No one could turn this novel into a movie, not even Steven Spielberg or Billy Wilder.

The list of great literary works that have been adapted for the screen at least once is long. Famous novels and sagas are and will be a great source of inspiration for screenwriters, directors and producers.

Yet there is a famous work, one of the greatest histories of the 20th century as well as one of the most widely read books in the world, that resists adaptation. And it’s not for lack of trying…

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Catcher in the Rye – Catcher in the Rye From the original title – JD Salinger is a classic of American literature that has inspired generations of readers. It is therefore widely studied in schools across the Atlantic.

Published in fragments between 1945 and 1946, the complete novel was officially released in 1951, and its film adaptation attracted interest from the start. However, Salinger, having had bad experiences with his other works, refused to see any of his novels adapted for the screen.

The film that made his decision irreversible was Mark Robson’s Mad Head (1949), an adaptation of the story. Uncle was destroyed in Connecticut The author, who was not very faithful to the story, did not like it at all – and therefore decided to never sell the rights to his work again.

Dreams of Spielberg and Wilder

And one of the directors who tried to get the right Catcher in the Rye There was Steven Spielberg. Apparently, the famous director offered it to Salinger’s representatives, but the author did not even rate it. The same thing happened to Harvey Weinstein, Jerry Lewis, Marlon Brando, Billy Wilder, and Jack Nicholson, among others.

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There aren’t many details about the famous director’s effort: Jeffrey Katzenberg called his agents to offer him an adaptation, Spielberg was the partner to direct the film, and the offer was turned down even without Salinger.

However, the Guardian article cites a letter to a Hollywood producer in 1957 that made it clear that Salinger did not want to sell the rights. According to the novelist, it was “A very fictional novelAnd that was the idea of ​​the movieHateful enough to prevent him from selling the rights.”

Director and screenwriter Billy Wilder Also tried to get the rights to the novel and further explained how unavailable the author was in this regard in the book Conversations with Billy Wilder By Cameron Crowe:

“Of course I read The Catcher in the Rye…a wonderful book. Liked. I caught him. I wanted to make a film about it. And then one day a young man came to the office of Leland Hayward, my agent, in New York and said, “Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to stop. He is very, very insensitive.’ And he came out. That was the whole speech. I have never seen it. It was JD Salinger and it was Catcher in the Rye.“

Even after his disappearance…

after death JD Salinger As of 2010, nothing has changed regarding the licensing of film, television or stage rights to her work, as confirmed by her agent Phyllis Westberg.

However, he himself revealed in the aforementioned letter that this may one day happen after death:

“It is possible that one day the rights will be sold. Since it’s always possible I won’t die rich, I’m toying very seriously with the idea of ​​leaving unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a sort of insurance policy. It makes me happy though, I might add quickly knowing I don’t have to see the results of the transaction.“

Based on his wishes, it is unlikely that the rights will ever be sold, although this remains a matter of speculation and many creators still fantasize, 70 years after the work was published, to “adapt…