I’ve been getting a number of enquiries, since press releases have started appearing about the movie production of OUTLANDER—excited folk asking “Is it true?” “When?” and (I hope you’ll pardon a brief roll of the eyes here), “Who would you cast?” (I couldn’t begin to guess how many thousands of times I’ve been asked that over the last twenty years.)
It’s very early days as yet, but I’ll answer what I can.
Yes, Essential Productions is developing OUTLANDER as a “major motion picture.” (What that means is that they want to make a two-to-two-and-a-half hour feature film.)
And yes, Randall Wallace (the talented gentleman who wrote both BRAVEHEART and PEARL HARBOR—hey, ancient Scots and WWII, how about that?) is writing the script.
No, I have absolutely nothing to say about the casting of the movie. The production people do occasionally ask me what I think of this or that person, but this is simple politeness on their part.
No, I have no control whatever regarding the script.
No, I really don’t want to have anything personal to do with the development of the movie.
Why not? Well, two major reasons (putting aside the fact that producers seldom want the original writer sticking his or her oar in and causing trouble):
1. I have books to write and a family to be with. I can’t be hopping planes every other week or dropping everything else at a moment’s notice to do script adjustments. (I do know that all movie scripts go through many (many, many) iterations, rewrites, etc. in the process of development and filming.) That kind of thing eats your time and sucks your soul, and to no good end.
2. For nearly twenty years now, people have been saying to me, “Oh! I’m dying to see the movie of your books! But I want it to be just like it is in the book!” To which the only possible reply is, “Yeah? Which forty pages do you want to see?”
Obviously, a book of the size and complexity of OUTLANDER won’t fit into a two-hour movie. But it might be possible for a good movie based on the book to exist.
Adaptations can be either good or bad—they’re seldom indifferent—but a skilful adaptation is just as much a feat of skill as is writing an original book or script.
Yes, I could adapt the book myself. With the net result that even if a) no one then messed with the script (and they would; that’s how film works), and b) the end result was wonderful (odds of about 900:1)—ten million people would still email me about, “But how could you leave out that scene?” Or “But why did you change this character?” Or “But you left out my favorite line in the whole book!“
I’d really rather write a new novel.
Now, do bear in mind a couple of things here:
1. Essential Productions have an option on the book. This means that they paid us a modest amount of money and we gave them a span of time, in which they can do anything they want to, in order to put together the necessary financing and logistics to make a movie (that includes hiring a scriptwriter).
We (my agents and I) get a lot of option requests. We decided to grant Essential Productions an option because we like them, we think they understand the book and its central characters, and insofar as such a thing is possible, we trust them to do their best to make it a great movie.
But it is an option.
2. Not all movies that are optioned actually get made. Even movies that have excellent scripts, A-list directors and recognizable stars don’t always get made. Naturally, we hope this one will, because we do like the EP people and think that of all the producers who’ve approached us about the film rights, they have the best chance of succeeding in making a great movie.
But we’ll all have to wait and see what happens next.
And that’s all I can tell you.
Le meas,
–Diana
P.S. Well, I can also tell you that a) yes, Gerard Butler is a fine-looking specimen of Scottish manhood, even if he is a Lowlander, but b) I think he might have difficulty playing a 22-year-old virgin; c) Keira Knightley would probably make an excellent Claire (she has the accent and the capacity for sarcasm), if she gained forty pounds, but d) James McAvoy is probably a wonderful actor, but he’s only 5’7″, for heaven’s sake. (Mind, none of the production people has mentioned any of these actors to me as serious casting prospects, either.)
Dear Diana,
Thanks for the update! You are so generous with news as always. I really hope that the production company makes a good job of it. It’s a pretty tall order though, millions of fans to satisfy and the mass market to consider. On one hand, I’m very excited about this news. On the other, I would rather that the movie didn’t exist, if the adaptation turned out to be mediocre. I guess we will have to wait and see!
Dear Diana,
I am happy to see that Highlander will finally be made. When I wrote you earlier, we both agreed that Gerard Butler would make a great Jamie but of course if that part for him would have to have been years ago when he was much younger! At this stage, he's too old. YouTube has him as Jamie on several videos and tho great in the part, not practical now.
I'm sure that who ever is chosen for the parts of Jamie & Claire, we'll all be happy just to see a wonderful book (s) turned into a great picture.
sincerely,
Camille Costanzo
Thank you, Diana! :hug: Sorry I rather hijacked your earlier post. There is already much speculation though on the board I mod and I wanted to know from you, rather than let the questions fly.
I have to say though, I have such specific pictures in my head (as do, I’m sure, many, many *manymanymany* of your readers) I’m not sure I’d ever be happy with any actor they cast.
I do have a feeling if this was only Outlander we’re talking about, and not 20-30 years worth of ‘living’ with your characters as they’ve grown and evolved, I might not feel as adamant as I do.
But time will tell, and I can only wait until more has been announced.
Thanks again.
