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| Monument Rocks in western Kansas. |
By Julie Tollefson
Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of seeing one of my favorite novels, The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard, come to life on the big screen. The movie—screenplay by Jeff Robison and Casey Twenter, directed by Blake Robbins—played to two sold-out crowds at the Kansas City Film Fest and won the festival's "Best Narrative Feature Film" award.
The film richly portrays the secrets and lies swirling in rural Oklahoma after a convicted murderer’s release from prison causes the daughter of his victims to question whether he actually committed the crime. It’s dusty and full of suspense and captures the cracks radiating through a community when tragedy strikes a close knit and influential family.
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Q&A after first screening of the film at the Kansas City
Film Fest (Nancy Pickard, third from left).
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The cast is excellent and includes Maika Monroe, Brad Carter, Justin Chatwin, Maggie Grace, Bonnie Bedelia, and Will Patton.
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| Mid- to late-1970s teenaged me (left) with my parents at Monument Rocks. |
Pickard’s novel portrays that little-traveled part of the state with a deep affection for its people and their way of life. Her story embodies two of the recurring themes that crop up in my own fiction and in my posts for Writers Who Kill: small towns and Kansas landscapes.
“The Scent of Rain and Lightning” is playing the film festival circuit now. Keep an eye out for it!
Scent of Rain and Lightning on Facebook
Nancy Pickard’s website, with complete film festival screening information
What are your favorite movies based on books?
Nancy is very lucky if the only major thing in her story that was changed was the location. I rarely like the movie as well or better than a book I’ve enjoyed because they are typically restrained to by length to cut out major plot or subplot points. I still recall with fondness watching Doctor Zhivago in 1965?, later reading the book with equal enjoyment, and even later seeing the movie again (a rarity for me) and still enjoying the movie a great deal.
ReplyDelete~ Jim
My favorite was Cannery Row with Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. The movie was actually a combination of Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, both of course by John Steinbeck. In middle/high school he was my "go to" writers. I read and love everything he ever wrote.
ReplyDeleteThere are two other films that I know were made of two of my favorite books--Snow Falling on Cedars (Guterson), which didn't have big named stars, and Sometimes A Great Notion (Kesey), which I'm was directed by Paul Newman. The later I have yet to watch, but I'm determined I'll find a copy to watch.
Jim - There are other differences between the book and movie, of course, but in general, the screenwriters did a really great job of staying true to Nancy's story. I confess I was nervous going in to see it because so many times the movie version of a book disappoints me. So happy to report that this one did not.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the new Murder on the Orient Express movie.
ReplyDeleteElaine - Sometimes a Great Notion is one of my husband's favorites! He grew up logging with his grandfather and cousins in Oregon every summer and had a special connection to the book (which he said is richer than the movie), but he loves the movie (mostly for Paul Newman and Henry Fonda). I bought a copy of the movie for him a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteOooh, Margaret, when does that come out? I'm very bad about keeping up with the latest movies, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I loved the book, and would like to see the movie. Although, I usually find fault with most movies made on books I loved, I don't remember being unhappy with the movie made on Laura Hillenbrand's book, Unbroken.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Nancy Pickard is a wonderful author. She has helped me and countless others.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book! Can't wait to see the movie. The transition from book to screen seems to be a difficult one.now that my husband is writing screenplays I understand why. It seems a screenplay is limited to 120 pages and not a page more - less preferred from what he says. That has to make for some difficult decisions, and for the first time, I understood why the author is rarely the screenwriter. Gone with the Wind was my favorite. Probably because so much of the book was included in the movie.
ReplyDeleteWarren - I agree. Nancy was one of the first to welcome me to the mystery writing community when I started exploring the possibility of writing fiction. She's been a terrific advocate since. I'm so happy for her.
ReplyDeleteKait - How interesting that your husband is writing screenplays! It would indeed be hard to make the decisions about what to leave in, what to take out, and how to tell the most compelling story in 120 pages.
ReplyDeleteI find that if I read the book first, that's the way it "should be" in my mind, and I chafe at the changes in the movie. Likewise, if I see the movie first, I often am uncomfortable with "changes" in the book.
ReplyDeleteWhat I try to do is to approach each as a separate entity.
In my opinion, the entire Harry Potter series is an example of books successfully made into movies.
What a thrill it must be to see your characters come alive on the screen!
KM - I love the Harry Potter movies as much as the books. I've read the books more than once, and watched each of the movies ... a lot. Great storytelling.
ReplyDelete