In 2003, the film adaption of Holes, written by the book's original author Louis Sachar and directed by Andrew Davis, hit theaters and became a smash hit. What's less known is that it wasn't the first attempt to bring the story to the big screen.
Before Sachar adapted his own work, another creator who was tapped by Phoenix Productions to write a screenplay was Richard Kelly, best known today for Donnie Darko. In 1999, in his first big writing gig, he wrote his adaptation of Holes, gave it to the production staff... and then was asked if he was insane. Why?
His adaptation was about as far removed from the book as you can imagine.
While it hits many of the same plot beats, Kelly took a fairly lighthearted YA novel and turned it into an R-rated, pitch-black post-apocalyptic tale with prostitutes, prisoner abuse, and PTSD. In this version, Camp Green Lake is a military prison camp for orphans and young offenders in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, where Stanley is sent to assist in digging up artifacts from before the war, including human bodies. In-between the brutalities of life in camp, we gradually learn about his life before and after the war, and what exactly landed him in camp in the first place. Mix all this with bizarre sci-fi elements that Kelly is quite fond of, and it's easy to see why this adaptation never made it to production.
Kelly himself was booted from the project shortly afterward, and admitted he was naive in hoping he could convince the production staff that this Darker and Edgier take on the film was superior, when all they wanted was a straightforward adaptation.
If you're morbidly curious or simply need proof that this screenplay actually exists, a PDF can be found here
. (Be forewarned, it's NSFW!)
This script provides examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Stanley, both due to growing up after a nuclear war and having to mercy kill his own sister.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Rather than a family with a long history of bad luck, Stanley grew up with his parents and a younger sister named Rebecca before the nuclear explosion occurred. After which, Stanley and Rebecca were on their own and had to spend months trying to survive, but Rebecca eventually got radiation poisoning and was suffering for weeks with no hope of recovery, so Stanley mercy-killed her, leading to his arrest.
- Rather than masquerading as a fake doctor for the warden, Pendanski voluntarily works at Camp Green Lake in the hopes of finding his dead wife's remains. Stanley inadvertently helps him find closure.
- Rather than searching for Kate Barlow's stolen treasure to accomplish the quest her grandfather started, this Warden is working on orders from the military to find the buried weapon that initially started the apocalypse.
- Rather than him being the direct descendant of Madame Zeroni, this Zero is just another inmate with no ties to a family curse. He was sent to Camp Green Lake not for stealing, but for killing his attacker in self defense.
- Adaptational Badass: This incarnation of Stanley pulls a gun on the Warden and actually tries to fight him at one point.
- Adaptational Explanation: Unlike the book, the prisoners are required to inscribe next to each hole they dig their prisoner code and hole number, which is also recorded digitally on a database. This is how Stanley is able to easily find the hole with the MacGuffin again.
- Adaptational Heroism: While the setting itself is a lot darker, Pendanski isn't fully villainous like in the source material; he helps Stanley and Zero in the end of the story.
- Adaptational Villainy: Not that the counselors were good guys in the book, but they weren't forcing the campers to dig up human skeletons.
- Adaptational Wimp: X-Ray was the leader of the D-Tent boys in the original. Here, he's just another inmate and arguably the Butt-Monkey of the group.
- Adaptation Name Change: Stanley's surname is changed to Kramer. His parents are also named Joe and Sue.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Stanley is far more aggressive and willing to stand up for himself than in the book.
- Zero is book smart and a lot more talkative and independent.
- Adapted Out: Elya Yelnats, Madame Zeroni, Kissin Kate Barlow, Sam The Onion Man, and Trout Walker are all completely absent despite arguably being the most important characters in the book.
- After the End: Set not long after a nuclear war.
- Age Lift: While Stanley was 14 in the book, he says he's 16 here.
- Apocalypse Anarchy: Once the war started, there was no plan in place and chaos swept through Texas. Stanley's father died and he and Rebecca were separated from their mother in a crowd.
- Apocalypse How: At least a solid Class 1, where the world was plunged into chaos, but there still exists some sense of society and order.
- Arc Words: "Bury The Past."
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The first nuclear attack happened during Rebecca's 8th birthday party, when a bomb goes off just outside of Dallas. Things only got worse from there.
