movies being adapted to plays

[winston89]

Posted: 7/22/12 at 8:03pm

I just watched the Breakfast Club, and I know that the director of that rehearsed the film as if he were doing a play rather than doing a movie. That got me wondering, I know that there are several movies turned musicals, but do you think that there are some good, well written films that can translate well as a stage play? I know that we have had The Graduate on Broadway. But, another example that I think that could work as a play would be Clerks. Actually, I believe Kevin Smith had spoken about wanting to do something with that on the stage but had to fight with Miramax first. What do you think ?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 9:31am

I think many can, i am doing the world premier stage adaptation of EXAM at the moment with my company that is based on a film by permission of the film writer

Oh and we did The Breakfast Club in 2008

[andi1235]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 11:25am

OMG. Exam was a fantastic movie - where are you doing the play? Probably no where near me but I would LOVE to see that.

I recently saw the movie Lo (it's on Netflix), and it pretty much WAS a stage play (with a couple BIZARRE songs) on film. It would translate to the stage pretty effortlessly.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 11:38am

Didn't they adapt the King's Speech into a play recently?

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 11:46am

I think The Social Network would make a great play.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 12:11pm

Isn't Ken Davenport working on a stage adaptation of A Few Good Men? Also, I want a stage production of Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day!

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 12:54pm

A Few Good Men originally was a play.

[beagle]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 1:06pm

I think there's a play adaptation of Chariots of Fire playing in London right now, and The King's Speech recently played in London as well. I think the writer of The King's Speech initially intended it to be a play, though.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 2:37pm

Thanks Pennybank! Now I feel silly :X

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 2:54pm

Festen, The Graduate and Twelve Angry Men were originally movies before they were plays.

[JRybka]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 2:55pm

I agree a stage version of Miss Pettigrew lives for the day is a MUST

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 3:16pm

I believe The King's Speech was a theater piece at one time, although perhaps under a different name, but also by Julian Fellowes, eventhough Fellowes won an oscar for best original screenplay, so I never quite understood what was going on (but I'm sure someone here will explain it). In any event, if it is now a stage piece it may well be the same piece that was done before the movie.

The 39 Steps, Through A Glass Darkly and Brief Encounter have recently been adapted for the stage successfully.

I once saw a very bad stage version of The Manchurian Candidate with Sian Phillips in London. The Exorcist, of course a famous novel as well as a famous movie, has not ended well.

Among originally-scripted films - as well as adaptations - I can see possibly working as legit stage plays are All About Eve, Clueless, The Lady Eve, Rear Window, Vertigo, Notorious, Spellbound, Hud, The Queen, Sunset Boulevard, The Draughtsman's Contract, Rosemary's Baby, Midnight, The Last Metro, The Rules of the Game, Midnight Run, Grand Illusion, Pulp Fiction, Risky Business, Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander, The Silence, September, Another Woman, Alice, Hannah and her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Love and Death, Midnight in Paris, Bullets Over Broadway, Eight Women, Pan's Labyrinth, and Dogville. Part of the genius of Dogville being that not only was it filmed like a play it gave all the appearances of having already been one, and a very good one at that.

Often, I see old movies that seem to be calling out for Charles Busch, but I haven't kept a list.

I think The Sixth Sense could be very good on stage.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 3:22pm

London had The Shawshank Redemption a few years ago but it didn't really work.

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 5:31pm

Scenes from a Marriage was adapted to the stage with Iain Glen and Imogen Stubbs and directed by Trevor Nunn. I second "The Draughtsman's Contract".

[winston89]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 7:42pm

I do remember reading that since Breakfast Club was rehearsed as a play, the producers thought it would be a good idea for the writer to adapt the script into a stage play with the idea of having high schoolers preform it. What ever came of that?

[Jon]

Posted: 7/23/12 at 7:57pm

There have been numerous illegal stage productions of The Breakfast Club - usually done by high school "drama clubs".

On the Waterfront was a huge Broadway flop.

In London, there were stage versions of When Harry Met Sally and Carnal Knowledge.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 7:31pm

andi1235 Glad you liked the film, we are currently in rehearsals and are trying the show out in Manchester, UK, fingers crossed.

[andi1235]

Posted: 7/26/12 at 1:34pm

Yep, nowhere near me, given that I'm in the US! Too bad. Maybe it will be SUPER successful and eventually transfer to Broadway. :)

Hope it goes well...break all the legs!