From Book to Screen, Filmmakers Discuss Challenges

From Book to Screen, Filmmakers Discuss Challenges

Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry, most of whose films have been based on well-known books, believes novelists now more readily embrace the adaptation of their works onto the big screen.

Daldry was among the movers and shakers from international film, publishing and multimedia industries to share their insight into storytelling at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which runs until Sunday.

The British director and producer, whose films “The Hours”, “The Reader” and “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close” were based on novels, said authors in the past had often been “dismissive” of movie adaptations of their work.

Daldry, who also made “Billy Elliot”, said he had to approach each adaptation differently.

Multiple Oscar winner Richard Taylor, creative director of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand-based animation and special effects studio famous for productions such as “The Lord of the Rings”, “Avatar” and soon-to-be released “The Hobbit”, talked about the challenges of adapting works by J.R.R. Tolkien.

He said it was impossible for filmmakers to ignore today’s multimedia world.

Filmmaking is “immensely risky” and so it makes sense to create a “flotilla” around the “mothership” by developing offshoot products such as a graphic novel, an iPad app or publication.

Daldry, asked about the crossover between different forms of media to create new platforms for storytelling, said he was “excited by the idea that you can do different things”.

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