This May, HBO is releasing a movie based on Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. As someone who enjoyed the book immensely, I am so excited for this movie. The story revolves around a dystopian society where all books are outlawed and the main character, Guy Montag, is tasked with finding and burning all the books.
While I’m super excited to watch the movie, I’m a little skeptical because turning books into movies almost never seems to be a good idea ( like The Lovely Bones). Most of the time, the book is too long to include every single detail and almost always results in the exclusion of some important factors or the tweaking of certain things (for example, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters). But more often than not, I’m disappointed with the outcome of the movie.
The trailer starts off with Montag’s fire chief, Beatty, played by Michael Shannon, talking about the chaos that comes with books and how knowledge can be a dangerous thing. The video creates suspense, but it’s really not what I imagined the book to look like if it were to happen for real. Not only was the structure different, but I didn’t exactly imagine any of the characters to be who they are either.
Sofia Boutella who plays Clarisse McClellan, Montag’s 16 year old neighbor, is more 20 something, whereas Clarisse should be played by a younger actress. Along with Michael B. Jordan, who plays Guy Montag, and Laura Harrier, who plays Montag’s emotionally distant wife Mildred “Millie” Montag, I expected their characters to be played by older actors, especially Laura who looks too young to be playing a women in her late 30s.
The movie has some big shoes to fill, and the directors have a lot of pressure to make sure the movie honors the book, but I have my fingers crossed that the movie will exceed my expectations. I really don’t want to be sorely disappointed when the movie is finally released.
While I’m super excited to watch the movie, I’m a little skeptical because turning books into movies almost never seems to be a good idea ( like The Lovely Bones). Most of the time, the book is too long to include every single detail and almost always results in the exclusion of some important factors or the tweaking of certain things (for example, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters). But more often than not, I’m disappointed with the outcome of the movie.
The trailer starts off with Montag’s fire chief, Beatty, played by Michael Shannon, talking about the chaos that comes with books and how knowledge can be a dangerous thing. The video creates suspense, but it’s really not what I imagined the book to look like if it were to happen for real. Not only was the structure different, but I didn’t exactly imagine any of the characters to be who they are either.
Sofia Boutella who plays Clarisse McClellan, Montag’s 16 year old neighbor, is more 20 something, whereas Clarisse should be played by a younger actress. Along with Michael B. Jordan, who plays Guy Montag, and Laura Harrier, who plays Montag’s emotionally distant wife Mildred “Millie” Montag, I expected their characters to be played by older actors, especially Laura who looks too young to be playing a women in her late 30s.
The movie has some big shoes to fill, and the directors have a lot of pressure to make sure the movie honors the book, but I have my fingers crossed that the movie will exceed my expectations. I really don’t want to be sorely disappointed when the movie is finally released.