Which is better: the book or the movie? While it’s rare to find a movie that’s better than its original work, sometimes an interesting adaptation can surprise you, such as Fight Club, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Princess Bride. We scoured the list of films screening at TIFF this year to pick out the 10 most promising book-to-movie adaptations — check out our list below:
Hateship Loveship: It’s a gutsy move to adapt the work of revered Canadian author Alice Munro, but director Liza Johnson and screenwriter Mark Poirier seem to be up to the task. Based on the title story from Munro’s 2001 collection Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, the intelligent, funny and moving family drama stars Kristen Wiig as a housekeeper and primary caregiver for a young girl (Hailee Steinfeld), and chronicles the life-altering effect Wiig has on this fractured family. The movie also stars Guy Pearce and Nick Nolte.
Enemy: Academy Award-nominated director Denis Villeneuve (Incendies and Prisoners, which is also at TIFF this year) takes on Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s novel The Double with Jake Gyllenhaal in the double-lead roles of Adam and his doppelganger Anthony.
How I Live Now: Breakout star Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) plays the lead in this adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s award-winning young adult novel. Set in a dystopian near-future, the story follows a punk, urban American teenager who is sent to live with her family in rural Britain at the beginning of World War Three.
Child of God: The ever-prolific James Franco directed, wrote, and starred in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s gritty novel. This is the fourth McCarthy novel to be adapted into film, including the Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men, which also screened at TIFF in 2007.
The Dinner: Veteran screenwriter Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple) adapted this Dutch bestseller by Herman Koch, which made waves in North American bookstores with an English translation earlier this year. Inspired by a real-life murder case, the story is a critique of contemporary European society and takes place over the course of one meal between two couples.
Life of Crime: Based on the late Elmore Leonard’s 1978 novel The Switch, this caper flick about two ex-cons whose kidnapping plan doesn’t go quite as planned, stars Jennifer Aniston and Tim Robbins. Featuring Leonard’s characters Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara, which viewers first met in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Life of Crime takes place 15 years prior to the events in the earlier story.
The Sea: This adaptation of Irish author John Banville’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel marks the long-awaited return of the revered author’s books to the silver screen (the last adaptation, of his novel Reflections, premiered in 1984). The story centres around a former art historian who retires to a seaside cottage while mourning the recent death of his wife and contending with his own inner demons.
Therese: Continuing to distinguish herself from her older twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth Olsen (Liberal Arts, Silent House) plays the title role in this bold adaptation of Emile Zola’s sordid novel of adultery and murder in 19th-century Paris. Since the novel’s initial publication in 1867, Thérèse Raquin has been adapted into several plays, operas, and films, but this newest version is said to be one of the most audacious yet, with graphic depictions of sex and violence.
Antboy: For the younger crowd, or just the young-at-heart, check out this fun action-comedy based on the popular children’s book series by Kenneth Bøgh Andersen. The Danish film follows the adventures of a shy twelve-year-old who becomes a superhero after he’s bitten by a very special ant.
The Double: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s famous novella gets a modern update at the hands of writer-director Richard Ayoade (Submarine, The IT Crowd). Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) star in this story about a man who suddenly finds his life being stolen from him by his doppelganger.
Are you seeing these or any films at TIFF this year? What’s your favourite book-to-screen adaptation? Let us know in the comments below!
Still from How I See Now