Books to Movies, Movies to Books

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm on a great reading binge right now--yay! One of the books I finished this month was BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty. I read it after seeing the HBO miniseries starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. (I won't use spoilers in case some of you haven't seen or read it and plan to.) I loved the show, I think even more than I loved the book--though the book was a humdinger of a page turner. I wondered if this was an artifact of the order? Usually, it's the other way around, I like a book and so go to the movie and end up preferring the book. 

But this got me thinking about the process of choosing a book to be brought to life on TV or in the movies. And also some of the decisions about making changes. Which subplots would be better cut or added? And which characters could be eliminated because they really don't add to the story? (Madeline’s son for example in Big Little Lies, had very few lines of dialogue, and no forward motion depended on his character. Nor did he seem very important to his mother’s character. Cut!) I'm thinking about the book I'm writing now and who could be trimmed to tighten the story. This isn't a spoiler, but in the movie a pair of characters goes to a therapist. In the book only the woman goes. Why the change? 

And why change the ending? This seemed like a big adjustment that changed the character’s motivation for the accident.

Obviously, I have more questions than answers. If any of you have experience with moviemaking or screenwriting, I’d love to hear your experience of how decisions are made. If you have none, and most of us don't, do you enjoy going to movies that have been made out of books? What about reading books where you've already seen the movie? Was there an adaptation that you thought did an especially good job?

What are you wearing??

ROSEMARY: It's Friday so it's time for some fun. I know most of us aren't practicing our Oscar speeches (although, ahem...some of us have Emmys) but lots of us do watch awards shows and frequently wonder what the heck some of those people were thinking when they went out the door that night.

Other than on your wedding day, what's the fanciest occasion you've ever had to dress up for and what did you wear?

For me it was probably New Year's Eve at the Metropolitan Opera. I've done that for the past two years and that's a dress-up night. Two years ago it was Carmen so I went for a slightly trashy cigar girl look complete with red satin rose at waistline. This year a black and gold strapless but I don't want to get too specific...I may wear it to the Edgars. Didn't get too dressed for the Agathas or Anthonys the year I was nominated. There's probably a picture somewhere but dang if I know what I was wearing. Ten dollars says it was black.

So what's your go-to party girl outfit - and let's just hope it isn't a swan dress like Bjork's.