Often, the best stories were first told on the page, but many of the most iconic usually get an adaptation of some sort. Adapting books into movies and TV shows is rarely straightforward, with there being a number of challenges in getting the written word to come to life in a more visual medium. The nature of the written word allows the reader’s imagination to take over, but movies and TV shows must instead employ other methods to bring the story off the page in as convincing a manner as possible. Depending on the book, this is either relatively simple or, in some cases, far more complex.
For better or worse, there are some books considered impossible to adapt into live-action. The reasons behind this typically boil down to the limitations of visual effects, with sci-fi and fantasy often proving the most difficult genres to adapt. However, despite the nature of the following books making them seem unfilmable, they all defied the odds with the help of clever filmmaking in order to be adapted far more brilliantly than anyone might once have believed possible.
5) Dune
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a masterpiece book that few believed would ever get a great movie adaptation. First published in 1965, the limitations of the time made any notion of convincingly adapting Dune into live-action seem almost as outlandish as its epic sci-fi story. However, 1984 saw David Lynch make a solid movie adaptation, with a TV miniseries following in 2000. 2021 then saw Denis Villeneuve deliver a note-perfect Dune movie, with a 2024 sequel adapting the second half of the book proving equally excellent. Despite once seeming impossible to adapt, Dune has since been surprisingly well represented in live action.
4) The Lord of the Rings
There are no other fantasy book adaptations that can boast the success or popularity of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Written by J. R. R. Tolkien as a sequel to his children’s book The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings brought the fantasy genre into the mainstream. First published in 1954, it once seemed that its fantastical Middle-earth setting and magical premise made it impossible to adapt into live-action. Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy did more than just adapt the book, though; it completely redefined the story for modern audiences, proving to be one of the best movie adaptations of all time.
3) Life of Pi
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi was first published in 2001, and follows the story of an Indian boy who survives a shipwreck, ending up adrift in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, an orangutan, and a handful of other zoo animals. The fact that the majority of the movie’s characters are wild animals led the novel to be considered unfilmable, as bringing the tiger to life convincingly was seen as an insurmountable hurdle to a movie adaptation. Ang Lee directed the movie adaptation in 2012, which brought the story to life in breathtakingly gorgeous fashion, defying all expectations in the process.
2) American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho was almost immediately dubbed unfilmable, due largely to its gratuitous and graphic violence, as well as to the more mind-bending psychological aspects of the narrative. Concerns about the tone and message of a movie adaptation were suspended enough for the 2000 adaptation starring Christian Bale to receive generally positive reviews, however. It’s a great movie that adapts the book reasonably well, changing and reframing a few elements to make its story work on the big screen. The result is something once thought impossible: a movie that manages to adapt American Psycho without running the risk of glorifying the violent tendencies of its protagonist.
1) Arrival
Ted Chiang’s 1998 novella Story of Your Life might have been quickly recognized as exceptional science fiction, but it was also thought to be impossible to adapt to the screen. However, 2016 saw Denis Villeneuve do just that with Arrival, delivering one of the most accurate sci-fi book adaptations of all time that blew audiences away. Arrival‘s presentation of its non-linear, mind-bending narrative is something that truly broke new ground for sci-fi movies, bringing Chiang’s story to life in a way that very few had considered to be possible.
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