MovieChat Forums > Live by Night (2017) Discussion > Dreadful book--could make for a good mov...

Dreadful book--could make for a good movie, though

posted 11 years ago by gerritsenbeachbk
5 replies | jump to latest

I'd like to see Affleck make a good movie of Live by Night but it will require huge departures from the book. Joe Coughlin's trajectory from convict to rum kingpin of Florida is preposterous and it only gets worse from there. Maybe Affleck can make Joe into a believable or at least interesting character but that will require starting from scratch, too. The other characters are either wooden or cartoonish so they'll need to be re-worked, too. The dialogue will have to go unless Affleck's idea is to play the whole thing for laughs. I do think a movie about a Prohibition-era rumrunner in Florida could be cool in the right hands, though. So let's Affleck starts there and changes everything else.

[–] CeroneSicario 11 years ago

Sad to hear that, I plan on reading it at some point being a fan of Lehane, before the film comes out too. But his adaptation of Gone Baby Gone by the same author seemed to depart from some of the original story elements in the book for unknown reasons. Perhaps the same MAY just actually happen with Live by Night as well.

[–] titans13 11 years ago

Gone Baby Gone may have been a better film than book. Rare that happens. I say that as a huge fan of Lehane btw.

I disagree with the original post though. I thought the dialogue was fantastic in this book, probably a large reason the film rights were acquired so quickly. This book screams "make me a movie."

[–] everlone_2000 11 years ago

I'm reading it at the moment and I'd say that at least every couple of pages there's a line of purple prose that makes me wince, or a ridiculously on-the-nose explanation of what a character is feeling ("he stood there in the alley smelling nothing but his own horrid mean-ness" - that kind of thing). I'm really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. Haven't read enough of the book to judge the story yet, but the writing itself comes across like the first novel from someone who has a long way to go before they get published.

[–] politicidal 8 years ago

Well I liked it and the trailer makes it seem like it'll be a good movie as it is.

What's missing in movies is same as in society: a good sense of work ethic and living up to ideals.

[–] nigelmurphy-91384 8 years ago

Sorry I can't agree with you on this, Dennis Lehane is my favourite author and his Joe Coughlin series of 3 books is a great read. Of course some characters are a bit larger than life but that's the nature of mob bosses and their crews; being a wallflower will get you nowhere in that world! I am really looking forward to this movie and if Ben gets anywhere close to matching the novel I will be dead chuffed. FYI the book scores very heavily (4/5 stars) on many review sites so maybe it just wasn't your cup of tea? Hope others aren't put off by your comments, perhaps you need to read the Patrick McKenzie books to really get a feel for Lehane's great work.