Page To Picture #1 - Cloud Atlas

 So, here at the Outsider we watch a lot of films and after some discussion it seems like quite a few of those films were originally books. I really dislike reading a book after I've seen the film so I avoid that at all costs but the occasional one or two slip through. I know lots of people don't like watching the film after reading the book but I don't mind this as by the time I've read the book I have a firm idea of what my characters look like. Sometimes the directors and producers casting decisions tally with mine which is always a pleasant surprise and sometimes they don't which is when I sit and think they should have consulted with me ;) Anyway, I thought maybe at the weekends I could share with you some of my favorite book-to-movies starting with #1

Cloud Atlas

Written by David Mitchell and originally published in 2004,  this has become one of my favorite books - more on that subject in another post or two! Comprised of six novellas covering sci-fi, historical, mystery thriller and dystopia it is possibly one of the strangest books you may ever read. On my first attempt I actually gave up after a few pages but my brother-in-law convinced me to try again and I'm glad I did because this time the whole thing drew me in. Each novella is unfinished on its own but is then completed in the following story, apart from the sixth which is the only complete novella. It's what my bookish friends refer to as a Marmite novel - you'll either love it or hate it!

"A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation -- the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’ s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us." - Goodreads

Then we have the movie, this is unusual in that it hasn't been released yet but a near 6 minute trailer was released last week

I'm not a huge fan of Tom Hanks or Halle Berry but I'm intrigued to see how they translate this beautiful book into a decent movie. It has a pretty stellar cast including Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Ben Wishaw and Susan Sarandon so all signs are that it should do well. Cloud Atlas opens in the UK and the US in October this year so if quirky. off-beat, beautifully written books are your cup of tea make sure to read this before you see the movie!