Full Version: Gay books into films
Here's an idea I've often wondered about: Which gay-themed novels would you like to see made into films?
My number one selection would be "At Swim, Two Boys" and number two is "As Meat Loves Salt". Both great books, rich in character developemnt and well constructed plot.
I'd like to see the Dreyfus Affair made into a film. As long as Ben Afleck isn't in the lead, I'd pay to see it! I think Ryan Reynolds from Amityville Horror would make a cute Randy Dreyfus.
"The Swimming Pool Library" by Hollinghurst. It wouldn't have major borad-market appeal (way too much gay sex in it), but the soundtrack would be full of 80's London-inspired retro-pop (New Order, Bananarama, etc.)
Good call, Aquaman! They could film it at the Olympic Club in SF as a stand-in location for the "Corry."
I agree that At Swim Two Boys would be a terrific film. I just loved the book.
Robert Tewdwr Moss' "Cleopatra's Wedding Present" would make a fascinating and topical movie. A BBC production could be incredible. Getting the rights to film in Syria would be problematic and I don't think any other place could substitute due to the specificity of the subject. Check out the review here. The sex is only implicit, which makes it that much more erotic to me. I could not imagine his life.
I'd go with Dan Savage's "The Kid" his memoir of he and his boyfriend's decision to adopt (it is subtitled "What Happened When My Boyfriend and I decided to get pregnant"). Theirs is a truly fascinating story about open adoption, which Savage tells with amazing humor and would probably have already been made into a film if it didn't have gay couple in it.
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Terry in Oaktown:
I'd like to see the Dreyfus Affair made into a film. As long as Ben Afleck isn't in the lead, I'd pay to see it! I think Ryan Reynolds from Amityville Horror would make a cute Randy Dreyfus.
Yeah, I really liked that book. There were plans to make it in the late 90's with Affleck as the lead, it never seemed to get off the ground. I think Affleck was probably afraid of playing a gay character.
I'd like to see the Dreyfus Affair made into a film. As long as Ben Afleck isn't in the lead, I'd pay to see it! I think Ryan Reynolds from Amityville Horror would make a cute Randy Dreyfus.
At this stage of Affleck's career, I think he'd play a pan of lasagne if it paid. But I really don't think Affleck is/was afraid to play gay so much as his handlers would probably never let him. Anyway, if the movie were to be made, Affleck is now too old for the role.
Perhaps if Brokeback Mountain is good, some of these younger actors might be willing to take a second look at The Dreyfus Affair. And an Oscar nom fo one of the leads wouldn't hurt. Nothing most of these actors like more than a chance to win an award.
But The Dreyfus Affair would need a really good screenwriter to translate the novel to the big screen. As enjoyable as the book was, the story is pretty thin and would need alot of work to make it a compelling screenplay.
[ August 02, 2005, 12:03 PM: Message edited by: George_Twinsfan ]
Perhaps if Brokeback Mountain is good, some of these younger actors might be willing to take a second look at The Dreyfus Affair. And an Oscar nom fo one of the leads wouldn't hurt. Nothing most of these actors like more than a chance to win an award.
But The Dreyfus Affair would need a really good screenwriter to translate the novel to the big screen. As enjoyable as the book was, the story is pretty thin and would need alot of work to make it a compelling screenplay.
[ August 02, 2005, 12:03 PM: Message edited by: George_Twinsfan ]
I recall when I was reading "The Dreyfus Affair" I felt that with the right screenplay it would be a better film than it was a novel. There are times when a story in the right hands just somehow tranlates better to the screen than to the page, although in most instances it's the other way around.
Just wanted to concur with wilsew about "As Meat Loves Salt." Could be an amazing film, but the period (Cromwellian England) would probably make it prohibitively expensive, and to do the book justice it should be a multi-part, Masterpiece-Theatre-in-its-prime type of thing anyway. But Russell Crowe would be perfect for the lead (not that he'd do it...)
I'd also like to see someone try to make a movie of Julia Glass' "Three Junes." Tricky, but do-able, I think.
I'd also like to see someone try to make a movie of Julia Glass' "Three Junes." Tricky, but do-able, I think.
