The Odyssey File

Much like he did in The Lost Worlds of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke explores the process of adapting one of his novels to film in The Odyssey File. Rather than feature early treatments, script rewrites, and short stories/sequences, Clark presents this process as a dialogue between himself and director Peter Hyams. The most unique aspect was that conflicting schedules and geography required the two to use email in the early 1980s.
Clarke is magnanimous about any changes that Hyams wants, offering suggestions for ways to incorporate the changes and even the names of people on whom Hyams could call as technical advisers. Hyams, for his part, displays the nervousness of a man entrusted with adapting the sequel to one of the greatest films, show more regardless of genre, of the twentieth century. While the book does offer insight into the film-making process, it is not a complete "making of" or "behind the scenes" book, though Clarke explains that this was due to the need to get the book to press in time for the film's release.
The book's appendices feature an essay by Steven Jongeward, a production assistant on 2010, that describes the changes from book to film and how the change in medium necessitated Hyams' alterations. The second appendix describes the process for sending an email in 1983 using the technology of the time.
The book will likely not attract as wide an audience as Clarke's fiction, but will appeal to film scholars, devoted fans of Clarke, and those interested in the early days of the technology that became the Internet. show less

Interesting to read the early correspondence between Arthur C. Clarke and Peter Hyams but unfortunately there is very little in here about the actual making of the movie as the film was still in pre-production when the publishers gathered their correspondence together to put together this book. So rather than being subtitled the 'Making of 2010' it would perhaps be better subtitled as 'Early Stage Planning on the Making of 2010'.