Film vs. Novel: The Last Song - Communicating Character

That last week in March, I was racing to finish Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song before the movie came out in theaters. Yep, I'm one of those nerds that has to read the book before seeing the adapted version. And as that nerd who's always complaining about said adaptations, I finally realized a key difference between writing for a novel and writing for film - communicating character.

Let's take the character example of Ronnie's dad, Steve (played by Greg Kinnear in the film version). For the film, his character was written into more of a supporting role - because naturally the focus of the film (which is a romance) is mostly concentrated on Ronnie, and her relationship with Will. His role in Ronnie's life is still there - his presence, and later his sickness, is still very much a part of the larger story - but for the purpose of telling the story on film, his character falls a little further into the background.

But for the novel, Steve is anything but a supporting character. Reinventing his relationship with his daughter Ronnie is, in a way, very much the central focus of the story. And while it's true that (like all of Sparks' other novels) it is a love story, the love that Ronnie finds is built into the place where Ronnie will eventually find herself again. Through Will, through her father, and through her music. Every single piece plays a part in the larger story.

So from novel to film, is it always a matter of swapping character roles? Not at all. What you've really got to do is look at the story and think, How can I re-tell this story in the best possible way, while still maintaining its vision?
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Thanks goes to Yahoo! for The Last Song still.