be the narrator.

I knew that if the narrator was different from the book, everything that is beautiful about the story would be sabotaged.

I waited on pins and needles to hear news about the narrator, and I leapt out of my seat when I read that the narrator in the movie is the same as in the book.

Hallelujah.

So now I wait another week, and then I see it. I am thrilled and nervous and excited.

As for The Giver, we'll have to wait until next year. There are some red flags in the cast: Taylor Swift? Katie Holmes? Hmmm..... I just don't know about that. Also, Jonas is going to be played by a 23 year old heart throb, and that always ruins things a bit. Jonas is supposed to be twelve. I'm worried that the depth of the story will be lost (which is how I feel about the film adaption of The Hunger Games).

Time will tell.