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0 pointsgeenew4y ago0 comments

Iain Banks was famous for (tongue-in-cheek I think) saying he'd wouldn't mind changes Hollywood wanted in order to get a movie made.[1]

The machine-machine conversations, virtual hell, etc. parts of his books would probably not translate well no matter who was directing.

Otherwise, the material seems as well suited for adaptation as anything else. Consider Phlebas could be fantastic in a ~2hr movie with special effects worthy of the images he paints, a tone weighed towards realism, and an Aphex Twin / Caustic Window -like soundtrack.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20090715133026/http://www.sffwor...

"How would you like to see your science fiction books filmed, if at all?"

"With a very, very, very big budget indeed. The one I'd most like to see done is Consider Phlebas; if they kept in the sequence where the megaship hits the giant tabular icceberg, the fist-fight under the giant hovercraft, the bit where the Clear Air Turbulence escapes from the GSV, and the final train wreck, I wouldn't even mind if they changed it to a happy ending!"

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edgyquant4y ago

I’d like to Consider Phlebas adapted as well but I think it’s be tricky. A lot of Culture fans don’t like it because the main character is scum and about 1/4 of the way through the book you start realizing that the antagonist machine empire he’s fighting (the culture) are actually the good guys. I think that makes it great, though.

gerikson4y ago

If readers believe Bora Horza Gobuchul is "scum" they haven't read the book very well.

Next I'll be reading that Cheradenine Zakalwe in "Use of Weapons" is a good guy.

I don't want to go full Rick-and-Morty copypasta, but Banks' SF is a bit more mature and complex than most others. If you've only read US writers you might miss a lot.

m0zg4y ago

The only director I'd let anywhere near the Culture series (or broader far-future sci-fi in general) is Neill Blomkamp. That dude just _knows_ how to do it, better than anyone else, aliens, robots, everything. And Sharlto Copley would be quite welcome as well in the main roles. His Agent Krueger in Elysium should demonstrate what I'm talking about.

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