Louise Willder: The Book Was Better: The Triumphs and Travesties of Book to Film Adaptation

Sunday 15 November, 5:30pm, Derby QUAD, DE1 3AS

Louise Willder attendees are also invited to the film screening of Sense & Sensibility (1995) for FREE but tickets must be booked. More information here.

Is the book always better than the film?

According to legions of book lovers around the world, Hollywood never gets it right – they gloss over crucial moments, the dialogue sounds bizarre and the characters never look like they’re supposed to.

But what about Jaws or The Godfather? These films are so much better than the potboiler novels they came from. And then there are some perfect adaptations. Doesn’t every reader’s heart sing when they watch Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility?

The Book Was Better is a rollicking adventure through the towering heights and unplumbed depths of book to screen adaptations, taking in science fiction and fantasy, rom coms, thrillers, fairy tales, Christmas movies and much more, as Louise Willder, the critically acclaimed author of Blurb Your Enthusiasm, uncovers what makes a good adaptation, how some can be so bad, and why we insist on telling the same stories over and over again.

Louise will be in conversation with Eleanor Thornley, Chief Executive of QUAD.

'A hugely entertaining romp through triumphs and tragedies that have emerged over many years from the art of film adaptation. That it’s great fun shouldn’t blind you from the fact that it’s very smart and deeply insightful about one of the most difficult writing tasks of all.' ―John Yorke, screenwriter and author of Into the Woods

'She's done it again! It’s so cleverly judged in tone – funny and insightful and packed with "I didn’t know that" nuggets! Bravo! When’s the movie coming?' ―Rob Williams, screenwriter, Killing Eve and The Man From the High Castle

When you get to QUAD's website to book your ticket/s, you need to log in/set up an account.  When you click 'Book Tickets' it takes you to another page and you MUST click on the time (even though there is only one time for most of our events) in order to get to the seating plan page