I've read all the books in the Twilight series now, even the first bit of the unfinished Midnight Sun on Ms. Meyers website. Fascinating.
I cringe at the thought of the upcoming movie. Well, that's not precise. I cringe at the thought of the audience reaction to the upcoming movie. I can already hear the murmurs in the theater: "That's not how it happened!", That never happened!", "What were they thinking!!!!" Almost makes me wish for a bootleg DVD so I didn't have to submerge myself in the miasma of disappointment that is sure to taint the cinema's air supply.
I grew up immersed in the film industry. Hard not to when you live in LA surrounded by the people that get worshipped. Worked it too so I know the logistics. It's difficult, really impossible to distill even the shortest novel into a movie that people are willing to shell out their money on. Rare is the 3+ hour cinematic marvel that people are willing to sit still for. Rarer still something longer. The fanatical amongst us must wait for director's cuts and extended/unrated versions to arrive on DVD. It's just not practical to transcribe verbatim from one media to the other.
Think about how long it took you to read the novel. If you're an average reader, translate that into the running time of a movie. Are you willing to devote that much time to sitting still and silent in a chilly room full of strangers? Normal people aren't.
So the script writer and the director and the producer all work together to bring the spirit of the piece to the screen. What that means is that characters are going to be left out; the actor/actress that you thought would be perfect to play so-and-so was in rehab and therefore unavailable; and that momentous exchange of dialog in chapter 8 now takes place in a bathroom instead of over an intimate dinner or worse—ended up on the cutting room floor (I'm trying not to do spoilers here...). You can't please all the people all the time so you don't bother trying you just work on finessing the essence of the piece.
When you plunk down your $8.50 to see the movie, please try to remember that. Try to remember that everyone's vision is unique and what you pictured in your head is not what's going to end up on the screen. Enjoy the film for itself, not what you think it should be. Be happy with what you have, instead of mourning for what you want.
