If you could adapt any book to screen which book would you choose and why? Who would you cast? What genre of music would you use in your soundtrack? What would you eliminate from the book in order to make the film two hours or less in length? How would you describe the film in a two-sentence summary?
If I could adapt any book into a movie I would probably choose Night by Elie Wiesel. I was shocked to see that it has not yet been scooped up by the film industry and written as a screen play because most books that receive worldwide attention are often milked for profits by film makers. I have read this book probably about five times in my life, and each time I am riveted and shocked by the text as if I'm reading it for the very first time. When it comes to movies, I consider them "good" when I want to watch them over and over because I notice new things with each viewing. Night is written from the first-person perspective of a young, Jewish teenage boy (Wiesel) whose life is torn apart by Nazi German rule in Europe during WWII. The novel itself is short in length, only slightly exceeding 100 pages, but is so rich in it’s emotionally heart wrenching content that it can easily carry a narrative on the big screen. I love the way Wiesel presents his experiences in such a simple and honest package, containing only a few powerful words that describe the internal struggle of a young man who has lost everything: his family, his identity, and his God. While Night sheds a light on a heinous and truly deplorable time in human history, it also glorifies the power of human perseverance and uplifts the importance of faith, not exclusively in God, but in anything.
I would cast either Keir Gilchrist (who currently plays Marshall Gregson on the hit show The United States of Tara) or Alexander Gould (co-star on the hit HBO series Weeds) as the main character, Eliezer. I would cast Christian Bale as the supporting role of Chlomo, Eliezer's father, because he is an excellent actor and is capable of handling the role of a emotionally and physically emaciated prisoner of Auschwitz. The other minor parts will be given to lesser known but equally talented actors.
I would fill the soundtrack with mostly classical instrumentals; violins screaming out long, agonizing notes and low bellowing strums of the upright bass. Every now and then when the scene calls for it I would use Italian opera that would take over the dialogue and suggest silence in the scene (ex: when they hang the young child in the concentration camp I would have it going in slow motion with a woman's beautiful opera voice singing in Italian). I wouldn't want to use popular music in my film because the film takes place in the mid 1940's and it would just seem out of place to have a current song in the soundtrack that people would recognize and start singing along with.
I would probably shorten the amount of time spent in the ghetto before they were shipped off to Auschwitz, because though it builds up to the climax of the movie, not much happens here that is very important to the central theme. Because the book is so short, most of what it covers would probably make it to the final cuts of the film.
I would describe the film version of Night as an expose on the human soul; a journey into the purest of hearts that suffers and battles through the most horrible of evils, but finds the faith to endure and ultimately comes out on the other side as a survivor. It is not so much a movie about war as it is about the agonizing denigration and ultimate resurrection of the human soul and how far one can be pushed to the brink of death and still survive, spiritually and physically.
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