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You don’t say: Classic movies you didn’t know were based on books

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With Denis Villeneuve’s Dune monopolising interest these days, it was only natural for book fans to lash out against the movie, levelling the accusation ‘it wasn’t like that in the book’. One would consider that there shouldn’t be a comparison as these are two different art forms but one should also consider that he/she is attempting to address people who think this is an actual problem. Don’t bother, is what I’m saying.

Thankfully when these movies came out, very few people knew they were actually based on books so we were spared the hassle.

 

The Shawshank Redemption (Netflix)

This all time classic from 1994 tells the story of Andy Dufrense, an accountant who is sentenced for the murder of his wife and his struggle to survive in the Shawshank jail. While the movie bombed when it was first released, it is now regularly ranked as one of the best movies ever made and a definite favourite for many. What people don’t know is that it was based on a novella written by the legendary Stephen King, from an anthology of stories called Different Seasons. Fun fact: Morgan Freeman plays a character called Red in the movie and when questioned by Tim Robbins “why the name”, he responded “probably because I’m Irish”. In the book Red is actually Irish and the name comes of course from the colour of his hair.

 

Forrest Gump (Netflix)

Another 1994 movie – that was a great year for cinema – Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, tells the story of an intellectually challenged man as he innocently and naively stumbles along life and modern American history. As it is the theme of the article, the lovable character of Forrest didn’t just pop-up into the mind of director Robert Zemeckis but came from a book with the same title written by Winston Groom in 1986.

The movie changed a lot of stuff in the book, including the ending, where Forest rejects all the trappings of modern life and forms a band with Lieutenant Dan and a male orangutan named Sue, living on the street. I know, I can’t believe I wrote that sentence either.

 

Jumanji (Netflix)

Before it became just another movie starring Dwayne the Rock Johnson where the backdrop is a jungle, Jumanji first entered our lives as a smash-hit on the big screen starring the loveable and goofy Robin Williams. The movie tells the story of two young children who find a board game called Jumanji, a game whose effects spill over in real life.

Unknown to many, Jumanji, is based on a picture book by the same name written and illustrated by American author Chris Van Allsburg, who, fun fact, also wrote the Tom Hanks movie The Polar Express.

 

Jaws (Netflix)

The first blockbuster of the modern era, the movie that firmly established the coveted early summer slot for major movies, Jaws terrified a whole generation. Jaws is of course the story of a great white shark terrorising a small sea-side town.

The movie was based on a book by Paul Benchley, with the same title, that was published in 1974. While the film maintains the same atmosphere as the book, it was of course far more impactful. So much so that the author later bitterly regretted writing it, saying that it wreaked havoc on shark populations across the Earth.

Benchley became an ocean conservationist activist and denounced the book every chance he got, repeating over and over that had he known then what he knows now about sharks he would have never written it.

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