My advice to anyone adapting a novel is that once they’ve read it and learnt to understand it, then they must throw it away and never look at it again!

Meaning of the quote

When you're trying to adapt a book into a movie or TV show, it's important to really understand the story and the characters. But once you've done that, you need to forget about the book and use your own creativity to bring the story to life in a new way. The original book shouldn't hold you back - you need to let your imagination take over and make the adaptation your own. That's the advice from British comedian Ben Elton, who has a lot of experience with adapting novels for different media.

About Ben Elton

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More quotes from Ben Elton

No collection of people who are all waiting for the same thing are capable of holding a natural conversation. Even if the thing they are waiting for is only a taxi.

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People who get through life dependent on other people’s possessions are always the first to lecture you on how little possessions count.

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The earth only has so much bounty to offer and inventing ever larger and more notional prices for that bounty does not change its real value.

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I’m easy to work with, not a pushover, but I respond to criticism and find it inspiring.

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I try hard not to preach, but I get carried away, which is a mistake, but it’s a risk worth running.

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We’ve all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that’s all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a group, it’s just that there are vested interests telling us not to bother.

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If only the strength of the love that people feel when it is reciprocated could be as intense and obsessive as the love we feel when it is not; then marriages would be truly made in heaven.

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My advice to anyone adapting a novel is that once they’ve read it and learnt to understand it, then they must throw it away and never look at it again!

Ben Elton

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Sympathy for victims is always counter-balanced by an equal and opposite feeling of resentment towards them.

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Yes, OK, farty is a silly word. I wish I’d never used it. I’m 34. Perhaps it was a word for my 20s.

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