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Terry in Oaktown:
I'd like to see the Dreyfus Affair made into a film.
That's come up a couple of times in previous threads. I agree it would make a great movie and don't know why no one has had the balls (pardon the triple pun) to pick up on it.I'd like to see the Dreyfus Affair made into a film.
One problem frequently noted - or maybe it's just me - is casting the two leads. I can think of no two current big time actors who could be convincingly sympathetic, funny and sexy at the same time in a gay role.
Another is creating a realistic interracial relationship, something I don't think we as a society are quite ready for yet.
I know the look I think would work. These two actors sort of randomly chosen from a website fit that bill:
John Behlmann, if he were a blonde, would be the perfect height for Randy. And Lovie Johnson, as is, would be the perfect look for DJ.
Their mugshots even show the personality I'd expect.
An interesting comment came up on this discussion on Peter Lefcourt's website:
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The Dreyfuss Affair. Here I am in the middle of hell - I mean Iraq, with Stryker Brigade and this book offered a baseball fanatic like me (and closeted mocho man) a great escape as I try to avoid being killed - on a daily basis. I can't wait to see the movie - if it ever comes out.
Somehow it doesn't surprise me at all that a closeted gay soldier in Iraq would escape the mayhem by reading that book. Makes perfect sense to me.[ August 02, 2005, 11:20 PM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]
I'd still like to see the Front Runner come out as a movie.
Ditto, on a personal level. However, I wonder if it is as relevant as when written. So much progress has been made. Just witness the posts on this board.
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wilsew:
Ditto, on a personal level. However, I wonder if it is as relevant as when written. So much progress has been made. Just witness the posts on this board.
I think it would be--how many openly gay male athletes are out there competing, except in figures skating, gymnastics, etc and the other "gay" sports
Ditto, on a personal level. However, I wonder if it is as relevant as when written. So much progress has been made. Just witness the posts on this board.
BBC grapples with gay sex
The director of a BBC production of "The Line of Beauty," based on the award-winning novel by gay author Alan Hollinghurst, says he's uneasy about some of the book's gay sex scenes. The company says it hired Andrew Davies precisely because of his past work that involved sexy productions of classic stories, but Davies is worried viewers still find depictions of gay male sex "awkward." BBC officials have hired another director to film more explicit scenes.
TV’s master of bawd draws line at gay sex
The director of a BBC production of "The Line of Beauty," based on the award-winning novel by gay author Alan Hollinghurst, says he's uneasy about some of the book's gay sex scenes. The company says it hired Andrew Davies precisely because of his past work that involved sexy productions of classic stories, but Davies is worried viewers still find depictions of gay male sex "awkward." BBC officials have hired another director to film more explicit scenes.
TV’s master of bawd draws line at gay sex
I have several, in no particular order:
"Blue Heaven" by Joe Keenan, funniest book on the planet made into a screwball gay comedy. "Putting on the Ritz" would be the followup, not quite as funny but still very good movie.
I second "At Swim, Two Boys", but we may have to have subtitles.
"Becoming a Man" and "Borrowed Time", by Paul Monette, I know they did a documentary about him, but the stories are so good, and so heartbreaking, they would stitch together to become an incredible movie.
"Like People in History" would make a great soap opera-type movie, maybe a mini-series on Logo.
Can David Sedaris' work be adopted into a screenplay? Or is it wonderful when you read it but not translatable onto the screen?
"Blue Heaven" by Joe Keenan, funniest book on the planet made into a screwball gay comedy. "Putting on the Ritz" would be the followup, not quite as funny but still very good movie.
I second "At Swim, Two Boys", but we may have to have subtitles.
"Becoming a Man" and "Borrowed Time", by Paul Monette, I know they did a documentary about him, but the stories are so good, and so heartbreaking, they would stitch together to become an incredible movie.
"Like People in History" would make a great soap opera-type movie, maybe a mini-series on Logo.
Can David Sedaris' work be adopted into a screenplay? Or is it wonderful when you read it but not translatable onto the screen?
