Is Everything Everywhere All At Once Based On A Book?

Question

Saw the Oscars sweep, and now all this talk about parallel universes—anyone know if they adapted a novel or webtoon for that bonkers film? Gotta read the source!

Gabriela Martinez · Answer

The story was not based on a book, but was instead written by the writers as an original screenplay. It had that feeling of a wild novel concept all fully realized, sort of like the web novel ‘The World Only We Exist’ where a group of people slowly discover that their reality is a flawed sphere, one of many, in a collapsing stack of dimensions. The novel focuses more on the personal effects that the collapse has on the people in the story and the bonds of love, despair and solidarity that form between the group of people who come to realize they are the center of their own collapsing universe and are trying to hold on to each other as everything around them is falling apart.

Theo · Answer

None. I did not base this on any book. The Daniels created this original story as a film, presumably because of the visual density and kinetic energy that would be impossible to translate into a print form. Lots of cool and seemingly random ideas about late-night dorm room debates about quantum mechanics and family, and also, hot dog fingers, were thrown into a blender and this is the end result. lots of weird little movies like this have been drawn from, such as wuxia films, and from lots of little bits of geeky, esoteric knowledge, as well as from lots of existential philosophy. If you want to read something similar to The Movie, then you might want to look into The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for more of The Daniels’ brand of humor, and then also look into House of Leaves for more of that sense of endlessness and density of layers. The movie is unique and odd, but good.

Theo · Answer

Everything Everywhere All at Once was such a unique and emotional film for me when I first saw it, but it wasn’t based on any books. The film is an original screenplay by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the Daniels. As fans of the brothers’ previous work in Swiss Army Man, fans of the duo can easily tell the amount of absurdity and serious emotion that went into the film. Everything Everywhere All at Once has the feel of a very dense and complex sci-fi novel, but it was written solely for film.

While there is no novel that the film is based off of, Everything Everywhere does draw inspiration from a wide range of literary sources. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the Daniels) have mentioned loving the way Kurt Vonnegut plays with time in his stories and said that they were also inspired by the absurdist humor of Douglas Adams (of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame). Even the way in which realities branch off into countless alternate universes brings to mind the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges (especially those that take place within labyrinthine bibliomatchines). All in all, the film is something of a love letter to the weird and diverse field of all philosophical storytelling. I’d kill to have a novelization of Everything Everywhere, though—I’m pretty sure that there are countless details that are waiting to be uncovered within the film’s many alternate realities. For now, though, I’ll just have to keep re-watching the film and adding new details to my mental database.

Thesa Feliz · Answer

I don’t think Everything Everywhere is a story best told in a book. First of all, cinema is its own unique art form that tells story in very unique and powerful ways. The film is relying heavily on the editing, sound design, visual effects, and performances in a way that cannot be replicated on the page. The big fight scene taking place in the high school hallway is all hugs. The scene with the fingers transformed into hot dogs is hilarious in a very physical, slapstick way. And then there’s the beautiful scene on the rock where Jack and April share a tender moment. I feel like that could not be reproduced on the page in any adequate way. Some stories are just meant to be films. Let books be books and let this type of film be what it is.

Nicolle Pete · Answer

There is no source novel for Everything Everywhere All at Once, but the film’s take on the multiverse is very current. As with many concepts in comics, sci-fi novels and films, the multiverse is a shiny new toy that can be used in many ways. However, ‘Everything Everywhere’ uses the multiverse to explore the internal, emotional states of a single character. The various Evelyns that the protagonist encounters are manifestations of her many regrets, her anxieties about her current life and her lack of fulfillment of her true potential. It’s a literary approach to a sci-fi concept, which a novel could explore in greater detail, but the rapid-fire style of the film means that you are forced to make connections between the protagonist’s experiences in very quick time. It’s a very literary approach and is also very, very brilliant. It’s a very fast-paced, energetic sprint through the psyche of a single character, rather than a leisurely walk.

Emelda Chinwekene · Answer

This is not based on a book, but it is deeply literary. The heart of the film is Evelyn and Joy, two people from different eras struggling to connect in a world where they are neither really seen nor understood. That is to say this could be a pretty standard, quiet dramatic film about a lot of different things, but instead it has been packaged in the multiverse. So instead of wondering in what world your mother might finally understand you, the film suggests that in every world your mother would finally understand you, and in no worlds would your mother finally understand you, but she would keep trying to connect with you anyway. And this is deeply and powerfully true, regardless of whether or not it were expressed in a book, play, or film. (And it’s been expressed here with the added bonus of raccoon chef).

Mary Lewis · Answer

No. I haven’t read anywhere that this is a book-based film. You should be able to find out if it is by checking out the movie’s page on IMDb or the film’s official website for more information on the source material, typically a film will include a credit in the opening credits and on the movie posters which will read ‘Based on the novel by…’ If the Daniels are writing and directing this then it’s an original idea by them. The film may be inspired by a short story or article but the Daniels have stated that they brainstormed the idea of the film during discussions about family and the internet age.

Francisco · Answer

As if one could seriously write a scene description like “Scene 45: Evelyn uses her hot dog fingers to play a beautiful, melancholic piano piece while her daughter, who is a black hole in the shape of a everything bagel, looks on.” and have a publisher seriously consider purchasing it as a novel first draft. It would be a strange thing to show in a film pitch, but rather a celebration of the absurdity that can be brought to life on the screen. And the fact that this film did get made, and is so critically and commercially adored, is a miracle to be celebrated in and of itself. It’s a love letter to creativity that knows no bounds, is completely untethered from any established literature, and is therefore all the more special because of it.

Judy Ann Lontiong Sumaylo · Answer

A movie not a book. The philosophical ideas behind the movie are real and can be found in a plethora of existential and absurdist literature. The everything bagel symbolizes the darkest recesses of nihilistic despair, and how nothing matters. But in the face of nothing mattering, perhaps we should be kind. The ideas behind the movie, The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus for example, would give one an equal amount of intellect on the subject but there would be no fight to the death with a fanny pack. Instead you would be given all of the abstract ideas translated into a deeply emotional and visually explosive experience and covered in literal confetti.

Is Everything Everywhere All At Once Based On A Book?

9 Answers

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