- Canon Foreigner:
- Theo, who is loosely based on Theodore "Armpit". In this version he's a self-harmer and the Token Religious Teammate who seeks redemption.
- Alan, who is loosely based on Squid, is the Generic Guy. He is also made into a smoker.
- Anthony and Darryl take the place of Magnet and Zig-Zag as the other boys in D-Tent but share no other traits with their inspirations.
- Derek is a new character who works as a cook at Camp Green Lake. A Running Gag is his constant banter with X-Ray.
- Rebecca is a Posthumous Character who is featured in Stanley's flashbacks.
- Jonathan Gaines is based on Lewis "Barf Bag". Rather than intentionally getting bitten by a rattlesnake, he tried to escape Camp Green Lake by running away only to get himself killed.
- Chekhov's Gun: The lipstick tube Stanley finds is changed to be a spark plug hammer.
- Contrived Coincidence: Rather than find Sam's old boat like in the source material, the boys find the remains of an abandoned shopping mall buried beneath the sands when they run away.
- Crapsack World: Camp Green Lake is even more brutal than in the book, where several campers die during Stanley's stay. The outside world isn't much better, given that a nuclear war and an epidemic happened just a few years earlier.
- Darker and Edgier: Not that the original book was particularly fluffy, but it didn't take place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
- Death by Adaptation: Jonathan Gaines note , X-Ray, Mr. Sir, The Warden and... Theo.
- Deus ex Machina: Rather than Stanley and Zero being saved by the timely arrival of Stanley's lawyer and a pack of docile lizards due to having previously eaten Sam's onions, the weapon that the prisoners were searching for inexplicably comes to life and kills Mr. Sir and The Warden. Pendanski supposes that it has a mind of its own.
- Dog Food Diet: For months after they were separated from their parents, Stanley and Rebecca had to survive on nothing but Puppy Chow. X-Ray apparently prefers Kibbles N' Bits.
- Fair-Play Villain: Unlike the source material, since the Warden isn't looking for treasure, he actually honors the prospect of giving the inmates a day off should they unearth anything interesting, which includes skeletons.
- False Friend: Pendanski to Stanley... at first.
- Gender Flip: The Warden is explicitly male and a military man in this version.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Theo, feeling guilty over his earlier betrayal, sacrifices himself so the other boys can escape.
- In Name Only: Besides a few character names and the premise of digging holes in the desert, almost nothing of the original source material is retained.
- Instant Drama, Just Add Tracheotomy: Rebecca's disease eventually caused her throat to swell shut, requiring her to be intubated.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Twice, the Warden forces Stanley and the others to cooperate by beating Theo, whom he knows is innocent.
- Last-Second Word Swap: During a heated conversation, X-Ray almost uses the N-word before backpedaling to say "Negro" instead. The other inmates still call him out on it.
- Lost Superweapon: An Empathic Weapon, no less, which serves as the catalyst for the plot.
- Mercy Kill: After Rebecca spent weeks suffering from her illness with no hope of recovery, Stanley decided the best thing to do was euthanize her, which led to his arrest. Despite the insanity of the script, it's genuinely a pretty emotional scene.
- No Name Given: The Warden's true name is never revealed. Nor are the true names of X-Ray or Zero.
- Race Lift: X-Ray's race is never mentioned, but he's explicitly not African American given how he gets told off for attempting to use the N-word.
- Riddle for the Ages: What exactly was the lost weapon, who created it, how did it have a mind of its own, why did it attack Mr. Sir and the Warden but also spare Stanley and Zero? We never find out.
- Ruder and Cruder: To say that this is a darker take on the source material would be an understatement. The script is rich with swearing, sexual commentary, and the N-word is uttered in one scene no less than three times.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Stanley makes it clear to Pendanski on his arrival that there's nothing he can do or say to cheer him up about his situation.
- Wardens Are Evil: The Warden was no saint in the original book, but this incarnation is arguably far worse.
- What You Are in the Dark: After they find the weapon, with Mr. Sir and the Warden dead, Pendanski elects to leave Camp Green Lake smuggling Stanley and Zero out with him, so they can start new lives on the outside after dumping the weapon into the ocean where hopefully no one will ever find it again.