Sedaris' "The Santaland Diaries" was done off-Broadway a number of years ago (with Timothy Olyphant, now of "Deadwood"), so I don't see why it couldn't be filmed. I read it every year around the holidays, and I'd watch it every year, too, if someone would make it.
I just finished a book that tecnically would be the reverse - a gay porn film made into a book - Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star. I hope the porn flicks were better than the book, or at least edited more professionally 
2 come immediately to mind; "Boys on the Rock" by John Fox & "Getting Off Clean" by Timothy Murphy. Fox's novel was his first and he died of AIDS not long after it was published. A sweet tale set amidst the Kennedy era. Murphy's is a poignant tale of a working class kid's summer before going off to College.
There are 2 gay books I'd like to see as films.
As a couple of others have said, I'd like to see "frontrunner" made into a film. I remember right after it came out, rumours were that "John-Boy" and Paul Newman were gonna play the leads.
The other book is title "The Lord Won't Mind".
It would probably be written off as schmaltzy soft core today, but when I first read it, I remember thinking "That's me". That book helped me survive..
The most powerful thing in that book is a fictional quote in the front of it that said "If it's Love, the Lord won't mind, cuz there's too much hate in this old world already" (or something very similar to that).
Plus the fact it was set in the 1920's or 1930's, I also think it would make a great movie. Kind of like a gay Great Gatsby
As a couple of others have said, I'd like to see "frontrunner" made into a film. I remember right after it came out, rumours were that "John-Boy" and Paul Newman were gonna play the leads.
The other book is title "The Lord Won't Mind".
It would probably be written off as schmaltzy soft core today, but when I first read it, I remember thinking "That's me". That book helped me survive..
The most powerful thing in that book is a fictional quote in the front of it that said "If it's Love, the Lord won't mind, cuz there's too much hate in this old world already" (or something very similar to that).
Plus the fact it was set in the 1920's or 1930's, I also think it would make a great movie. Kind of like a gay Great Gatsby
'Reflections of a Rock Lobster' was one of the first gay books I ever read, it would make a cute made-for-tv movie. Or maybe something LOGO or Q Television could make.
It's sometimes hard to know how a book will translate to film. I've seen some books that I would never have dreamed of trying to film make interesting films (very different from the books, but interesting none the less) like The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The English Patient. The latest of these seems to be Mysterious Skin--I just about fell off my chair when I read that Gregg Araki, of all people, had decided to make a movie of it. It's gotten mostly favorable reviews, too.
Not a book per se, but the sections of "Gay Metropolis" that chronicles the more than 30-year romance betwwen Paul Cadmus and Jon Andersson would not only present a tale of lasting love but would also address the changes in gay America over an extended period.
Another book I would like to see someone attempt to turn into a film (ggod luck to him/her) is Tom Spanbaur's extremely imaginative take on the western, "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon."
~Adam
[ August 29, 2005, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]
Another book I would like to see someone attempt to turn into a film (ggod luck to him/her) is Tom Spanbaur's extremely imaginative take on the western, "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon."
~Adam
[ August 29, 2005, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]
An new producer has acquired the film rights to The Dreyfus Affair.
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Andrew Lang—producer of the upcoming film Loverboy starring Kevin Bacon—has acquired film rights to The Dreyfus Affair, Peter Lefcourt’s seriocomic novel about a major league shortstop who falls in love with his second baseman. A film adaptation of the best-selling 1992 novel had lingered in development at Disney, Fox, and New Line before Lang acquired the rights through his Andrew Lang Productions banner. According to a statement, the decision was not motivated by a recent Los Angeles Times story in which The Dreyfus Affair was noted as a project that could benefit from the runaway success of Brokeback Mountain.
“The time is right for The Dreyfus Affair to be made into a film,” said Lang, who had been negotiating the rights for the past two months. “At its heart, Peter’s groundbreaking novel is a crowd-pleasing love story. Our film will remain faithful to the book’s upbeat and provocative roots, which is why we are looking at directors who have demonstrated a razor’s-edge sense of comedic timing.”
