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Yesterday, I had lunch with a friend in a Chicago neighborhood called Lincoln Square.  As we were deciding where to eat, my friend mentioned that a small restaurant right near the subway station, Opart Thai, was "where Clare ate in The Time Traveler’s Wife."  Since The Time Traveler’s Wife (by Audrey Niffenegger) is one of my top five favorite books, I couldn’t resist checking it out.

While devouring my pad thai (yep, that’s what the character Clare ordered as well), I couldn’t help but wonder if a scene from the upcoming film adaptation of the novel might have been shot right where I was sitting (see picture to the right).  I attended a talk and book signing of Niffenegger’s last summer, and she mentioned that she truly hoped that the movie would include at least a few of the many Chicago locations name-dropped throughout her mind-bending story.  According to IMDB.com, part of the shoot did take place in The Windy City, so it looks like the author got her wish.

While I am personally excited to see which spots mentioned in The Time Traveler’s Wife end up in the movie (currently scheduled to premiere on December 25th), I know that they won’t make or break its success.  Anyone who sees the film version of TTTW and is not familiar with Chicago wouldn’t know if, say, the nightclub "Berlin," where a few of the characters meet up, is the real bar, or simply a stand-in somewhere in Canada.  Just like how, before I moved here, I had no idea that the characters in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and My Best Friend’s Wedding were driving in the wrong direction down Lake Shore Drive to get to their destinations. 

Obviously, some things have to be fudged when making a movie for the sake of a more picturesque backdrop or lower production costs or various other logistical issues.  However, I strongly believe that if a film can reasonably incorporate specific locations mentioned in the book from which it’s adapted, the end result is better (and fans of the novel will obviously be happier).  If an author mentions a real place in her story, she’s doing it for a reason.  She knows her characters and their motivations and their likes and dislikes more than anyone else, right?  If the book was a success (which it usually has to be before anyone commits to a filming budget) and it’s feasible to capture exactly what the author had in her mind for certain scenes, why should a director mess with things?

To be clear, I’m not talking about strictly translating a book’s storyline onto the big screen, I’m only talking about scene locations.  Ms. Niffenegger herself actually stated that she hoped the film version of her novel "brought something new" to her twisted tale, and that she disliked any movie, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, that is just an "illustrated version of a book." 

We have a few months to wait before we see how much of Chicago was brought into The Time Traveler’s Wife, but rest assured that I will be sharing more opinions on how the film has been handled in the near future.  In the meantime, I think I need to reread the book in preparation.  Maybe this time I won’t break down sobbing when it ends. 

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