I am just curious if, now that we have all seen MM portray our favorite character "Dirk" in Sahara, do you picture him when reading the books? I am afraid that I do not. I loved the movie and thought Matt did a fine job but I guess I have read through the books so many times over the years that I have an ingrained image that overrides the movie image. The same goes for my image of "Al".
I have read many books before and after a movie about the same hits the big screen and often find myself picturing the actor when reading the book. Just thought it was odd that I did not in this instance.
Anyone else?
M

That's because there are TWO audiences...film and novel. It wouldn't matter who they had play Pitt, because the reader will create his or her own mental image of who Pitt or Al would be. Same thing with James Bond... I read the books, and see the movies, and the characters don't easily interchange. Films are, by and large, a time capsule, by capturing the imagery and feel of the era in which they were made. Books, however, are a bit more "fluid", due to the dynamics of the human imagination.

It's a simple basic concept that authors and Hollywood cannot seem to grasp at times. Look at how many Ludlum fans hate the "Bourne" films, for example... However far they may divert from the books, the two films still are a big draw, due in part to the overall "feel" of the films themselves. They stand on their own, due to tight editing and keeping with the spirit of the character, rather than a strict interpretation of it. The same can apply to Pitt and Al in this case. The "spirit" of Pitt is very much captured (easygoing one minute, down to business the next), as well as Al (loyal to the core and would follow Pitt anywhere), but people have to remember that these guys came into existence in the early 1970's and it was a different time and world back then. I know, because I was there and discovered Pitt in 1976 and have not left. This is 2006, and even as Dr. C made mention in some of his work, the character of Pitt has changed over the years, but is still a manifestation of his own "alter ego". Ergo, Hollywood will never satisfy his particular interpretation of Pitt and Al, no matter how many script revisions are made.

For myself, I think MM has captured Pitts essence, and Sahara was a pretty much nonstop adventure film that more and more people are beginning to appreciate. Certainly, some of the elements have been changed (Navy as opposed to Air Force service), but they've not been dumbed down and the rappor between MM and SZ flat out nails the bond between Dirk and Al. I just hope that they can make the other films in the manner in which they deserve (not just a legal victory/ in your face slap to Dr. C, but in the spirit in which the "new" Dirk and Al were born), and a whole new audience can appreciate the world of Dirk Pitt.

Good question, Mike. I have found that my own mental images are still there, but that ones from the film pop into my mind from time to time. In other words, I can't ignore the movie portrayals of the characters (except Rudi, blecht) but at teh same time, like you, find it hard to overwrite the images that are ingrained in my imagination.

I have a friend who prefers to see the movie adaptation of a book FIRST so that he already has an idea of what the characters should/could look like and thus is not dissappointed when going from book to movie the way we all were.

Even though I have seen MM in Sahara I still picture the actor David Selby in his younger days as Dirk Pitt for as long as I can remember. I think of the actress Lisby Larson when I picture Loren Smih. Al is still a mental image in my mind. :)

Tony, do you happen to have a picture of this Lisby Larson? I couldn't find a picture of her...

I have to admit that I did start to picture MM in the books I read after I saw Sahara but it faded after a few months. I do picture SZ's face but with curly black hair.

I had the same problem with Interview With the Vampire because I have been an Anne Rice fan for so long, especially only living 1/2 a mile from her house, that I had a deep concept of what the characters looked like and only the emotion that Brad Pitt brought to the screen sat well with me. Although Antonio Banderas was a really really hot Armand he couldn't take the place of the the actual 15 year old red headed vampire that Anne Rice wrote him to be.

Yeah, I see MM as Dirk and SZ as Al when I read. But I guess that's because I started reading the night after I saw Sahara in theaters...hehe. I guess you could say I MADE myself see Matthew as Dirk. The person that really sticks in my head when reading is William H. Macy as Sandecker. To me, he is EXACTLY what Sandecker should be. I know, I know...the admiral in the book has a Van-Dyke beard and all...but when I think of a red Van-Dyke beard...I get the WAY wrong picture of him looking like that Scotish guy who always gets hurt from The Simpson's. yike: HAHA!!! :lol:

Oswalder, Lisby Larson is blonde and older now than when I saw her on Texas and Another World back in the 1980s. She was of average height and very attractive. And definitely had a sophisticated air with intelligence. Actually just saw her recently on a repeat of Another World on the Soapnet recently. She only appeared in a few episodes of AW though. She was great on Texas.

Oddly enough, when I read a book I don't get an actual image/mental picture of what the character looks like, more like a general outline. A few exceptions were the Lord Of The Rings books as I didn't read those til after I'd seen the movies. With the Dirk Pitt books all I picture is a general shape of the person and maybe hair colour. Though I do know that if I see a book character on screen I know if he is right or not - I thought MM & SZ were right, liked William H Macy too but not the guy who played Rudi. And wasn't happy with Penelope at all - she played the character well in the movie but Eva in the book had blonde hair and dresden-blue eyes. Thats really stuffed me up for the rereads! ;)

wow, I agree with a lot of what's already been said. I'm glad to know that there are others out there like me (Maeve). I thought I was the only one that got a "general" picture of chracters. If I stop to think about what they look like, I could describe them exactly how I would see them, but when just tearing through a book...

I will admist that I saw the previews for Sahara before I ever picked up a book, so MM and SZ were kind of already in my minds eye when I read my first book.

I'm one of those people that watches the movie before reading the book (if I can), because then I'm not disappointed in the book.

I still see Robert Urich from his Vega$ days as Dirk. The closest I've come to Al is someone my wife pointed out to me that we went to college with named Steve Russo. He was about 5'8", 225 lbs, built like an apartment-size refridgerator, played rugby, full-on Italian and could bench press a Volkswagen.

I'm a guy who was introduced to Pitt through the movie, and then read the books. I love the books, and I freely admit MM is the Pitt I picture. Same with Zahn and Macey. They defined the characters for me, and to be honest, I never really liked how Al was described in the books. Just seemed weird.

I'm sort of inbetween. Sometimes I will picture the charaters as they are in the movie. Sometimes I really don't have any mental image. I just read. Usually I am too caught up in the story to worry about my mental picture of the charaters.

I bought the DVD of Sahara and I did not like the movie. It did not keep my interest and I found it boring. The story lines were short and did not do justice to the book. An example is when Al and Dirk found a wreck plane in the desert. Next scene it fixed and they are riding the new converted plane. Zip, Zap, Zip. Also the scene where the plant was being blown up was not interesting. Could have more action. Again Zip, Zap, Zip. The story plots were short and should have spent additional time on the characters role and expand the plot scenes.
I can not see Matthew Mc Conaughey as Dirk Pitt but Steve Zahn as Al was alright. I enjoyed Al character. Penelope Cruz I could not get into. She play the character dull. Also there were no sparks for the love interest of Mc Conaughey and Cruz. They did not mesh.
I think it would be a good idea if Clive Cussler and his son wrote and produced the Dirk Pitt series. They would have control over the writing and plots of the movie. Hire a director that they could work with. I think they could get backing.

I think Clint Eastwood in his younger days would have made a great Dirk. I haven't be able to come up with a current actor that could play him. I like MM but not as Dirk.