What film based on the book was exactly how you pictured it?

[MydogWillow]

Of Mice and Men was exactly how I'd imagined it, right down to the position of buildings and how characters looked.

I guess it's a testament to excellent writing and film making.

Not a film, but the Netflix TV series adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Spot on and so nice to see it get the treatment it deserved after the awful film.

My Family and other Animals - the Imelda Staunton one - came very very close.

Pretty much any Stephen King book, particularly Misery (despite subtle plot changes), The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me. I also agree with the Hitchcock version of Rebecca despite plot changes, I think I invest heavily in characterisation and setting therefore I can forgive plot inconsistencies. Lord of the Flies. Silence of the Lambs. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Gone Girl.

@Karwomannghia

Was going to say normal people but I read the book after!

Normal People is word for word from the book mostly but then had some major differences for some unknown reason. I too read the book after, but I thought the series was better than the book which is rare.

The Painted Veil - perfect casting.

The plot was different and casting of Leo DiCaprio was shit but the scenery was pretty spot on!

That was meant to quote the post about The Beach.

Chocolat. I love Joanne Harris books and the film was brilliant

The Adventures of Tintin. I had tears in my eyes at the first 10 minutes.

@MajorTomBola

Not a film, but the Netflix TV series adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Spot on and so nice to see it get the treatment it deserved after the awful film.

Yes!! The film version is up there for worst film adaptations for me, but the series was great.

Agree also with Atonement, Life of Pi (which I actually liked as much as the book), and My Brilliant Friend.

Wolf Hall series was pretty good although not as perfect as the others above.

Gone with the Wind.

Not so much how I pictured it as I saw the film first but in terms of being true to the book the film is extraordinary (apart from one less child in the film).

Oh yes I’d forgotten about Wolf Hall but it was excellent - all the smoky candles, dark yew hedges and the music. Very atmospheric and I certainly couldn’t imagine it differently

I've thought of another. Me Before You was pretty much how I pictured it.

The Help comes to mind. So good.

Definitely Me Before You.

Funnily enough I did love the film Atonement, one of my faves, but some of it jarred with me a bit. I absolutely loved the book, which is actually much darker than the film, and read it some time before, perhaps that makes a difference.

Howards End, it was spot on.

Another for Atonement. I don’t usually like film versions of books I’ve enjoyed, but I came out of the cinema after Atonement - which I’d only recently read - thinking it was as near perfect as they get.

The other was a TV series of The Way We Live Now, which is a novel I’ve re read more than once. I was wary of the TV version but it was very well done - in particular David Suchet and Shirley Henderson as the villainous entrepreneur and his long-suffering but feisty daughter, were absolutely superb.

Howards End by EM Forster - the 90s production with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins. Really I think any Merchant Ivory Edwardian production just nailed it.

High Fidelity. Even though they transposed it to America, which I obviously hadn't pictured, it was perfect and captured the tone of the book brilliantly.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

Pet Semetary weirdly!

@SwedishEdith

The Road

Came to say this!

To Kill a Mockingbird might just be the best film adaptation of a book ever.

The Help: the film was actually better than the book.

@SenecaFallsRedux

To Kill a Mockingbird might just be the best film adaptation of a book ever.

The Help: the film was actually better than the book.

Mockingbird doesn’t work for me at all!

I really loved the book as a teen. I could understand Scout’s embarrassment about an older, bookish father that didn’t play football, was tall and skinny and squinted through his glasses etc. The shallowness of a child’s view was so convincing, even as she adored her father.

They cast Gregory Peck, one of the most handsome and charming men in history. He’s to die for. I know Roman Holiday almost word for word. And he is great, up to a point.

Peck is a delight, but he’ll never be my Atticus Finch.

@JaneJeffer I was going to say Me Before You too. I put off watching it for years because I thought they’d ruin it, but Louisa was exactly as I pictured her.

I haven’t read the sequels though. I’ve bought them but can’t bring myself to read them yet.

Lord of the Rings was visually perfect to me - it really helped that Alan Lee (very well known Tolkien artist) was brought in as the conceptual designer, I think?

Despite being a huge Wolf Hall fan (have read it numerous times) I hated the BBC adaptation with a passion. I had to switch it off after the first 15 minutes because I was so enraged/disappointed. In the books Thomas Cromwell is repeatedly described as being physically very intimidating, solidly built and rough round the edges. Mark Ruffalo with his prissy little walk, and dainty ringlets looked bloody ridiculous [anger]