Why was the movie The Mighty different from the book Freak the Mighty?
Well, unfortunately, the author of a book pretty much gives up control of the story when the producers take over a book to make it into a movie. So, they were free to change the title and to change some of the plot, for cinematic purposes. Actually, I think they did a pretty good job — books and movies are two different things. Why did you decide to have Freak die in the book Freak the Mighty? I didn’t decide to have Freak die. The character Kevin was based on died in real life. And I didn’t think that I could change reality and remain true to the story. The fact is, if the boy who inspired the character of Kevin hadn’t died, I never would’ve written the book. He was someone I knew. As an adult, how are you able to get inside the head of a kid so well? The short answer to that is that I vividly remember being short. I have a very keen recollection of being 11 and 12 years old, and I use my own memories of how I felt at the time to create the characters I’m writing today. Out of all the
