Must a film adaptation be faithful to the book?
John has said since 2008 that a proper adaptation must change much of the book, and in 2015 that he wants a film to recreate the book's feelings and would rather it be good than faithful.
Axis: faithful to the book ... free to change
Positions by date: 8 records in 8 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-05-16 | first on record | John thinks the screenplay is pretty good even though it is way different from the book. | Brotherhood 2.0: May 16: Beating the EBO into the ground 00:00:40 |
| 2008-10-28 | restate | John says a movie can't ruin a book and that a proper adaptation must radically change nearly everything about the book. | The Unzipped Zipper (Of Your Pants) 00:01:23 |
| 2013-09-17 | restate | John, as the author, says details like the actor's hair colour not matching the book don't matter to him at all. | Question Tuesday with Nat Wolff (aka Isaac in The Fault in Our Stars movie) 00:01:14 |
| 2013-10-22 | restate | John says a film cannot and should not be the same as the book, since it tells a visual rather than textual story, though he found the script very faithful. | Question Tuesday: The Fault in Our Stars Movie Edition 00:01:27 |
| 2015-03-10 | restate | John says it is one thing for an adaptation to be faithful to a book's plot and another to be faithful to its themes. | Travel Tips (and Paper Towns Movie Updates) 00:01:59 |
| 2015-04-28 | restate | John wants an adaptation to recreate the book's feelings rather than its plot points, says changes are not necessarily for the worse, and would rather Paper Towns be good than faithful. | Is the Paper Towns Movie Like the Book? Thoughts on Adaptations 00:03:11 |
| 2018-08-28 | restate | John is not sure the book is always better: it is different, as it must be, and there is no faithful adaptation when scratches on a page become visible humans speaking. | The Book Was Better? 00:02:59 |
| 2019-03-12 | restate | John says it's their story now, with more adventures than he imagined, and he can't wait to see how they tell it. | Going Home with Alaska and Miles 00:03:34 |