Ira Levin

Any fans? I've read Rosemary's Baby, Stepford Wives, Son of Rosemary, and Sliver. Saw the remake of A Kiss Before Dying, and the Deathtrap movie. Some great work, nothing that will win any literary awards, but brilliant at plotting.

• Big fan. Anyone ever read "This Perfect Day". Not great literature but I loved it in high school.

• I just bought it this week to read over. Even from the synopsis and reviews it sounds like something that would make a great movie. He had some great quality adaptations made of his work.

• Don't forget "The Boys from Brazil".

• I loved "This Perfect Day"!! I bet I've read it a hundred times. But "The Boys from Brazil" is my favorite.

• How does the movie (Stepford Wives) compare to the book? I liked the movie when I was a kid but burnt out on it a long time ago. Some people seem to think it's a classic though.

• Yes, "This Perfect Day." I went through a long future-apocalypse-authoritarian phase. I have never forgotten: Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei, Led us to this perfect day. Marx, Wood, Wei and Christ, All but Wei were sacrificed. Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx, Gave us lovely schools and parks. Wei, Christ, Marx and Wood, Made us humble, made us good.

  Amen.%20Let%27s%20eat%21

• He was an excellent screenwriter. All of his books and plays were screenplays. And he kept it simple. But be used symbolism effectively. I admire people who keep things simple, yet still have imagination.

• "I admire people who keep things simple" We also love simple things, R7!

  First%20Graders

• I don't know that I agree with the screenwriter assessment, at least not for all of his novels. "Rosemary's Baby" relied way too much on Rosemary's inner monologue to advance the story. Though the movie is excellent, the novel is superior because you get to know Rosemary that much better on the page. With its small cast and limited setting I could almost imagine it being conceived as a stage piece, especially considering Levin's history with the theater. On the other hand, "The Boys From Brazil" and "A Kiss Before Dying" are probably better as movies because their big twists/reveals are visual. Not that the film versions of either are classics but, in theory, the stories play better on screen than on the page.

• The Stepford Wives novel is a good read, and it's quick too. It's a good book if you're bored on a weekend afternoon. The ending of the novel is different from the movie, and I won't give anything away but I think both endings are equally good. The movie version of The Stepford Wives still holds up, and I watch it maybe once a year. I always wonder how the story continued after the events of the film. The less said about the godawful remake with Nicole Kidman, the better. That was one of the worst movies I have ever seen in a theater.

• I think Stepford was strangely prophetic....only the housewives are doing it to themselves....(becoming blonde, tan, and generally Kelly Ripa-like)

• R5, the novel "The Stepford Wives" is so much better than any film it spawned. It's very short, not even 200 pages - almost an extended short story rather than a novel. You can finish it in one sitting. It's similar to "Rosemary's Baby" in that you follow the main character's growing paranoia as the story reveals itself. Even though it focuses on women and the feminist movement, I've always felt that it lends itself to any oppressed minority - gays especially. I mean, the far Christian right essentially wants to brainwash any gay man or woman into thinking they can be straight. If they could do it mechanically like the men of Stepford I'm sure they'd have no qualms.

  Levin%20Fan

• Was Ira Levin gay?

  It had to be asked.

• Hey, don't forget the longest running play in the world, DEATHTRAP> And did he, or did he not, write the play and screen play for SLEUTH?

• no, r14...Anthony Shaffer adapted his own play.

• Wasn't gay. But we're forgetting that he wrote Barbra's He Touched Me! Well, he wrote "She Touched Me" for Drat the Cat, a score I kind of love. Agree with R12, the Stepford Wives as a story is incredible. I love the Ross/Prentiss movie, but it's very very different. I think someone like PT Anderson or Darren Aronofsky, someone with a talent for satire, could make a great film out of it.

• Don't forget his play Veronica's Room. The original production flopped on Broadway and there was a mildly successful revival off-Broadway in the 80s, but it's a must for Levin fans.

  http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/2269/veronicas-room

  Susan

• Veronica's Room was awful on Broadway. I saw it.

  Eileen Heckart