Thanks Diana for taking time from your busy life to clear up a few things. I would also point out that Outlander COULD be a great stand-alone story (which I think is how you originally crafted it), because there is a HEA that the movie crowd loves. I think a lot of the worry comes when your fans think of the entire scope of the books, which would be difficult, if not impossible, to compress into a movie. One movie at a time.
Bedelia
Mel Gibson’s only about 5’7″, too, but ya wouldn’t guess that when watching Braveheart!
Keeping fingers crossed!
Diana,
Thank you so much for taking your time to give us an update and explanation. I do like your ‘PS’ portion too! I would like to see it as an HBO mini-series, like John Adams. Well, we will take what we get.
It will be interesting… to say the least!
Hopefully the movie will be made and released sometime in the near future. I understand all about scenes being left out and the movie’s sometimes being no where near the real story. But as you said hopefully EP will do a good job. I love the Outlander series and I am just happy that you are writing more books. Thanks for the update.
Hopefully the movie will be made and released sometime in the near future. I understand all about scenes being left out and the movie’s sometimes being no where near the real story. But as you said hopefully EP will do a good job. I love the Outlander series and I am just happy that you are writing more books. Thanks for the update.
Wow. I think I love you even more after reading that! I would quote the parts of your post that I loved most, but it would be the entire post.
Thank you for being honest and thank you for not fearing your fans.
-Julie
Loved this update. Outlander fans are going to be a tough bunch to please, so I wish them luck with this one.
Dear Diana~
This is one of those situations where it’s best to be far away when “it” happens. Personally, I don’t want to see O on film, maybe a mini series on HBO, but not a feature film. Oh, and with obscure actors in the lead.
Keep writing, my friend. And thank you, always, for your wonderfully pragmatic approach to your fans’ hysteria.
Respectfully,
Midge
I’ve seen the films this company has made and they do a very fine job. The key word to remember is ADAPTATION. I’ll reserve any judgement until after I have seen the movie. I want the film to stand alone with the thought… was I entertained and did it catch the essence of the novel. I actually have seen movies I liked better than the book (though that would be next to impossible with the Outlander novel). I say you did the right thing in going for this project.
Thanks for sharing, Diana.
I don’t know how you manage to think so calmly about this. I’m thinking, “Oh, no! Keep away from Claire and Jamie you movie people!”.
Really, I don’t know how you’re doing it. Is it bad for me to hope they opt out? Am I awful?
Dear Lizzie–
Actually, I spent all of BRAVEHEART cringing at the notion of Mel Gibson portraying the imposing (6’4″) William Wallace.
But that’s neither here nor there, since luckily Mr. Gibson is _way_ too old for anyone even to suggest casting him as Jamie (people used to, right after BRAVEHEART, to my horror).
But yes, he looked pretty dang short to me. You can indeed film actors to look relatively taller than they are, but it’s harder to give a short guy the same sense of physical presence that a big guy has. _Vide_ Liam Neesen and the ever-present Mr. Butler. [g]
I think I prefer the Outlander movie that plays in my head. But I’d probably go see it anyway, and then spend weeks ranting about how they desecrated the book, which I do after every well-loved-book-made-into-a-movie!
You seem very un-worried about it though, Diana – I’m not sure I’d have the fortitude necessary to let someone mess around with my ‘baby’!
You know, one might think that a mini-series might work better for Outlander than a motion picture. But, I'm sure many people thought the same about The Mists of Avalon. And while the mini-series that was adapted for Mists was OK, there were some very critical points that were messed with. The first parts were all-right, but by the end of the mini-series, I would not have recognized it as having come from Marion Zimmer Bradley's book.
I would say the script & adaptation are very critical to the success of the Outlander project.
No film adaptation will ever do Outlander justice.
Dear katrina–
Well, um, yes, I do think the script and adaptation are critical to the success of the project. So are a number of other things, all of them outwith my control. So as I say, we’ll all just wait and see what happens.
It really isn’t possible to guarantee the quality of a movie going in–after all, the people who spent millions making ISHTAR didn’t go in _planning_ for it to be a bad movie.
If Claire were portrayed as an anorexic such as Kiera Knightley, I’d probably gag right there in the theatre. I love it that Claire is sexy but actually EATS. Rebecca Gayheart always comes to mind for Claire, but I don’t actually know if she acts well. Looking forward to whatever we get!
I can completely understand why you would not choose to be directly involved with a movie version of your book, Outlander. Of course, we all have the movie going on in our heads while we’re reading, and we each have a slightly different verion. It is very hard to stay true to books.
Lord of the Rings was an absolutely excellent book series, and the movie is one of my favourites, but even it had to stray from the original book. Peter Jackson got many, many accolades for his production, but he also got a whole lot of criticism…and he wasn’t even the author! Everyone’s vision of that was also slightly different.
Personally, I would look forward to a movie based on your books, but I certainly don’t expect it to be a word for word translation: hence the word adaptation! I’m very excited, though. Thanks for keeping us posted!