Is Chemistry Romance Book Getting A Movie Adaptation?

There are many broken books of interest to filmmakers. ‘Pale Fire’ by Vladimir Nabokov is a poetic psychological thriller waiting to be made as a feature film. The rare book is comprised of a long poem followed by a lengthy commentary by an unreliable narrator, similar to that found in the novels by the author of this column. ‘The Silent History’ is another highly interesting work. Written by Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby and Kevin Moffett, it first appeared as an app-based work presented as a serial of stories mostly set in the same location, each tagged with the Geo-location where they were written. Interesting in itself, it could also be extended as an interactive film, perhaps as a series of short films linked together by a conceptual framework and exploring the intersection of memory and technology – highly relevant to today’s world. These books have already been turned into film in a pretty groundbreaking way, for Choose Your Own Adventure books the films were interactive and the audience even got to vote on what direction the plot would take in real time, it was really creative and could change the way we experience film and story even more if it were to be done again. Adapting broken books is pretty niche right now but who knows, it could blow up.

Adapting spicy books into films is a tricky job and often the best ones aren’t 100% faithful to the original material. In order to translate the core emotions of the story into another medium (i.e. visual), sometimes characters have to be combined or locations/plot points have to change in order to get the same feeling. Also, the internal monologue of the original story doesn’t always translate well. I remember the film adaptation of The Hating Game took the office setting of the original and streamlined it in order to really make the chemistry between the two leads work. And The Space Between Us was one of the worst adapts of a ‘spicy book’ because it tried to include ALL of the original plot points and therefore lacked the soul of the book. The very spice that people loved about the book was lost in translation.

The economic model for big-budget films based on non-superhero IPs has changed dramatically and in most cases become too risky. On the other hand, streaming services need a constant supply of content. Therefore, ‘Dies the Fire’ could be the perfect flagship for a service trying to build an audience for genre films and be developed as a series of several seasons. This would need to be pitched as a Post-Apocalyptic, Societal Drama with Fantasy elements. Focus on the Human stories that will play out within this ‘Dystopian’ world and market it as ‘The Walking Dead’ without the zombies or a ‘Game of Thrones’ set in a post-apocalyptic America. There is a very viable pitch here to get a ‘green light’.

Most adapted films fall pretty far short of the original work, but not the film version of The Notebook, based on the novel by Nevada author Nicholas Sparks. Made in 2004 by Nick Cassavetes and starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as the young lovers, it is a cult favorite that is vastly superior to the book as film. (There’s even a memorable rain kiss and a lovely summer porch scene where young lovers express their yearning for each other in physical terms.) The steam is so good because it is earned from the portrayal of their young, wild love as well as their enduring connection decades later. The movie sticks to the few really explosive moments in their relationship and they are all so vivid and intuitive. It makes their tender connection so powerful as well as all-consuming. In many ways the adaptation of The Notebook has become more iconic than the novel itself and that is largely because it captures the passionately dreamy and romantic heart of the story in a really effective and visual way.

To be honest, I've always thought everyone keeps hounding the same question over and over, and it all stems from the misunderstanding stirred up by Lights, Camera, Knot. The entire story of that book takes place entirely on a film set from start to finish, and the book's content itself unfolds entirely around the daily routine of the film crew at work. Naturally, everyone assumed that this book, packed with on-set details, was definitely going to be adapted into an actual feature film. On top of that, there is another widely circulated, vividly detailed rumor that the film and television adaptation rights to all of Kathryn Moon's works have been purchased by investors. I specifically looked into the origin of this rumor, and after chasing down every lead, I found it was completely unfounded—just a lie made up off the cuff by an ordinary TikToker, with not a single shred of solid evidence to prove this ever actually happened.

You might remember the Crossfire books by Sylvia Day, which were sweeping the nation after Fifty Shades had readers hooked to the billionaire romance scene. There were even talks of making the book into a TV series but it apparently didn’t work out. Perhaps it’s because the author is already a known name but the show still needs to find a way to adapt to a format that will do justice to the book? Same goes for The Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J.R. Ward, which have a HUGE fan base already. They’ve been optioned for TV years ago, but no green light yet. While some of the books have darker themes, most of them have paranormal elements that will of course increase production costs but also create more problems with regards to adult content. Many of these optioned books are sold as something to lock up potentially very lucrative IP, and then they stall because no one can figure out the creative or commercial solution to bring them to life. The success of Outlander, adapted from the historical time-travel romance novels by Diana Gabaldon, is evidence that novels featuring mature themes, violence, and lots of sex can be adapted into a hit television series. But that series has the added benefits of being a work of historical fiction with a unique time-travel twist. A contemporary dark romance just doesn’t have the same additional genre hooks to draw in a larger audience, and thus is a more marginal, riskier investment.

‘Firebird’ (2021) is a film set in the Soviet Air Force during the Cold War. It is based on a real story and the novel ‘The Story of Roman’ as well as the memoirs of the pilot on which it is based. It is a tense dramatic story of a forbidden love affair between a young soldier and a fighter pilot in the KGB terrorized Soviet Union. It’s a handsome period drama, somewhat conventional but full of historical truth. The greatest power of the film is the real story of the love affair that continued through many letters, periods of separation and even the end of the war when the man was expected to stay in the Soviet Union while the other could leave for France. This true story is a powerful tale of love that succeeded in a society bent on crushing it. Knowing that it is true makes it even more powerful than a purely fictional story.

This could be one of those few films that work well as a silent. All visual storytelling, lots of expressive acting, and then title cards for the few key lines of dialogue. It would be an interesting artistic choice, but I’m sure zero producers would ever actually make that choice.

I had forgotten that this project was stuck in development hell. I believe Warner Bros. optioned the rights in 2015, and that there was a screenwriter at one point or another. However, there has been no real development on the project in years. By Hollywood standards, this means that either the option has expired or the studio has lost interest. In recent years, the market for YA sci-fi film adaptations has cooled somewhat following the underperformance of ‘The Divergent Series’. It’s a real shame, though. The visuals for this were going to look amazing. But translating a “dossier” type of story into film would be extremely challenging. You’d have to choose to do it in a found-footage style, or have characters address the reader and include written text on screen, which would be really tricky to pull off for a studio. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet is probably because there’s no clear and marketable take on how to do it, which is why it’s stalled after all this time. I’d check the authors’ social media from time to time for updates, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

This is one of my favorite parts of comparing a book’s cover to the movie’s casting. Book covers are so often idealized paintings of the main characters. They can be beautifully posed in amazing settings. In contrast, the actors who end up playing these characters in the movie can look completely different in real life. It’s interesting to see how different filmmakers perceive the “look” of characters and often end up completely opposite of how one imagined. The online discussion boards are often flooded with comments about whether or not an actor looks like how one pictured the hero or heroine. I think this is a small but fun part of being a part of a fandom. It’s a fun game of matching your imagination to reality of a person. This is a lot of fun matching your imagination of the book characters to reality of the actors chosen for the roles.