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The Next Twilight?
In bringing Twilight to the screen last year, producers faced the classic dilemma of whether to adhere to Meyer’s original story or to assert creative license. Erik Feig, president of worldwide production and acquisitions at Summit Entertainment, told The Daily Beast that they didn’t want to risk disappointing Twilight fans by substantially reinterpreting the original story.
“We made the decision only because we were aware of a growing fan base,” Feig said of the choice to adhere closely to Meyer’s text. “A teen who is reading a great YA book is just so unbelievably in that world that they go to see the movie because they have the movie already in their head, and they just want to see it on screen. If that movie betrays the movie in their head, they’re angry.”
This is a cautionary tale for If I Stay. Because the book is not yet out, there’s no way of predicting what its fan base will look like–and whether or not it will be as passionate as Twilight’s. Summit now eagerly awaits If I Stay’s release in order to tap into its fan-base for insight into how to make the movie.
“The conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that when you have a movie that’s set in high school, people who are in college don’t want to see it,” Feig said. He is considering adapting Forman’s plot so that Mia is a freshman at Juilliard – not a senior in high school – thereby allowing a slightly older actress to play her part and opening up the movie to older viewers.
Feig has praised If I Stay for its “crossover” appeal, knowing that the better-selling YA books and films are generally those which attract both teenagers and adults. Yet, while crossover seems ideal for booksellers and studio heads, it’s not always perceived that way by teens. “There are certain times when it gets a little creepy, seeing all the moms reading Twilight,” said Stephanie de Andrade, a 15-year-old from Sao Paolo, Brazil, who blogs about YA under the name “Reviewer X”.
Indeed, part of If I Stay’s appeal, according to those who have read it, is the authenticity of Forman’s voice. She captures “teen talk” effortlessly, which is essential to attracting—and retaining—teen readers. “I’m 38 years old,” Forman said of her characters’ voices. “I can’t talk that way. I do talk like a Valley Girl, though, so I can write that way. It’s just arrested development.”
There’s a lingering misconception that young-adult books are the poor cousins of adult literature. The YA genre has long been viewed as a finishing school of sorts; if and when YA authors suddenly improve, maybe—just maybe—they’ll graduate to big kid lit.
“I noticed averted gazes and unabashed disinterest of literary acquaintances whenever I mentioned my novel was young adult,” Cures for Heartbreak author Margo Rabb wrote in the New York Times last year.
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harlowe
I'm personally not a fan of the "Twilight" series, but to suggest that a book like this would be the next "Twilight" seems delusional at best. Seriously, are you drunk?
To be a huge run-away hit with young girls, to the point of rabid fandom, it requires the fantasy elements that the "Twilight" series has - this book has zero of that.
Not that it won't be successful, but why even compare two ridiciulous non-related treatments? Because they are both aimed at young adult audiences?
As the person above said, this is more like a Lifetime movie, not a blockbuster teen hit.
janesmith23
I'm glad I'm the only one who believes there is a qualitative difference between a total mind-candy fantasy about falling in love with a VAMPIRE, and a first-person narrative about a girl stuck in a coma who is trying to decide if she should die like the rest of her family or stay alive.
"Twilight" is a fairy tale - this book sounds pretty grim.
idkmybffjas
I have to say that I disagree with the comments above.
I was a high school sophomore and my youngest sister was a sixth grader when "The Lovely Bones" came out. We were both avid fans of that book, telling everyone we knew that they simply had to read it.
The subject was dark and grim, took place 25 years ago and didn't have any of the "fantasy elements that the "Twilight" series has" yet every girl I went to high school with was reading it faithfully.
I think people are underestimating this particular fan base. You make it sound as if all you need to do it shake a pretty boy and glitter in front of their faces and it'll be a sure hit. Teenagers don't need Romeo-esque vampires and romantic storylines in order to fall in love with a book and help coax it into "rabid fandom". They only need something to connect with. Teen girls are at that age when fantasy becomes more and more fleeting and the reality of humanity seeps in. While it is nice to escape to that fanciful world it is also equally intriguing to explore the other aspect of these new feelings and emotions. The words mean more. The story resonates deeper. Books like "If I Stay" and "The Lovely Bones" fit that bill quite eloquently. In the case of all three books it is only a matter of getting girls to feel "I could be that girl." They'll want to see her on screen, hear what her voice sounds like, and watch her interact with people.
If Forman can charm teenagers into becoming emotionally attached and connected with her character I am quite sure it could reach the fandom of "Twilight."
Bea007
I also think that it could reach the Twilight fandom.
jenaleah
i loved the movie and im def looking forward to reading the book. i just wish the movie would of been longer and had more to it.
kwinnlexa
Why does everyone think that teens need an extremely romantic, glitzy story to catch their eye? I think all women/girls in general appreciate romance in their reading, but we still enjoy novels lacking romance. I am a teen, and yes I loved Twilight, but I also loved The Lovely Bones, To Kill a Mocking Bird, 1984, and The Hunger Games. I wouldn't say that those books revolve around romance. I can appreciate stories with depth and despair.
I definitely don't think this will be the "next twilight", simply because there are MANY amazing books out there that probably haven't even come to half the popularity of Twilight. But still, this isn't to say that it's impossible. People who think that for a book to be a "hit" that it has to deal with fantasies and love, look at Harry Potter. You can't just decide what will and won't be a hit judged by the summary of the book, you should probably stick your nose in it and read it first.
Spencer-Kociol
After hearing this book review for If I Stay, on the NPR book review this morning, i see here not just a morbid personal dilemma, but a great societal struggle. What will win out, Moral obligation or American narcissism? What is fascinating is that the protagonist's fate is hers to decide! To choose to die is a highly individualist, very western decision, and would ignore the fact that one's gift of living life in the first place makes him or her indebted to the bigger scheme of things, be it god, mankind, family heritage, or community. Will Mia factor in the concerns and feelings of the living- her boyfriend, her peers- and the yet to live- The family of her own she may have one day- into her choice to live or die? Does she not have a duty to give back to the society and culture that is ultimately responsible for her well being and her accomplishments that she enjoyed previous to the accident?
I don't know if i'd ever read gloomy book like this but i hope that Mia makes the right decision, heads off to college, and inspires others with her life story.
Bea007
This book completely moved me, the way I thought about life is now not the same. I definitely think that this could reach to Twilight fandom, if not more.
Besides the movie production, the director and the love story between Mia and Adam, there is no more similitaries with Twilight. If I Stay is way more emotional and realistic. I think that even if the movie is done as an Independant movie, it could go far.
The actors should be unknown (well at least for Adam and Mia) so this way, people will be able to discover new actors and not having any opinion on them.
Teens could relate to Mia"s life more then Twilight, becaise in If I Stay, the book is about family, love, music and this is things that we face in everyday of our lifes. And I also think that it will appeal an older audience because this story could remind a memory of someone who had been something through the same kind of thing in their life.
In the story, Mia has the choice, and it is not everybody who had the choice to live or die and I think that is something that needs to be see by the population.
And Mia and Adam"s relationship could relate a lot more to the relationships in real life then Twilight.
So thit is my opinion, and If I Stay is one of the best book I ever read and Gayle Forman should make a sequel of If I Stay.
Thank you.
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