Catch Me If You Can book trailer

Adapting "Catch Me If You Can"

Translating Catch Me If You Can to the big screen would come with a fair number of challenges. The story takes place over an action packed five years and the main character is only 16 at the start, but passes regularly for 26 to 30 years old. A lot of scenes would have to be cut or combined so that the essence of Frank Abagnale Jr. and his crimes could be shown without taking up too much time.

Scenes Essential to Keep

• His parents breaking up
• In the existing 2002 movie, this is brought out as more prominient in Frank's life than maybe it actually was to set up his motivation for his crimes: pleasing his father. However influential it was in his life of crime, it's still an important point. Frank was only 16 when he left home, and regularly cried himself to sleep over his parent's seperation, even if that morning he had posed as a confident, mature co-pilot of Pan American Airlines.   
• Forging his Pan Am passport, buying his outfit, etc
• A lot of work went into Frank's first crime, and it would be beneficial to show that he really took the effort to make himself look as legitimate as possible. The movie could show him taking apart the model airplane kits to get Pan Am stickers, discreetly copying down phrases that other pilots were using, and faking phone calls as local newspaper reporters. If this process was shown once, the many other times he did it could be implied, saving time within the movie.
• Passing the BAR exam
• Perhaps one of the few things he did completely legally, passing the BAR exam showed not only how dedicated Frank was to his con, but how smart he was.

Scenes to Cut

• Jail time
• Frank spent over a year in French and Sweedish prisons, but including this in the movie would only slow down the amount of time it took him to finally be caught in America by the FBI, whose storyline is of much more importance than those of the European police because it's tied together with Frank's parents' storylines.   
• Explanations of check knowledge
• There is a part in the book where Frank goes into detail about all of the things he knows about checks that no one else bothered to learn. A lot of this section could be cut or implied simply by showing as short scene of Frank researching.

Book 1 Project: Looking for Alaska Prank Pack

What we’re offering here is a one of a kind opportunity to re-live the pranking experiences of Miles “Pudge” Halter and his friends at Culver Creek. The Looking for Alaska Prank Pack includes 30 firecracks, 1 tube of blue hair dye, 5 black t-shirts, 1 fox hat, instant coffee, saltines, cheddar cheese, Strawberry-Kiwi Minute Maid, and Mountain Dew--everything you need to pull off the perfect prank! Also thrown in is a small book of famous last words.

In Looking for Alaska, Miles “Pudge” Halter’s friends are caught up in a prank war with some of the other students. They decide to plan their most elaborate prank yet, setting it over a weekend that they can each claim to be out of town. With this kit, the consumer will receive all of the same basic items that Miles, Alaska, Chip, Takumi, and Lara utilized over that weekend. The first stage of their prank is a distraction for the principal. Miles and Takumi light a string of fireworks, then run for a minute, then light another string, leading Mr. Starnes away from the real action back at the school, where Lara is sneaking “undiluted industrial-strength blue number five hair dye” into the hair products of some other students and Alaska and Chip are sending out bogus reports from the office saying that those same kids are failing their classes. Everyone wears black to reduce their chances of being caught, and Takumi wears a fox hat as he runs because “no one can catch the m-----f----g fox.” Afterwards, the kids all hide out in a nearby barn and survive on instant coffee, Strawberry Hill, and cheese and crackers until the weekend is up.

This Prank Pack will allow Looking for Alaska fans to relive a fun and positive scene in the book that has the characters enjoying themselves and each other’s company. The bonus book of famous last words is something more central to the book as a whole, since Miles spends his free time memorizing these and using them to help him sort through life. It would help fans of the book feel closer to Miles, and intrigue possible new readers by showing them one of the unique traits of the main character. The Prank Pack would ideally be sold in a merchandise stand containing the actual Looking for Alaska novel, as well as other John Green books. Other books sold in this merchandise stand could be the different books mentioned within Looking for Alaska. For instance: the different biographies Miles read, an almanac to represent Chip’s knowledge of all the world’s countries and their capitals, a rhyming dictionary for Takumi and his rap skills, and excerpts from Alaska’s “Life Library,” such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s The General in his Labyrinth. But the main attraction and selling point would be the Prank Pack.

Looking for Alaska has been questioned and even banned in some schools for its material, so the kit’s items would be toned down compared to what the actual book characters had on hand. Since the target audience of the book and Prank Pack is the young adult crowd, alcoholic Strawberry Hill would be replaced with a non-alcoholic Strawberry Juice, and the industrial strength blue dye would switch to regular, washable blue hair dye. This allows consumers the same chance to wreak havoc, but slightly more legally.