Lefcourt is working on a new adaptation and will serve as a producer along with Lang. Lefcourt’s other novels include The Woody, The Deal, and The Manhattan Beach Project, a skewering of reality television. (Advocate.com)
“The time is right for The Dreyfus Affair to be made into a film,” said Lang, who had been negotiating the rights for the past two months. “At its heart, Peter’s groundbreaking novel is a crowd-pleasing love story. Our film will remain faithful to the book’s upbeat and provocative roots, which is why we are looking at directors who have demonstrated a razor’s-edge sense of comedic timing.”
Lefcourt is working on a new adaptation and will serve as a producer along with Lang. Lefcourt’s other novels include The Woody, The Deal, and The Manhattan Beach Project, a skewering of reality television. (Advocate.com)
Michael Nava's mystery novels with its latino gay hero Henry Rios would make a good gay theme tv show or movie- I love to see the still hot Esai Morales play the lead.
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wilsew:
My number one selection would be \"At Swim, Two Boys\" and number two is \"As Meat Loves Salt\". Both great books, rich in character developemnt and well constructed plot.
As Meat Loves Salt would be a great movie. I just finished reading it recently and loved it. I have not reqad At Swim Two Boys, but it's on my shelf waiting to be read.My number one selection would be \"At Swim, Two Boys\" and number two is \"As Meat Loves Salt\". Both great books, rich in character developemnt and well constructed plot.
Anthony
A bit from today's New York Daily News:
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One of the main characters in \"Brokeback Mountain\" is a rodeo rider, but most filmgoers don't consider the Oscar favorite a sports flick. Nevertheless, \"Brokeback Mountain\" has apparently kicked off a whole new film genre: the gay sports movie.
As The Score reported last month, author and gay activist Patricia Nell Warren says the commercial and artistic success of \"Brokeback\" renewed interest in bringing her 1974 novel \"The Front Runner\" to the big screen. Meanwhile, producer Andrew Lang announced earlier this month that he has acquired the film rights to Peter Lefcourt's novel \"The Dreyfus Affair.\"
\"The Dreyfus Affair\" is the story of shortstop Randy Dreyfus, who is not only rich, handsome and talented but also married to a former Miss California. But in the heat of a pennant race, Dreyfus realizes he is attracted to his team's second baseman. Their affair eventually becomes public, making for an interesting World Series.
\"'Brokeback' opened doors for stories that were not told before,\" Lang says. \"What I find particularly important are films that tell the story of characters who discover something about themselves that helps them better fulfill themselves as people. That struggle for self-knowledge is very important to me.\"
Lefcourt is still adapting his novel into a screenplay and it might take several years for the story to eventually become a movie. No male professional team sport athlete has ever come out of the closet during his playing career, but Lang says it could happen before his film is made, even though the sports world appears to be years behind the rest of American culture when it comes to homosexuality.
\"I don't think the idea of homosexuality is really taboo any more,\" Lang says. \"Our culture is evolving. This is an exciting time to be living.\"
As The Score reported last month, author and gay activist Patricia Nell Warren says the commercial and artistic success of \"Brokeback\" renewed interest in bringing her 1974 novel \"The Front Runner\" to the big screen. Meanwhile, producer Andrew Lang announced earlier this month that he has acquired the film rights to Peter Lefcourt's novel \"The Dreyfus Affair.\"
\"The Dreyfus Affair\" is the story of shortstop Randy Dreyfus, who is not only rich, handsome and talented but also married to a former Miss California. But in the heat of a pennant race, Dreyfus realizes he is attracted to his team's second baseman. Their affair eventually becomes public, making for an interesting World Series.
\"'Brokeback' opened doors for stories that were not told before,\" Lang says. \"What I find particularly important are films that tell the story of characters who discover something about themselves that helps them better fulfill themselves as people. That struggle for self-knowledge is very important to me.\"
Lefcourt is still adapting his novel into a screenplay and it might take several years for the story to eventually become a movie. No male professional team sport athlete has ever come out of the closet during his playing career, but Lang says it could happen before his film is made, even though the sports world appears to be years behind the rest of American culture when it comes to homosexuality.
\"I don't think the idea of homosexuality is really taboo any more,\" Lang says. \"Our culture is evolving. This is an exciting time to be living.\"
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