Spoiler warning: Spoilers for both The Whisper Man book and movie!
Netflix’s new thriller movie The Whisper Man adapts Alex North‘s bestselling 2019 novel, but it makes several substantial changes to the story.
North spoke about some of the changes and his support for the filmmaking team, sharing how they preserved the elements that mattered most to him.
One of the biggest changes involves the character Jake (Acston Luca Porto).
Credit: Netflix
Change #1: Jake is kidnapped much earlier
In the novel, Jake doesn’t get kidnapped until the third act. It happens far earlier in the movie.
RELATED: Find out the very creepy thing Alex North‘s young son said that inspired The Whisper Man
The film has Jake getting kidnapped early on and turns the search for him into the primary story. It allows Pete (Robert De Niro) and Tom (Adam Scott) to spend more time together investigating the case and ultimately strengthens the father-son storyline. Plus, when you get an actor like Robert De Niro, you probably don’t want to sideline him.
Credit: Netflix“It made sense to me that they would move that,” North told Tudum. “It’s the kind of story you can approach in different ways, I think, and that was the way that they chose to do it.”
Change #2: Pete has a much larger role in the search
In the book, Tom reconnects with Pete earlier and eventually allows him to babysit Jake, but then he gets stabbed when Jake is abducted and spends a significant amount of time in the hospital.
The movie has Tom seeking out his estranged father right after his son vanishes and Pete actively helps the investigation. This also changes the circumstances around his eventual death.
Change #3: Karen’s removal
The novel includes at least one significant character who did not make it to the screen: Karen Shaw, a single mom Tom meets through Jake’s school.
Tom leaves Jake with Pete to go on a date with Karen during the night of the abduction. It’s a relatively minor subplot, and its removal moves the focus back to the father-son relationship in the movie.
Credit: Netflix
Change #4: A different location
The novel takes place in England, but Netflix moved the story to the northeastern United States.
North was okay with the decision because he believes that the story’s themes about parenthood and grief are universal and not specific to any one location.
“When I write everything I write, I don’t really think about it being set anywhere in particular,” North revealed while chatting with Netflix’s Tudum. “I’m far more interested in just the characters and the relationship between the characters. It’s a book about fathers and sons, so you hope that that’s fairly universal in some of the themes and the ideas that it touches upon.”
Change #5: The Girl in Blue revelation is different
The “Girl in Blue” has become a topic of discussion online since the movie started streaming. Her presence and role in the story is a little different in the book. For starters, she wears a blue dress in the novel, not a blue sweater.
Tom also realizes her connection to his late wife much earlier in the novel, while the movie saves the reveal until its final scene.
Credit: Netflix
Alex North praised the screenwriters on their script
Overall, North said he expected changes when his novel got adapted and had no objections. He praised screenwriters Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer for retaining the heart of The Whisper Man.
“The screenwriters, Ben and Chase, captured everything that was really, really important to me about the book. So, no complaints whatsoever. I loved it,” the author told People.
He also said he’d like to see his loosely connected follow-up novel, The Shadows, get adapted.
“It’s kind of a standalone, but it also follows The Whisper Man in some ways, and one of the characters continues. So let’s see what happens,” North said.
The Whisper Man is now streaming on Netflix.
RELATED: The Whisper Man cast guide: Who plays the killer and every major character
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