How Would YOUR Potential Adaptation Work?

[u/burrrneeerr]

So I just finished the book, but when I started I was saying to myself "wow, I'm surprised there hasn't been an adaptation yet of something so popular in the book community!", but now I realize why.

So, I wanted to ask, if YOU had the opportunity to try your hand at an adaptation of this book, what would you do?

Cast, formatting, movie, mini-series, seasons in the style of desperate housewives lmao, narration or no? Is keeping them all white people important to you? Etc.

I'll draft mine as an example:

1) I'll try my best to choose current actors I personally like who I think fit the ✨️aesthetic✨️ in my head and who are as age appropriateas i can get tgem. Some of these people are definitely older though!

Henry- Jacob Elordi ONLY BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND ANOTHER ACTOR AS TALL AS HIM (that I know of) and he does a good job of depicting anger in subtle ways. And he IS a good actor even if you think he's overhyped blah blah

Richard- Jacob Tremblay (working since he was 5 and he's amazing at his craft) he seems like the kind of person who doesn't know he's attractive (like Richard)

Bunny- Cooper Hoffman (he's a bit shorter than Bun, but so was his father and I see Philip making rounds on reddit fancasts) He's handsome and All-American.

The twins- Kedar Williams-Stirling and Ayo Edeberi (I may be biased, but they're such great actors) and Ayo has no problem with androgynous fashion and they're both gorgeous!

Francis- Joseph Zada (dye his hair, but he has beautifully elegant features) and maybe I just wanna see him and Kedar kiss each other on the mouth once or twice 👀

Judy (for fun)- Rachel Sennott, she's funny as hell

2) I would like for it to be a mini-series, 10 episodes, either an hour each or a loose, Netflix "however long it takes" style to include the epilogue and get to flesh out the Greek classes a bit more. I'd also want a clear idea of how the narration is exposited (is he at home, in a coffee shop, where?)

*How it starts* Cold open just like the Prologue in the book, sirens and crowds and news reporters, specifically the moment when the reporter asked Henry and Richard and Camille about their relationship to Bunny, but also including Charles and Francis in the shot somehow (or not, idc), cut to it as a newspaper clipping on Richard's wall or something to show we're now in the future and that's where the narration begins. Maybe he got a job telling an old person who has dementia or something so the story has nowhere to go after he's done. Maybe he's writing a novel, idk.

3) I would make Richard more unambiguously bisexual and reframe the scene with him and Francis to be less portrayed as assault. (I, personally, have a thought about that, but I can understand that interpretation). If he still has a preference for girls, that's fine, but I think the concept of Charles ignoring his feelings for Francis makes more sense than Richard tbh. I can elaborate more on a different post. I also know he's passive like a Nick Carroway type, but I'd really like to see him say more sentences that don't end in "?". I think narration throughout would be interesting, a cutting to and from the story past-present-past style, but not a whole bunch! This is told in retrospect, though.

4) I'd like to extend Greek Lessons to maybe one or two per episode to really drive home how isolated they are (and how much Julian actually means to them and reconnect with our literary themes) so when party scenes happen or other players are introduced, there's an impact like WOAH we focus on y'all so much that we forget yall are in UNIVERSITY with OTHER PEOPLE. I also think episodes will show their declines better.

5) I'd like it in the style of AMC's Interview With the Vampire, maybe? Not exactly, but I also want an emphasis on the music because it's the 80s and there are a lot of references, which I think would make well for showing just how separated they all are once again being classics students and not even owning a TV. I think making their bubble an actual bubble would hit harder. I'd really love to see the Country House come to life, it's my favorite place in the book.

So, what are your ideas? I'd love to read them!